Deadline at Dawn
Deadline at Dawn
NR | 21 March 1946 (USA)
Deadline at Dawn Trailers

A young Navy sailor has one night to find out why a woman was killed and he ended up with a bag of money after a drinking blackout.

Reviews
SunnyHello Nice effects though.
LouHomey From my favorite movies..
Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
blanche-2 A decent story based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich, good performances, and snappy dialogue by Clifford Odets elevate "Deadline at Dawn" from 1946. A small film, clocking in at 83 minutes, it packs in a lot of drama.The film begins with a blind man (Marvin Miller, Mr. Anthony from "The Millionaire") visiting a young woman and demanding $1400 that he is owed. Next thing you know, she's dead. A young sailor on leave, Alex, (Bill Williams) sobers up after a blackout and sees that he has a lot of money that belonged to one Edna Bartelli (Lola Lane), a girl who invited him to her home to "fix her radio."Alex has the radio, and at a dime a dance place, he asks for help from June Goth (Susan Hayward) to help him return it. When they get to Edna's, she's dead. Alex is afraid that he did it, but he can't remember.His leave ends in four hours, so that's all they have to find out what happened. They team up with a friendly cab driver (Paul Lukas). In their investigation, they meet a bunch of low-lifes and it becomes apparent that Edna had a few enemies. Both Hayward and Williams give delightful performances. Hayward vacillates from the tough girl she is at the dance hall and softness as she gets to know Alex. Williams, who was TV's Kit Carson is the dad of actor William Katt ("Greatest American Hero") and the husband of Perry Mason's Barbara Hale.True to its New York City wee small hours of the morning scenario, the film is peppered with various actors, each with his or her own story: Joseph Calleia, Osa Massen, Stephen Geray, Roman Bohen, and Constance Worth. Harold Clurman, a theater director, directed this with an excellent idea of what it's like to be in New York City in the summer - hot, and the weirdos who come out at night.Very entertaining, though probably too ambitious given the budget and time frame. The ending is a little convoluted.
AaronCapenBanner Bill Williams plays Alex Winkley, a sailor on leave who awakens from a drunken blackout to find a large sum of money on his person, which he believes belongs to a young woman named Edna(played by Lola Lane) whom he had helped the night before. Sadly, he finds her dead, and is unsure if he's guilty or not, but is helped by a dance hall girl(played by Susan Hayward) and a friendly taxi driver(played by Paul Lukas) to solve the mystery, which has many suspects, and he only has four more hours until he has to report back to his ship, or be AWOL. OK film noir has likable performances which compensate for the complicated mystery which ends up having a semi-surprising resolution.
writers_reign I've been waiting for years to catch this and it's well worth waiting for. Working from a Cornell Woollrich/William Irish story Clifford Odets adds his own brilliant spin via the kind of dialog that only he could write (see Sweet Smell Of Success) and write as though he found it lying on the sidewalk in Manhattan. Harold Clurman - who worked with Odets and Roman Bohnen in the Group Theater - directs his only film and it's a pip. Clurman, who was writing the history of the Group (The Fervent Years) at the time displays the kind of flair that would have given fellow Group alumnus Elia Kazan a run for his money had he pursued a career in movies. The movie is studded with both atmosphere, offbeat characters and that dialog. Marvin Miller, Joesph Calleia, Paul Lukas and Susan Hayward make this one to remember.
Alex da Silva This film is a disaster and it's a shame. It should be better and Susan Hayward as Hostess girl June stands out a mile as the only cast member who can act. Bill Williams (Alex) is dreadful in the lead role as a sailor who is really very simple. The audience can't possibly engage with such a retard. Paul Lukas (Gus) is very improbable as a cab driver who pokes his nose where it isn't wanted and spends the film delivering crass advice to everyone. Shut up Lukas! The story is hilarious in that more and more impossible things happen that just make no sense at all. It doesn't happen once...or twice...or three times...the whole story is ridiculous. From the moment Williams brings back Hayward to return some money to Lola Lane (Edna) and they find her dead, the film just gets more and more far-fetched. Williams deduces that a man did it and how he would be feeling after it and where he would go and what he would do. At this point, it is already insulting to the audience but it doesn't stop. I can't go on. Hardened escort girl Hayward even falls in love with this backward boy - NO WAY! There is a plot to follow if you want to but the film tries to be clever at the same time as being incredibly stupid.