Between Midnight and Dawn (1950) User Reviews (29)

Two Cops and a Gal!

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 4 November 2013]

"Between Midnight and Dawn" is buddy/cop movie about two ex marines who are now uniformed policemen in an unnamed city. The title refers to the graveyard shift that they work through most of the story.

Mark Stevens and Edmond O'Brien play officers Rocky Barnes and Dan Purvis respectively who go about their business arresting crooks, breaking up fights and the like. Barnes takes a liking to a voice he here's on the police radio. The voice turns out to belong to Kathy Malloy (Gale Storm), their boss Lt. Masterton's (Anthony Ross) assistant. Naturally a triangle is formed as both Barnes and Purvis pursue her to the point of moving next door to her.

On the serious side the boys are trying to get something on Ritchie Garris (Donald Buka) a baby-faced mobster who runs a popular night club. To show their honesty, the boys reject an attempted bribe by the gangster. One night while at the club off duty with Kathy they spot rival mobster Lee Cusick (Roland Winters). Cusick tries to muscle in on Garris' territory only to be murdered for his trouble.

Cusick's murder give Barnes and Purvis the opening they need to go after Garris. Barnes and Purvis arrest Garris and he is brought to trial and is found guilty of murder. On his way to jail Garris vows revenge on the two cops that arrested him. At this point you just know that he will escape and attempt to carry out his threat.

An argument could be made to type this picture as a "film noire" as most of the action takes place at night on the shadowy rain soaked streets of the unnamed city where the story takes place. As in most buddy movies you sense that misfortune will befall one of them and that one will ultimately get the girl. There is a "femme fatale" of sorts in the person of Garris' girl friend Terry Romaine (Gale Robbins)who ultimately has an effect on the out come of the story.

The light hearted banter between the three principals seems a little bit out of place in this otherwise serious police drama but what the heck this was 1950 after all. Edmond O'Brien stands out among the cast (as he usually did) as Purvis the serious cop. Mark Stevens is adequate as his partner but O'Brien steals the picture.

Gale Storm would go on to greater fame on TV as "My Little Margie". Roland Winters had just finished playing Charlie Chan in the long running series.

"Between Midnight and Dawn" suffers from the light comedy scenes but overall is an enjoyable police buddy picture.

Somewhere between comedy and crime drama.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 6 November 2014]

Two patrol cops, one a light-hearted rookie (Mark Stevens), the other a cynical veteran (Edmund O'Brien), are old army buddies who fall for a pretty new secretary (Gale Storm) in their division and together escort her out for a night on the town. She is determined not to fall in love with a cop, having watched her mother ("Batman's" Madge Blake) go through losing her cop husband in the line of duty, but sweet mama interferes to the point of renting the second half of their duplex home to the two, frustrating Gale who wanted to steer clear of the two entirely outside of the office.

Dominating the sugar-coated situation comedy of this plot line is the determination to bring down a local crime kingpin (Donald Buka) who has resorted to violence in order to prevent his organization from being taken over by an even more ruthless mobster. This leads to one of the two cops being brutally murdered and the determination of the killer to escape from prison and seek revenge with the help of his nightclub singer girlfriend (Gale Robbins). This leads to a tense stand-off at the end involving Buka, Robbins and a screaming little girl whom Buka uses as a shield in order to get away. The mood changes drastically from the brief foray into light-hearted slapstick to gritty street drama, and the violence is actually quite graphic. It's not a great film, but certain sequences will have you on the edge of your seats.

Nothing spectacular but a nice, gritty cop story.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 3 November 2013]

Dan (Edmond O'Brien) and Rocky (Mark Stevens) are cops who are working the night shift. They are partners and darned good policemen. Their personalities are a bit different--Dan is very intense and Rocky is more laid back and a ladies' man. When they meet up with a pretty new policewoman (Gale Storm), Rocky soon falls for her and vice-versa. In fact, they plan on marrying. However, a nasty racketeer, Ritchie Garris, ends up spelling doom for the young couple's plans--and Dan is determined to capture this thug once and for all.

There's really nothing that spectacular about this cop film. Instead, it excels at focusing on seemingly normal cops and showing them in a somewhat non-Hollywood manner. While Dan is a bit stereotypical as the tough cop, Rocky and the rest of the film violate the usual expectations for police films. It's very watchable, well made and very well acted. Not exactly film noir, though, as it's a cop film and the crooks are secondary.

Mood Shifts Do Damage

[dougdoepke · 27 July 2015]

No need to recap the plot.

The opening scenes suggest this will be a tough-minded buddy picture, with the great Eddie O'Brien and a good-natured Mark Stevens playing the two prowl car cops. Fortunately, this buddy part is convincing. Add some jarring action scenes from much underrated Director Gordon Douglas, and there's considerable to recommend. Trouble is the later romantic parts shift the mood into none-to-convincing light-hearted comedy. To me, the shifts are noticeable, weakening the movie as a whole. Plus, I'm inclined to think Gale Storm is miscast as a police dispatcher, much too malt shop and glowing. Maybe it's the My Little Margie factor, for which she was perfect.

Nonetheless, there are a number of nice touches, such as the funny looking little boy, some good snappy lines, along with songbird Gale Robbins to add atmosphere. All in all, the 90-minutes doesn't fit easily into any category. It's mostly a crime drama, yet lacks the moral ambiguity of true noir. Still, any chance to catch Eddie O'Brien, one of Hollywood's best actors, makes the movie worthwhile, along with the great action scenes.

(In passing—can't help noticing the similarity of this 1950 screenplay to 1952's The Turning Point. And that's down to even O'Brien as the luckier of the two buddies, William Holden being the other buddy. I wonder: could it be that Hollywood would actually recycle a plot just two years later—then again, do mosquitoes bite.)

Here, buy yourself a new head. One with a brain in it!

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 9 November 2015]

Between Midnight and Dawn is directed by Gordon Douglas and adapted to screenplay by Eugene Ling from a story by Gerald Drayson Adams and Leo Katcher. It stars Edmond O'Brien, Mark Stevens, Gale Storm, Donald Buka and Gale Robbins. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by George E. Diskant.

Stevens and O'Brien play two prowl car cops, long time friends who fall for the same woman (Storm), but that could never come between them. That's the job of rising crime boss Ritchie Garris (Buka)...

On the page it looked as if it easily could have got bogged down by romantic threads and buddy buddy cop formula. Thankfully that isn't the case. Finding its way into a number of film noir publications, it's a pic that only just qualifies on account of certain narrative thematics and the night time photography of the always excellent Diskant.

On its own terms anyway it's a damn good policer, one that is handled with knowing direction from Douglas and features the reassuring presences of Stevens and O'Brien, both of whom play cops with different attitudes to the job, but both believable and never played as trite good cop bad cop fodder.

In the lady corner are Storm and Robbins, the former in the middle of our twin testosterone fuelled coppers, and the latter the gangster's moll. Both sultry and beautiful - even if Storm is sporting a hairstyle that equally is both distracting for the character and does her obvious sexiness no favours, but both the gals are written with thought and performed as such.

Then there is Buka as scumbag Garris. This character clearly has ideas above his station, something which our coppers gleefully like to remind him of. But Garris is a nasty piece of work, which ultimately leads us to a thrilling and suspenseful finale. Buka (The Street with No Name) really should have had a bigger noir/crime film career.

Sometimes funny and laced with choice dialogue, this still also manages to impact with dramatic, suspenseful and attention grabbing scenes. This a film that's easy to recommend to lovers of 40s/50s policer movies; it's also pretty bloody for the time. There's a great crew behind this and they don't let anyone down. 7/10

Noir gets a Sense of Humour

[Rathko · 7/10 · 10 April 2006]

An American Cinematheque presentation at The Egyptian.

B-movie, second-feature that plays as a cross between classic noir and serial melodrama. As such, it's easy to see how it's often credited with being a predecessor of the police procedural.

Stevens and O'Brian play two likable LAPD patrol cops. Gale Storm the wholesome new dispatch girl who keeps their attention at night. Most of the movie deals with the growing and affectionately written romance between Stevens and Storm, making the whole thing seem at times like a vintage episode of 'Payton Place'. But make no mistake, we're in noir territory, and it's only a matter of time before we're dealing with gangsters, their molls, heartbreaking tragedy and small children being held from eighth floor windows.

The leads are so charismatic, and the writing so sharp, that it's almost impossible not to like this film. Another little post-war gem of a movie.

Good But Not Great

[firefly1933 · 6/10 · 17 June 2007]

Make no mistake. Gordon Douglas staged splendid action scenes, and this film, like many he made in this period, are well worth watching. (My favorite is THEM, where the build-up to the appearance of the title menace is so good, taut, and believable that you simply accept the implausible when it appears.) But, it's stretching a point to call BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN a noir classic. It's really much more a police procedural (and I agree, no doubt an influential one) than a noir, even with the O'Brien character's bitterness and the iciness of the sociopathic heavy. And, while it's good of its kind and budget level, with some striking action set pieces, it's really no better than that.

The problem is that the Stevens and O'Brien cops, while extremely likable, are, despite the edgy shading given O'Brien, simply too good and heroic to be memorable noir icons. They're straight-shooting, professional cops--as is the entire force from the top down, and, as a result, never really become more than simple heroes. The Stevens' character's shooting is staged with brutal swiftness, and is a stunner, but his deathbed scene seems present only to motivate the cold-blooded (and, frankly, extremely improbable) lone-wolf heroics of O'Brien. And the villain Garris is a chilling hood and nothing more. His execution at the climax resolves matters effectively, but Garris' demise lacks the feral poetry that makes, say, Cody Jarrett's end in WHITE HEAT the noir classic it is.

That's what BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN is missing, as a supposed noir. Compare it to two other celebrated noirish police procedurals of the period--HE WALKED BY NIGHT and ON DANGEROUS GROUND, and you'll see, I hope, what I mean.

HE WALKED BY NIGHT was, in many ways, even more influential a police procedural than Douglas' film. Two things make it stick in the memory long after viewing, even to the point of haunting dreams. The first is the evocative shadowy camera-work of John Alton, combined with stunning locations like the LA sewers, to make the dogged police pursuit of their prey truly suspenseful. Maybe more important is the effort to make Richard Basehart's hi-tech thief more than just a stock villain: oh, he's a violent sociopath, yes, but he's also clearly smart, painfully alienated, and someone you can imagine making something of his life under other circumstances. One respects the cops for their efforts in this film, but one isn't expected to simply cheer them on, as I think was intended in the Douglas film. The climax of HE WALKED BY NIGHT was a tragedy. One can't say that for BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN.

ON DANGEROUS GROUND takes an element of BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN--a good cop gone to bitterness and violence from the job--and presents his redemption in a manner so remarkably poetic and memorable that it clearly demonstrates the difference between a true noir classic and a solid but unremarkable programmer. This Nicholas Ray movie--both in storyline and visuals (via George Diskant, who also shot the Douglas film)--takes great pains to present a world not of mere good cops and evil criminals, but characters on both sides of the law who share human tendencies for good and ill. Robert Ryan's cop is so obsessed with doing his job that he's become nigh psychopathic. He literally must be taken out of his familiar, suffocating haunts, and made to face the extent of his dehumanization. That this happens while he's pursuing the perpetrator of a horrific murder is but one of the resonant ironies that makes Ray's film linger in the mind and heart.

In short, real noir is poetic...and BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN, good that it may be, simply lacks the poetry of a true classic...

The Graveyard Shift

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 July 2015]

Between Midnight And Dawn refers to the graveyard shift that patrol car cops Edmond O'Brien and Mark Stevens are on where for some dead time a lot of action is happening. Most of it generated by a vicious local hood played by Donald Buka. O'Brien and Stevens really have it in for him, but that's nothing compared to how Buka feels about these two always cramping his style.

When some out of towners try to muscle in on Buka's rackets that starts a gang war. Most gang bosses have people on the payroll to take care of the dirty work, but Buka likes to get in on the action himself. That proves to be his undoing.

While all this is going on O'Brien and Stevens have a good natured rivalry for Gale Storm going on. Of course one of them does get her, but that's far from the whole story.

O'Brien and Stevens are fine as the cops, but Donald Buka probably got his career role as the vicious hood who is their nemesis. Some kudos should also go to Gale Robbins as the nightclub singer who is Buka's girlfriend. She finds out too late what a bad taste in men she has.

Between Midnight And Dawn is one good cop drama from Columbia Pictures that still holds up well for today.

First-rate police crime drama with excellent script

[robert-temple-1 · 9/10 · 8 January 2009]

This is a superb crime drama featuring two buddy cops, excellently played by Mark Stevens and Edmond O'Brien. O'Brien's performance is especially marvellous, and he was really in his stride. Three years later he would be tapped by director Ida Lupino to star in 'The Bigamist' (1953), which was surely the greatest performance of his career. He 'really had it in him' despite not being the leading man type, and he should have won more than just one Oscar in his career. This film is helped by a sensationally good screenplay by Eugene Ling. It is packed with excellent one-liners and gags, and has a lot of well-judged humour, even though it is a tense and noirish crime thriller, with a lot of police procedural background. At one point, one of the cops thrusts a bill into the breast pocket of a hood's jacket and says: 'Here, buy yourself a new head, one with a brain in it.' Salty comments like that run all the way through. Modern screenwriters have absolutely no idea how to write wisecracks which work when spoken, it is a lost art, and this is one reason why so many contemporary films are so lacklustre and dull. The chief 'hood' in this story is a criminal played by Donald Buka, who is so eerily convincing as a crazed crook, with his relentless eyes and severe case of lockjaw that one's spine tingles menacingly. Gale Storm is the wholesome love interest who has to overcome the psychological trauma of her policeman father having been killed on duty, and can she get involved with a cop and risk all that pain again. It is a good solid story. Buddy cops really can be just like that. My best friend from school became a sergeant on the D.C. police force, and I used to ride around in his patrol car with him and his buddy while on duty, visit the jails and chat to the latest prostitute arrests, hang around with the cops in his precinct at the station, and exchange gags and joke with them about the street corner drug-pushers ('candy-men'). Banter was the order of the day, as it is the only way to keep sane on a big city US police force, with enforced familiarity with human vermin on a daily basis. Two nice guys really can drive around, responding to calls, draw out their guns and shoot violent criminals, bring people in in handcuffs, and then sit and have a quiet hamburger and roar with jokes with their pals. Mark Stevens and Edmond O'Brien are wholly convincing as buddy cops, mixing toughness with tenderness, and it is obvious that they were copied in hundreds of later television dramas. This was undoubtedly a seminal film which had enormous influence on the film industry. It is very entertaining to watch, though some people will bite their nails anxiously in between the jokes, as portions of the tale are extremely harrowing, especially when a little girl is held hostage by a mad gunman and dangled out of a high window to prevent the police firing at him.

cop drama

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 1 August 2015]

One of the people reviewing on this site noticed a similarity to 1952's Turning Point and asked if Hollywood would recycle a film in just two years.

The answer to that is yes, but I think in this case, it was just a coincidence. Studios recycled scripts all the time - they would do it as an A picture, then another time as a B picture. But these are two different studios and the writers are different.

The story is about two police officers who are partners, Rocky Barnes and Dan Purvis (Edmund O'Brien and Mark Stevens) who work the night shift. Purvis is interested in the night call operator (Gale Storm) and wants to meet her. Both men meet her, become interested in her, and take her out to dinner. Turns out her father was a police officer who was killed, and she's not interested in dating cops.

However, thanks to her mother's interfering, they move into the other side of their house, which is for rent. Ultimately she becomes engaged to Purvis, which Barnes accepts with good grace.

Barnes and Purvis are trying to nab a mobster, Ritchie Garris (Donald Buka). They find out that a bigger mobster, Leo Cusick (Roland Winters) is planning on moving in on Garris' territory. When they finally are able to arrest Garris, he threatens to get back at Barnes and Purvis if it's the last thing he does. When he escapes, they're in danger. Police start watching the apartment of his girlfriend, Terry (Gale Robbins).

Pretty good drama with nice performances by all involved.

Forgettable cop drama from early 50s.

[drjgardner · 4/10 · 22 August 2015]

With World War 2 behind them and Korea in the future, film makers turned to crime dramas, which ultimately bled over into the nascent TV industry. Some of the more memorable police dramas from the 50s include "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" (1950), "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1950), "Detective Story" (1951), "The Big Heat" (1953), "The Big Combo" (1955), "The Phenix City Story" (1955), and "Touch of Evil" (1958). Many of these films had film noir elements, but the current film has neither film noir nor anything particularly special to recommend it.

The acting is good, especially from Edmond O'Brien ("The Killers", "The Wild Bunch", "The Barefoot Contessa", "Seven Days in May", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance") The film's director Gordon Douglas ("Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye", "I was a Communist for the FBI", "The Detective", "The Great Missouri Raid", "The Iron Mistress", "Them") keeps the action moving along. But with so many better police dramas from this era, it's hard to recommend this one.

Prowl Cars!!!

[kidboots · 9/10 · 27 March 2012]

Like a previous reviewer, I also like Gale Storm. I can still remember the theme music to her early TV show "The Gale Storm Show". Years later when I saw some of her older films I was struck by how pretty she was as well as being a terrific singer. Even in a Frankie Darro movie ("Let's Go Collegiate" I think) where she only tagged along, she really stood out, especially when she sang. Just imagine if she had been with MGM in some of those heady musicals with grade A productions as well as being surrounded by big stars, she would have really reached the top. But unfortunately she was trapped at Monogram and by the end of the 40s when she was starting to get a few interesting dramatic roles television beckoned. The star of this movie, Edmond O'Brien, was also terribly under-rated, in my opinion - it was his "ordinary guy" looks and lack of artifice in a decade of pretty boys (Robert Taylor, Tyrone Power) that probably kept him from stardom.

It was films like this one that set the high moralistic tone that was followed by TV shows such as "Dragnet", "Lock Up" and "Racket Squad". "Between Midnight and Dawn" attempted a very realistic portrayal of patrol men on the beat and their private lives, complete with the banter and wisecracks that in their stressful work environment they couldn't survive without (they called each other the "gruesome twosome"!!). Barnes (Mark Stevens) and Purvis (O'Brien) are a pair of "prowl car" cops who work the midnight to dawn shift. Barnes still has his humanity but Purvis is hardened, especially when it comes to "low dirty dames" who are involved with the scum of the street!!! A young girl caught up in a burglary gets no sympathy from hard hearted Purvis. His philosophy is that in a year's time she won't be so innocent!!! Barnes is shocked at his partner's attitude.

One thing they both agree on is the honeyed tones of the girl on the switchboard - a girl they have never seen!! Kate turns out to be just as beautiful as she sounds (how could she help it, being Gale Storm)!! and she is also the daughter of a policeman slain in the line of duty. That means initially she is firm in her resolve not to date policemen but of course she is talked around. I felt at first she was drawn to Purvis, but his steely and rough approach especially during a scene where he slaps singer Terry (Gale Robbins) silly to get her to talk, really shocks Kate. Of course with Edmond O'Brien at hand, she is not really going to end up with Barnes. He is neatly disposed of about 3/4 of the way through. Purvis then has about half an hour to find his sensitive side which he does, in a shootout involving a small child and Terry, whose actions cause him to have a major rethink about his attitude and his approach to his work!!

I would really recommend this terrific little movie, could it have been one of the first films to show the unglamorous policing of "prowl car" men?? And also the pity that Edmond O'Brien didn't get the acting kudos he so richly deserved!!

Just An Ordinary Man

[boblipton · 6/10 · 4 June 2023]

Mark Stevens and Edmond O'Brien are buddies from the war. Now they are cops together in the same patrol car. When Gale Storm comes into their lives, it seems that they might fight, but O'Brien bows out gracefully. This is, until hoodlum Donald Buka escapes from prison and kills Stevens.

One of the reasons that O'Brien is so good in his B pictures around the end of the fifth decade of the 20th Century is that he looks like an ordinary Joe: all right looking, but nothing to right home about, and he could afford to take off a few pounds. For anyone else, this would have meant supporting roles, and he did a lot of those. However, he also played leads in noirs and cop movies like this one, and even westerns. That's because he typified how American men thought of themselves: ordinary people, yeah, but capable of important things. To watch his descent into brutality after Stevens' death here, even with the Production Code still in force, is a fine bit of acting.

Between Midnight and Dawn - Uneven Noir

[arthur_tafero · 5/10 · 7 December 2023]

Ed O'Brien and Mark Steven are cop buddies. Gale Storm (whom I had a crush on as a child) plays a female police dispatcher (I think she is miscast here). The film revolves around these three main characters and a lowlife sleazeball who runs the rackets in the city. Another lowlife tries to horn in on Mr. Local Sleaze, but gets dispatched with efficiency by the kill-happy thug. When convicted in court and sentenced to fry, he vows revenge on the two cops. Margie, I mean Gail Storm, logically falls for Mark Stevens, who is slimmer and better looking than O'Brien. And the film is fine up to that point. Then it kind of veers off in undesirable directions and I am sure audiences were disappointed with the final half of the film. I will let you be the judge.

The original model for all TV cop shows !

[jivenjoe · 26 May 2004]

Contains Spoilers

Ever wondered how various producers, writers and directors came up with original ideas for such TV classics such as "Adam Twelve", "Dragnet", "CHIPS", "Police Story", "Columbo", "McCloud" and maybe even "Police Woman's" leading lady "Pepper" played by Angie Dickinson ? I'm sure this classic 1950 good cops and nasty bad guys "B" movie "Between Midnight and Dawn" had to have been THE model for "partner" cop dramas that teamed up two good, morally correct and by-the-book street cops together in some very dangerous, and very believable situations.

The two idealistic and by-the-book cops played by Mark Stevens and Edmond O'Brien present their roles with exceptional style. Donald Buka, who played in numerous criminal roles, also gives a great performance as the sadistic crime boss turned cop killer "Ritchie". The crime boss has one of the best "mugs" for crime stories - thin, nervous lips, a sub-zero stare and equally cold eyes that give audiences a lot of material for many nightmares.

This film was made in 1950 and certainly belongs into the upper level of classic "B" movies that showed a much darker side of society and the hidden slums of big cities in postwar America. It's obvious that the writers, directors, and producers of dozens of film classics such as "Ashfault Jungle" starring Sterling Hayden and "Cross Cross" starring Burt Lancaster were trying to make a very strong point that following the unbelievable horrors of World War II, the movies had many new, and more graphic boundaries in terms of depicting society, crime, suffering, and the sadistic nature of the those who prayed on the innocent.

"Between Midnight and Dawn" could easily be rewritten into a current police drama. Simply add some more currently cars, and a little more violence and you could have a major box office smash in 2004. . . . . . . This 1950 film is simple, and gives a new insight into the routine, predicable, and often violent surprises of the street cops who work the graveyard shift in an unknown, and large Midwest city. The scenes take place mostly at night, and show few, if any pretty interludes as Mark Stevens and Gale Storm (who plays a sexy voiced radio dispatcher) gradually begin a short, and tragic relationship.

Gale Storm was rarely given any opportunities to show her screen talents, and it's a rare treat to see this pretty gal who had several #1 song hits in the early 1950's (like "Dark Moon") display some great acting talents. Edmond O'Brien, who was one of the screen's grittiest and well-rounded actors comes across as a tough, no-nonsense cop who hunts down the sadistic killer of his partner Stevens. Early in the story, the two cops catch a nasty criminal who guns down a rival hood for control of the city's gambling action, and when he's brought to trial he swears revenge for the two cops who testify against him. Shortly before he's transferred to the state prison, the gunman's cohorts free him from a jail hospital in a dramatic escape and gun battle. Within hours Stevens is gunned down by Ritchie while out on patrol and his partner O'Brien watches in horror as his partner wilts under gunfire. Gale Storm, now in love with Stevens has a few last moments with him, and the two discuss plans about a wedding before Stevens dies on the operating table.

Now the stage is set for some major reprisals by the police, and the hunt takes a very personal mission by O'Brien who baggers and roughs up the killer's girlfriend - a beautiful night club singer in a vain attempt to gain the location of her "mad dog" boyfriend. Following the classic story line of "I'm an absolute sucker for my girlfriend", the killer foolishly sneaks into his sexy girlfiend's apartment, without realizing that the police have set up hidden microphones, and are monitoring her phone calls and all activities from the basement of her high rise building. Oh please, is this guy REALLY dumb or what ???

Within minutes police converge on the building, and put on a great show of spotlights, begin shouting into bullhorns "come out this is your last chance", and must have 100 police with guns of every description trained on the windows. In one last desperate attempt to buy some extra minutes for his escape, the mad dog killer grabs a small child from an adjoining apartment and dangles her outside the window . . . "You cops let me go or I drop this girl in 30 seconds" !!!!!. . . . WHEW, things are really tense, and the action level rises to the boiling point. The final moments have to go down as one of THE best classic life or death scenes between an army of cops, the determined O'Brien who wants blood, the equally determined mad dog killer, an innocent (and screaming) little girl and a suddenly turned moralistic girlfriend who jumps in front of her killer boyfriend's bullet meant for O'Brien. Just before the killer is shot dead in the hallway he makes one last insulting comment "You crazy dame" to his dying girlfriend. As expected the mad dog cop killer gets his punishment in the final and most violent scene (especially for 1950) and leaves a wall full of blood as he takes bullet after bullet from O'Brien.

We're not sure if O'Brien and Gale Storm begin a new love interest, however the director leaves a final subtle message that may very well be a STRONG possibility.

One final note, Hollywood had two very obvious "camps" of "A" and "B" actors and although all of the "B" group gave first rate performances in this fast-paced, and excellent film, very few of them ever made the transition into the "major leagues" of Hollywood. It's also very clear that the director choose a proven and reliable actor like Edmond O'Brien to greatly improve the over all quality and pace of this exciting melodrama.

The determined cops, the nasty criminals, and all of the supporting cast pulled out their talents to the max and made "Between Midnight and Dawn" one of the BEST of the top 100 crime dramas of all time from the classic black and white era. One of the best and shortest performances featured character actress Madge Blake who was one of the most recognized actresses in films of the 1950's. She also had a short revival of her career as Bruce Wayne's mother in TV's "Batman" in the mid-1960's.

Between Midnight and Dawn

[osloj · 6/10 · 23 November 2015]

Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)

(Alert of spoilers)

Edmond O'Brien is on the beat as a "prowl car cop" with his partner. It starts out good then delves into personal relationships and avoids anymore gritty noir. There's a decent car chase scene, some bad script continuity like the cops finding the car that shot up one of the main cop protagonists with ease and no stand out villains (think Lee Van Cleef in Kansas City Confidential (1952), Neville Brand in D.O.A. (1950) or The Mob (1951), William Conrad in The Killers (1946) and Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death (1947).) The ending is ridiculous as well, since one lousy main bad guy (Donald Buka) takes a young girl hostage and one hundred cops show up with searchlights.

Edmond O'Brien is his usual big-mouthed self, annoying us plenty; he's better as a villain.

Still, worth a look for the old city view (Pacific Electric Building, Los Angeles, California (1905)) and lovely Black and White Film.

City That Never Sleeps (1953), a Republic Pictures noir with Gig Young as a cop on the beat, is a lot better.

Here buy yourself a new head one with a brain in it

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 10 May 2012]

***SPOILERS*** One of the first films that depicts police partners has squad car Officers Rocky Barnes & Dan Purvis, Mark Stevens & Edmond O'Brian,and the problems that's involved in their both private and professional lives. The movie also has the cute and talented singer, even though she doesn't sing a note throughout the entire film, a pre-"My Little Margie" Gale Storm as police dispatcher Kate Mallory who's dad a police officer was killed in the line of duty five years ago. It's Kate who gets between the two police partners and eventually ends up marrying one of them.

It's both Barnes & Purvis' attempts to put part-time night club manager Ritchie Garris,Donald Buka,behind bars that in the end turns out to be deadly for them. In the two not realizing what a outright and maniacal psycho the guy really is. It in fact was out of town hood Leo Cusick, Ronald Winters, who set the deranged Garris off by muscling into his territory that started an all out gang war with Cusick ending up getting the worst of it.

Captured in a wild car chase by both Barnes & Purvis Garris is convicted and given the death penalty for the murder of Leo Cusick but as we soon see that he has other plans. Escaping from the prison infirmary Garris sets his sights, or gun sights, on both Barnes & Purvis who had him put away. Gunning down Barnes who had since married Kate Mallory Garris ends up hold up in his girlfriend nightclub singer Terry Romaine's, Gale Robbins, apartment together with the supernatant's 9 year old daughter Kathy, Lora Lee Michael, held as a hostage.

**SPOILERS*** Adrenaline driven final sequence with Purvis busting into Terry's fifth floor apartment. from the window ledge, with a teargas canister and having it out with the by now totally crazed and murderous Ritchie Garris. It was in fact Terry whom Purvis slapped around earlier in the film who ended up saving his neck by taking not one but three slugs meant for him by Garris. As for Garris he ends up getting blasted by Purvis and ironically as he falls down a flight of stairs he leaves his hand print on the wall covered with blood! That obviously meant to be, by the films director, all the blood that Garris had on his hands in the life of crime that he lead.

P.S Actor Donald Buka as the psychotic hood Ritchie Garris made a name for himself two years earlier as the snarling knife wielding psycho Shivvy in the movie "The Street with no Name" which incidentally also starred Mark Stevens as an undercover FBI Agent.

Bedtime Story 2

[kalbimassey · 7/10 · 10 October 2021]

Notable for its unusual shifts in nuance, tone and timbre, 'Between Midnight and Dawn' opens as a fly on the wall docu-noir, detailing the experiences of prowl car cops Stevens and O' Brien, during the hours of the title. Stevens' increased interest in Gale Storm results in a gawky, screwball rom-com sequence in which O'Brien finds himself cast as the disgruntled, gauche, threes-a-crowd outsider. Latterly, the movie returns to base as a ruthless hood vs dedicated cops drama.

Impressively scripted, acted and executed, including a prolonged, compelling, must see car chase, 'Between Midnight and Dawn' is one of the more laudable second division noirs. With the odd curve ball thrown in for good measure, it's worth an extensive prowl to seek out.

between midnight and dawn

[mossgrymk · 6/10 · 16 June 2023]

My suspicions were immediately aroused when Eddie Muller, in his intro, opined that the star of this film is its cinematographer, George Diskant. Uh oh, I thought. Guess we're in for some flat writing. And I was not wrong. How flat? Well, let's just say that were it not for an interesting queer spin on the anger of the patrolman played by Edmund O'Brien, an interpretation advanced by Eddie in his outro and with which I generally agree, there is nothing going on below the surface of this first buddy cop movie. And it's not as if the surface is all that scintillating either! Take away Diskant's night time, noir-ish camera and some well handled violence from director Gordon Douglas (as per usual) and it's basically a character desert in Eugene Ling's pallid screenplay, with caricatured, one dimensional villains, floozies, street kids and cops other than O'Brien vying with an extremely dull romance between Gale Storm and Mark Stevens. C plus.

Enjoyable, jocular, witty, exciting, fast-paced, righteous.

[chipe · 8/10 · 9 December 2011]

I found this movie to be very enjoyable to watch. There was no masterful overriding story, but it moved along at a good pace, was quite genial and had no faults. It might be called an early "procedural" in today's lingo: lots of radio squad car scenes, beaming messages in cop talk back and forth, well photographed auto chase scenes and shootouts. The directing, script, acting and cinema-photography were superior. In the movie the cops were all righteous and the criminals all incorrigibly bad.

Three things stood out for me, favorably: (1) I was always a big Gale Storm fan, stemming from my childhood watching of "My Little Margie" re-runs on TV (Gale was the co-star of the TV show, and part of the romantic triangle in this movie). (2) The repartee was often witty and jocular and never off-putting. For example, on an early date, Officer Rocky Barnes (played by Mark Stevens) is having his first dance with Gale Storm, and, holding her tightly he says, "I've been waiting a long time for this." She replies, "I can believe it. I feel a rib cracking." He responds, "Oh, control yourself, Barnes. This lady's got to last." (3) The relationship between the two police partners (Stevens and Edmond O'Brien) was friendly and jocular. It was nice to observe their respect for each other. Both were quite competent. O'Brien was the more serious, cynical and hard on criminals. Stevens was more relaxed and sensitive to criminals' feelings.

Perfunctory crime story mixes with more engaging romantic subplot

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 11 June 2023]

Between Midnight and Dawn offers a refreshing departure from the typical film noir conventions. Set apart by its focus on "the beat cop" and a daring romantic subplot involving a ménage à trois of sorts, the film delivers a unique experience for noir enthusiasts.

The story revolves around two beat cops and best friends, Rocky Barnes (Mark Stevens) and Daniel Purvis (Edmond O'Brien), who fought together in World War II. Rocky embodies a more easygoing nature, harboring hope for the reformation of certain criminals, while Purvis adopts a cynical and tough-on-crime stance.

The introduction of the menacing gangster Ritchie Garris (Donald Buka) adds tension to the narrative, as he interacts with both Barnes and Purvis, engaging in heated exchanges. Gale Robbins portrays Garris's girlfriend, Terry Romaine, whose fate becomes a pivotal moment of realization for Purvis, the sole surviving beat cop.

When Garris eliminates a rival mobster, he is apprehended, convicted, and sentenced to death for murder. However, an improbable escape from a jail infirmary allows Garris to seek revenge on Barnes and Purvis, the officers who initially arrested him.

Tragically, Barnes is shot and killed by Garris during a patrol car ride, showcasing a well-crafted and shocking moment that underscores the risks faced by law enforcement officers in their line of duty.

The culmination of the crime story feels somewhat perfunctory. Garris's unlikely behavior leads him to visit his girlfriend's apartment, where he is ultimately surrounded by the police following a statewide manhunt.

In a fitting display of resilience, Purvis confronts Garris and saves a young girl whom the antagonist was holding hostage.

What truly sets "Between Midnight and Dawn" apart is its compelling romantic subplot. Both cops vie for the affections of Katherine Mallory (Gale Storm), a police radio operator and clerical worker whose father, also a police officer, died in the line of duty.

Mallory plays coy, resisting the advances of both Barnes and Purvis, but eventually relents and begins to develop feelings for Barnes, the more tender-hearted of the two.

The death of Barnes brings Purvis and Mallory closer together, and it becomes evident in the final scene that they are destined to become a couple.

Importantly, Purvis's acknowledgment to Mallory that Garris's girlfriend may have redeemed herself by saving his life potentially influences Mallory's decision. Earlier, Purvis had dismissed Romaine as a "tramp" with little chance of redemption.

The film features intelligent dialogue between the protagonists, and their interactions with the strong-willed female lead prove engaging. While the crime story adheres to the standard noir formula, the inclusion of the romantic subplot enhances the depth of the main characters, making "Between Midnight and Dawn" a noir film worth watching.

Trite and "sexist" B movie discredits the great B-movie genre

[rockymark-30974 · 3/10 · 28 April 2021]

This movie begins in a very promising manner as hardcore cop and noir film and but soon disintegrates into a silly love story that is more sexist than sexy with 2 cops who think it's cure to "harass" a woman and, worse, it turns out that she finds their harassment irresistible after she gets used to it. Kate's mother must be as sexist as the cops. (I would add that I have zero tolerance for feminism, so my review is far from being based on political correctness. But there's a difference between being politically correct and just disliking stupid rude behavior.

The plot doesn't even make sense. Syndicate operators don't start fights with cops if they can help it. The first car chase scene following the rubout of the competitor doesn't make sense. Rubouts are usually done in a very surgical manner, except in movies in the 1930s. But this movie was made in 1950.

So much is wrong with the film, including the gangster's escape from the prison infirmary (or was it hospital?), his appearance at his girlfriend's home, which should be the last place he would go to. Taking the child hostage just added another cliche to the film I confess the scene where Edmund O'Brien walked along the ledge of the building was well done.

It's obvious to see why Gale Storm did so well in the "My Little Margie" and "Oh, Susanna" series, since she was not made for serious drama, as this part shows.

This is one of the few B noirs that just was a misfire all the way. Parenthetically, today two cops in hot pursuit of an employee at the police station would hardly be considered amusing.

PS: I clicked no spoilers since that's a nebulous term. In a sense any detail in a plot is a spoiler. But as I understand the word "spoiler" must pertain to a key "surprise" that the average viewer is not supposed to guess, not any fairly predictable development in the plot. A classic example of a spoiler in my view would be the ending of *Psycho." not that a gangster in a movie is killed at the end.

Fascinating Cop Movie

[januszlvii · 8/10 · 8 April 2023]

Between Midnight and Dawn which I saw on ok.ru is a fascinating cop movie that has a completely different outcome then you would expect. It is about Rocky Barnes ( Mark Stevens) the younger and more sensitive cop, and. Daniel Purvis (Edmond O'Brien) the older and more hardened cop. There is a love triangle between them and Katherine Mallory ( Gale Storm) who is a police dispatcher. Of course, there is a bad guy and it is Ritchie Garris (Donald Buka), who is one of the nastiest villains you will ever see in a movie. Watch the scene between him and a little girl named Kathy he hangs out a window and you will get what I mean. Spoilers ahead: Rocky is engaged to Katherine but is murdered by Garris ( revenge for him and Purvis arresting him). Of course it is up to Purvis to get Garris and save the girl, which he does but only after Ritchie's girlfriend Terry sacrificed herself to save Purvis. In the next to last scene, Kathy's mother says to Katherine "Take Care Of Him." and she says "I will." and in the final scene they walk away arms locked together, so it is more then implied they are getting married. It is interesting that it is the older cop that gets the girl and the younger one who dies ( unlike most films where the older one dies and the younger one survives). Basically two people had to die for O'Brien to end up with Storm. It is certainly worth watching mostly for O'Brien ( good as usual) and Buka. 8:10 stars.

police crime drama

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 4 June 2023]

Officer Rocky Barnes (Mark Stevens) and Officer Dan Purvis (Edmond O'Brien) are prowl car cops. The partners patrol the dirty streets through the night. They both fall for radio dispatcher Kate Mallory (Gale Storm).

It's a slice of cop life and neo-noir crime drama. It's doing the street level thing. Sure, it's the 50's version, but it does have an edge. It doesn't deal with drugs or the race issue. It does deal with violence, loan shark, and the mob. The love triangle is PG non-dramatic. I really prefer staying on the streets. That's where the energy is. This is good as long as it keeps it real.

Mind-Boggling Sexism

[disinterested_spectator · 5/10 · 25 July 2015]

Most of us understand that when we watch an old movie, allowances must be made for the times in which it was produced. There are some people who refuse to do this. They will hold a movie made fifty years ago to the same standards we have today, being outraged when, for example, Walter Neff in "Double Indemnity" says he has a "colored woman" come in and clean his apartment once a week, as if he should have known to say "African American" in 1944 when the movie was made. On the other hand, there are times when even with the best will in the world, we find ourselves appalled at what we see or hear in an old movie, as is the case with "Between Midnight and Dawn."

In a way, the sexism of this movie is the only thing remarkable about it. Otherwise, it is a routine story about a couple of cops taking on some mobsters, about which little needs to be said. And as for the sexism, I am not referring to the difference between the two cops regarding women who associate with hoodlums. Dan thinks they are no good and hates them, while Rocky believes that some of them are just frails, basically good girls who have been led astray. At the end of the movie, when a gangster's ex-girlfriend takes a bullet to keep Dan from being killed, he realizes he was wrong and that his deceased partner was right. That aspect of the movie was the best part.

It is the interaction between the two cops and Kate, who works for the police as a radio communicator. When they finally meet her, both men take a fancy to her and ask her to go to dinner with both of them, which must have seemed just as odd when this movie was made in 1950 as it does today. She declines their invitation, saying she has to work late, but they keep pressuring her. What they are doing borders on sexual harassment by today's standards, but by old-movie standards, she is wrong-headed for not going out with them, and they are right to keep pushing her. It is all supposed to be cute, but it is a little cringe-worthy.

But it gets worse. At the end of the evening, she tells them she has no intention of going out with either of them again, because she does not want to become involved with a policeman. Her father was a cop, and she saw how her mother worried he would be killed, and eventually he was. But her mother does not respect her opinion, and the two cops do not take "No" for an answer, so the mother rents the other half of the duplex she and Kate live in to the policemen, her mother's way of playing cupid. And as they move in, they purposely make lots of noise, singing and hammering, until Kate goes to see what is going on.

I know that the scene is played for laughs, but not only did I not laugh, it was at this point that my ability to make allowances for old movies gave way to sheer revulsion. Could it really be that audiences in 1950 approved of this behavior on the part of the mother and the two cops, and thought that what they did was appropriate? In any event, as per the usual wrong-headed-woman trope, Kate finally falls in love with Rocky and agrees to marry him. Rocky is killed by a gangster later in the movie, but Kate tells her mother that even though her worst fears were realized, she was still wrong-headed about not wanting to date cops, because otherwise she might have met Rocky earlier, and they could have had a few years of being happily married anyway.

Then, to really cap things off, when Dan admits he was wrong about the gangster's girlfriend at the end of the movie, Kate puts her arm through his and they walk off together, giving us just a hint that they might end up getting married eventually, which is pushing it, since Rocky was only recently killed.

Well, enough of that. I said earlier that the outrageous sexism in this movie is the only notable thing about it. That is not quite true. Clint Eastwood once said that before Sergio Leone made "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), movies never showed the person shooting and the person being shot in the same frame. He was wrong about that, there being several movies before 1964 in which shootings were filmed that way. This movie is one of them, there being two such scenes, one near the beginning and one near the end.