Barbara Stanwyck and Marilyn Monroe star in Fritz Lang's CLASH BY NIGHT, based on a play by Clifford Odets. Lang (M, METROPOLIS, THE BIG HEAT) stays true to form with this disturbing yet subtle portrait of the dangerous undercurrents of everyday life and the push and pull of greed and loyalty in modern relationships. The film begins with Mae Doyle (Stanwyck) returning to the safe haven of her hometown, a small fishing community in Monterey, California. Upon her arrival, she is befriended by a newly married young woman working in the canneries, played by Monroe. Mae also finds a friend in a kindhearted fisherman whom she quickly marries. But before too long Mae has thrown herself into a tumultuous affair with another man.In the second half of the movie, which takes place a year after the first, Mae willingly abandons her husband and child to pursue her affair. But she quickly learns that her new lover is a bitter, angry man. With him she's not the person that she used to be. She regrets her decision terribly and wishes that she could return to her husband--that is, if he could ever forgive her. Stanwyck's performance as a world-weary vamp is compellingly juxtaposed with Monroe's performance as a sassy, naive newlywed, as each character offsets the other's personal struggles. The storms that batter the coast of the gritty, realist locale mirror the storms that rage within each character as they search for the meanings of their lives. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.