Main Street After Dark (1945) User Reviews

Odd second feature

[JohnSeal · 5/10 · 27 February 2000]

Main Street After Dark starts out like a big city Shadow of A Doubt, takes a brief turn into Arsenic and Old Lace territory, and then spends it's last half hour playing out as an expanded edition of MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series. It's vaguely unsatisfying but features a stellar cast and has moments of noir sensibility. There are many worse ways to spend a mere 57 minutes of time.

A Great Cast With The Makings Of A Great Film

[krorie · 6/10 · 20 October 2005]

Too bad that more work and fine tuning wasn't put into this film. What you get is a mildly entertaining programmer about a family of pickpockets harassed by a police lieutenant who could be held partly responsible for the murder that takes place during a robbery. Even the title is misleading. with a title like "Main street After Dark," one would expect to see either a film noir or a "Naked City" type docudrama. Instead we get a "Crime Does Not Pay" type package that plays too much like a stage presentation, especially for the first thirty minutes. That's not to take away from an intriguing story, acted out by a stellar cast. One of the reviewers for IMDb mixes up the family, although the review itself is excellent. The family consists of ma, one daughter, and two sons. Lefty is one of the sons. He is married to Jessie Belle.

Worthwhile Offbeat Period Piece

[baese · 7/10 · 18 August 2002]

The fascinating notion of a family of pick-pockets during WW II,headed by a female 'Ma',is explored in this strange movie.When the older daughter's husband gets out of prison he commits an armed robbery ending in murder,which brings the police down on the family.'Ma' has two daughters and a son involved in "patty rolling"[pick-pocketing & stealing watches from servicemen].Too straight forward to be a Film Noir,it nevertheless has aspects of the style,especially the photography of the night streets & dance halls.It also has "Noir Icons" Audrey Totter & Dan Duryea in it.Hume Cronyn is very good as a smarmy "Fence".Edward Arnold is the chief detective who eventually brings down the family.The son[Duryea] is killed,and the women and son in law are shown in prison.Arnold ends the film with a pseudo sociological speech on crime.This period piece/oddity is well worth the hour it takes to watch it.If it were more well known it has enough idiosyncrasies to make it a cult film.

Audrey Totter Proved She Was Going Places!!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 23 June 2012]

I don't know quite what I expected, seeing Dan Duryea and Audrey Totter in the cast, maybe a re-working of "Scarlet Street" but I was wrong, very wrong!! Warning bells did go off when I saw the MGM logo and heard the rather dinky music which had my husband questioning "Is this a musical"??

The Dibson family reminded me of the sort people that Judge Hardy metered out strong justice to at the Carvervill Court House. That is what the movie reminded me of - when Andy and Polly Benedict are going off to the school dance, the Dibsons, from the other side of the tracks are out taking servicemen for a ride.

Audrey Totter puts the most into her role, she tries to give it all the meat and venom she can and she succeeds by being the most memorable character in the movie. She plays Jessie Belle, married to "Lefty" (an actor called Tom Trout who didn't go anywhere) who is due out of prison that day. She has been the chief breadwinner of the family - Ma (Selena Royle) spends her time worrying about her sons, Posey (Duryea, in a very subdued performance) doesn't do anything but live off whatever people bring home but Rosey, the youngest daughter, is learning fast - she is making a lucrative living pinching watches that Ma takes down to a very weird pawn broker (Hume Cronyn, who at 34 was made up to look 64!!!)

Jessie Belle is getting by pretty nicely flirting with servicemen, who then discover their wallets are missing. It's not only Jessie, the whole town's female population seem to be in on the racket, so much so that the Navy is thinking of moving it's base!! Representing the law is good old Edward Arnold as Lt. Lorrgan who devises a fool proof plan for catching these light fingered Lolitas. A group of navy men (I'm convinced Sterling Hayden is one of them) are handed wallets with money dabbed with luminous paint. Meanwhile "Lefty" is out and he is not content with the family's "small town" activities. He has his eye on the takings from "Barney's Club" so just after Jessie deposits her incriminating wallet with "Lefty" he gets Posey to act as getaway driver while he robs the unsuspecting Barney who then pulls his own gun. Posey, who seems to be the most law abiding member of the family drives home where they are all greeted by Lorrgan for a "Crime Doesn't Pay" showdown.

Audrey Totter made her film debut in this movie and you could instantly tell she was going to go places. Her intense and "noirish" personality lifted her out of this pretty so-so "the Hardy Family's Black Sheep Relatives" kind of movie!!

All in the family.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 16 May 2021]

This film is about a family of scum and a cop, Lt. Lorrgan (Edward Arnold) who knows that they are scum and hopes to catch them! It seems that the Dibson family would rather make money picking pockets and rolling drunks instead of working and one of the sons, Lucky, is coming home from prison. He's learned nothing from his incarceration and plans on going right back to his crooked ways....just like his mother, brother, sister and Lucky's wife.

Up until the end, I fully intended to give this one a 7...or possibly and 8. MGM Made an awfully good B-movie...that is, up until the end. Just a few minutes from the end of the film, the Lieutenant goes to the Dibson family home to look for the sons. However, Ma doesn't want him arresting her sons, so she pulls a gun on the cop. He's able to get it away from her and only a minute or so later, the sons arrive. Now, remember, Ma just threatened to kill the cop with a gun...and no one is paying attention to her and she, once again, grabs a gun!! Now, no cop could be THAT stupid...and Arnold's character didn't seem dumb at all up until then. I think the director just wanted to wrap the film up and keep it B-movie length....and Bs were supposed to be inexpensive...so they just filmed this contrived portion instead of coming up with some better ending!

Crime does not play

[vandino1 · 26 January 2006]

This is one of those 60 minute-sized 'Crime Does Not Pay' features made by the same producing-directing team of Bresler and Cahn that worked on the 'Crime' shorts. Arnold is a Lieutenant Detective trying to bust "paddyrollers" and other pickpockets taking servicemen for their dough during World War 2. Interesting little subject for the time. The pickpocket gang is led by Selena Royle as "Ma." There's also Tom Trout as her tough-talking son just out of prison and a squealy-voiced Dan Duryea as the other son. Totter is Trout's wife. Of course they eventually get busted by Arnold (by Arnold's use of chemically treated money with marks that show up only under ultra-violet light---a Crime Club gimmick). Arnold is imperturbable and grinning throughout, to the point of absurdity. Also absurd is the sight of Hume Cronyn in a bald-cap playing a pawn shop owner. But the film IS short so it gets by quickly enough to stay watchable.

Crime oater

[searchanddestroy-1 · 6/10 · 15 December 2021]

This film belongs to the first part of Edward L Cahn's career, before he drowned in grade B and even Z movies industry. This light hearted crime film made for MGM is not uninteresting for gem diggers as I am. This is a feature destined to the whole family for matinee theaters. It is short but not as sharp and brutal as a Warner Bros pictures of the same period, because this is not Ma Barker and her sons gang, another crime family scheme. And I found very amusing a scene of the whole criminal family, sitting in the living room and listening on the radio, not a song nor the news but guess what, the police messages thtru a scanner.....very unusual...

crime drama plus war effort

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 16 May 2023]

From the outside, the Gibsons are an all-American suburban family. In reality, it's a den of thieves. Ma Dibson is trading with crooked pawn dealer Keller (Hume Cronyn). His son Lefty gets released from prison. Her daughter Rosalie and daughter-in-law Jessie Belle dance with and steal from servicemen. Posey is her other thieving son. Lt. Lorrgan keeps a close eye on family and offers Lefty a farm job milking cows.

This is an one hour movie that plays more like a Crime Does Not Pay short. It's also possibly a warning for soldiers on leave. That seems to be part of the war effort. The acting is pulpy good especially sassy Audrey Totter. I am surprised to see Hume Cronyn who dons a bald cap to look like his older self although I don't think he ever got that bald. I like the family although I wish their thieving is more imaginative and dangerous.

Low budget B-film is a curious piece of work...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 1 July 2007]

MGM usually produced smoother B-films than MAIN STREET AFTER DARK, a curious item that starts out as a small-town study of crime, turns into a family melodrama about a bunch of pick-pockets and thieves, and then turns deadly serious when a murder is committed and the "crime doesn't pay" theme is attached to the unhappy ending.

SELENA ROYLE is the tough head of a crime family (in the sort of role you'd expect to find Shelley Winters) with TOM TROUT and DAN DURYEA as her criminal sons and AUDREY TOTTER as her wise-cracking daughter-in-law. The story involves girls who prey on soldiers and sailors to steal their wallets and anything else for financial gain so the profits can be turned over to the local pawnbroker (HUME CRONYN).

It's rather slow going even for a film that lasts just under an hour and leads to an obvious "crime doesn't pay" sort of conclusion.

The treatment is dated and heavy-handed with EDWARD ARNOLD in one of his least convincing roles as a detective committed to solving the series of petty crimes that eventually lead to a murder.

Summing up: You'll find the cast interesting but the plot is strictly by the numbers.

Tom Is Coming Home!

[boblipton · 6/10 · 16 March 2024]

It's a typical wartime home: service star in the window, family sitting quietly in the living room. The door bell rings. It's a a telegram. There's tension. Tom Trout is coming home! They discuss what food there'll be and argue over who gets to cook it. After all, it's not everyday that Tom gets out of prison!

Selena Royle is the mother of the brood, with Dan Duryea as the other son; Audrey Trotter (in her screen debut) is Trotter's wife, and there's little Dorothy Morris to round out the clan. Police lieutenant Edward Arnold never seems far away, urging Trotter to keep out of trouble, mentioning that the farms are short-handed Mostly, though, this movie is hanging around, waiting for the boys to do something dangerous and get collared. With less than an hour to do it in, it doesn't take long.

A great opening scene and Arnold playing one of his chuckling characters keeps this one good. Otherwise, it looks like an expanded entry in the Crime Does Not Pay series.

main st after dark

[mossgrymk · 4/10 · 2 June 2023]

One of the pleasures of watching a good B movie is seeing film makers successfully tackle themes and stories that often elude prestige films made on three times the budget and featuring famous directors and big stars.

Unfortunately, this is not a good B movie.

It is directed, photographed and written with such sputtering amateurishness by folks named. Cahn, Higgins, Kamb and Rose that it resembles those unintentionally hilarious anti smoking and anti juvenile delinquency shorts that were shown in your high school guidance class if you were a teenager in the 1950s or early 60s. The only things that save it from utter perdition are that it's mercifully short (57 minutes) and it boasts some truly gifted actors like Hume Cronyn, Dan Duryea, Edward Arnold, Audrey Totter and Selena Royale. They prove their thespian greatness by managing to keep their heads just above the bilge water that is the film's dialogue. C minus.

Decent Drama

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2008]

Main Street After Dark (1945)

** (out of 4)

Edward L. Cahn directed this drama about a family a pickpockets who prey on sailors at a local bar. Cahn directed several of the "Crime Does Not Pay" entries for MGM and I'm going to guess this 57-minute film was meant to be an extended version of that. Sadly there isn't too much going in this film and comes off rather dull in the end. The storyline never really takes off even though there's an impressive cast including Edward Arnold, Selena Royle, Audrey Totter and Hume Cronyn.

This one shows up on Turner Classic Movies ever couple of years.

Criminal mother and her family

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 24 February 2022]

There is a Paramount programmer called QUEEN OF THE MOB (1940). It features Blanche Yurka as a Ma Barker type character.

While watching MAIN STREET AFTER DARK, I realized five minutes into the movie, that it was MGM's version of the Ma Barker story. MGM's production has glossier values which I think works against the story. In the Paramount version, as well as Warner Brothers' subsequent WHITE HEAT, the felonious mother is not glamorous at all. She is seedy and commonplace which I think helps get across the idea that these are destitute people, struggling financially and they are desperate to enjoy the 'good life.'

In MGM's version, the corrupt matriarch (Selena Royle) and her daughter (Dorothy Morris) are interested in taking expensive jewelry and other fine things that will make them look prettier. The mother certainly wouldn't use a gun unless she had to, and before the end of the movie she does. But she's a far cry from the pistol packing mama that was in charge of the real-life Barkers.

Also MGM makes this seem like the family isn't much different from the Hardys, except that they steal to get ahead. Having the bulk of the action filmed on the studio backlot where all the Andy Hardy movies were made gives it an additional sense of upper-middle class deja vu.

Despite the contrivances, I do think the cast is quite exceptional here. Selena Royle is very convincing, and so is Dan Duryea who plays one of her crooked sons...as well as Audrey Totter as her daughter-in-law. This was Totter's motion picture debut and having her play 'bad' alongside Duryea is a lot of fun to watch. Ma's other son is played by the mostly unknown Tom Trout, who appeared in several pictures at the studio, before doing some television work in the 1950s and heading off into obscurity.

The star of MAIN STREET AFTER DARK is Edward Arnold. He plays the local police lieutenant. He is on a crusade to help straighten out this thieving woman and her brood. But try as he might, they just won't listen to reason. Since crime does not pay and they refuse to turn from a life of crime, most of the family end up dead or in the hoosegow at the end of the story.

There is a subplot involving a pawn shop owner (Hume Cronyn) who buys the items that are lifted off visiting soldiers. This aspect of the film gives it a more contemporary mid-40s feel.

Edward Arnold delivers a speech in the middle of the film, telling the soldiers that they need to be careful of devious women in nightclubs who will pickpocket them or scam them in ways they may be unwise to...clearly, this is Arnold speaking directly to the men in uniform that are in the theater watching this very movie.