Roadhouse Nights *** (1930, Helen Morgan, Charles Ruggles, Fred Kohler, Jimmy Durante) – Classic Movie Review 7809

Director Hobart Henley’s 1930 mob thriller Roadhouse Nights is a cult item as it is loosely based on Dashiell Hammett’s 1929 classic gangster novel Red Harvest, which is also the basis for numerous films, including Akira Kurasawa’s Yojimbo and Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars.

From that original source, screen-writer Ben Hecht concocts a fast-moving mélange of action and comedy in this tale of an easy-living, bootlegging hood Sam Horner (Fred Kohler) brought to justice by a boozing newspaper writer with the unlikely name of Willie Bindbugel (Charles Ruggles), helped by his one-time girlfriend Lola Fagan (Helen Morgan), now the singer at Kohler’s roadhouse. Kohler has already killed a reporter (Joe King) previously on his trail.

The plush cast handles the mix of crime thriller dramatics, torch songs and tart comedy with some style, with Helen Morgan, Charles Ruggles and Fred Kohler all excellent, and so is Jimmy Durante in his debut, as Daffy.

Also in the cast are Fuller Mellish Jr, Leo Donnelly, Tammany Young, Lou Clayton, Eddie Jackson, Harry C Bradley and Hal K Dawson.

Roadhouse Nights is directed by Hobart Henley, runs 70 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Ben Hecht (original screenplay) and Garrett Fort (continuity), is shot in black and white by William O Steiner, and produced by Walter Wanger.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7809

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