All Through the Night [VHS]
A slight but enjoyable comedy-thriller,All Through the Nightoffers Humphrey Bogart as Gloves Donahue, a Big Apple high-roller whose fondness for cheesecake ultimately pits him against Nazi saboteurs and fifth columnists.  Bogart, having fun with a lighter variation on the gunsels that were his cinematic calling card, makes Gloves a natty, wise-cracking gambler and petty crook who can't be bothered to look beyond the sports page as the story opens.  By the final reel, however, he's considerably better informed on current events, transformed into a newly minted, patriotic vigilante ready to "knock those heels on their Axis."In line with Hollywood's own surging patriotism of the day, the script is cheerful propaganda that makes good use of Conrad Veidt as the fanatical chief saboteur (complete with dachsund!), Peter Lorre as a leering trigger man, and Judith Anderson as the spy ring's coldly elegant second-in-command.  When their top secret plan to sabotage the newest U.S. battleship leads them to murder the kindly German who bakes Gloves' favorite cheesecake, Bogart and a wonderful cast of shady good guys (including William Demarest, Frank McHugh, Barton MacLane, Phil Silvers, and a very young but already flamboyant, double-talking Jackie Gleason) are drawn into the intrigue. Helping heighten Bogie's curiosity is a blonde German nightclub singer (Kaaren Verne) with her own dangerous secret.It's worth noting that another 1942 Bogart vehicle from the same producer (Hal B. Wallis) shared several key supporting players, another patriotic (and arguably propagandist) subtext, and even a pale-haired European love interest. Instead of a Damon Runyon-esque New York, however, it was set overseas--in Casablanca.--Sam Sutherland