User reviews

Gregory Peck plays a U.S. Army Provost caught up in exchanging a married couple wanted by Russians for a captured American soldier in "Night People," set in post-war Berlin. By today's standards, this film is on the talky side, with not much action. Although the script was nominated for an Oscar, it's problematic - the denouement was much too simple, for one thing.

Broderick Crawford is the father of the captured soldier, and he does an excellent job. Rita Gam is Ricky, Peck's beautiful and feisty secretary. There are several TV faces as well: Buddy Ebsen, Walter Abel, and Max Showalter. Anita Bjork is "Hoffy," a woman who works for Peck yet may be playing both ends.

But the film is really Peck's, who does a fantastic job creating an interesting, tough, passionate, decisive, and funny character. He's instantly both likable and admirable.

This is an extremely well done motion picture. The first directorial job of longtime writer Nunnally Johnson revealed a fine talent which created suspense and captures the audience minds without resorting to chases and explosions. Everything happens indoors, and it is question of brains not of fists.

A magnificent job by Broderick Crawford and Gregory Peck, and a well done investigation into cold war minds, all about the kidnapping by the Russians of an U.S.Corporal in Berlin, in order to exchange him for a couple of elderly Germans wanted supposedly by former Nazis in the service of the Soviets. Everything works wonderfully, until one asks why didn't the Russians kidnap the couple in the first place and save all the trouble.

Curiously, this was nominated to an Oscar for best original story... It lost, and the award went to Philip Yordan for Broken Lance, which was based not on an original story but in the screenplay Yordan had written in 1949 for House of Strangers, from a story by Jerome Weidman.

The Cold War was settling in for a deep freeze when Night People was made in 1953. The story is about the kidnapping of an American corporal on occupation duty in Berlin and the efforts by our military to get him back.

Mind you this isn't any ordinary corporal. Turns out he's the son of Broderick Crawford who is doing a light version of his junk tycoon from Born Yesterday. As it is explained in a line which audiences today might not get, 'he plays golf'. That he was a businessman who played golf was meant that he played regularly with the most famous golfer in America. You could not go a week in the USA of the Fifties without reading in the newspapers or hearing on radio or television about President Eisenhower tearing it up at some golf course. No one born after 1956 or so would possibly grasp the meaning of that description.

So Crawford goes to Berlin to get some action and he runs into Gregory Peck of the Provost Marshal's office who does things in his own time and won't be bullied or influenced.

Peck's role calls for him to be soldier, diplomat, and psychologist all in one. But he's a professional and he carries it off despite a few unexpected wrinkles. One of them turns out to be Anita Bjork who has been working both sides of the Cold War in an effort to obtain her much needed absinthe.

Aiding and abetting Peck in his attempt to free the corporal are Rita Gam as his girl Friday, Sgt. Buddy Ebsen, Peck's non-com aide, and army doctor Walter Abel who has to be on standby at the climax of the film. Why is that, you have to watch Night People to find out, but Abel's needed for a potential emergency.

Berlin ever since the airlift was at the center of the Cold War with the Russians. The wall had not been built yet and after that things kind of settled to an uneasy acceptance until the fall of the Soviet Union. Night People is an average Cold War drama made better by the presence of some A list cast members and a tightly edited script by Nunnally Johnson who also directed.

It is always difficult to watch a movie that is now 46 years old and assess it as I am continually comparing movies of the 50's to that of the 90's. With special effects, digital sound and plenty of action in movies these days, I have to be careful not to expect the same type of style from 46 yr old movies.

Night People was nominated for an academy award for screenplay I believe. The movie is certainly enjoyabe and makes you think but as others have already pointed out there is one serious flaw with the story line that detracts from the overall viewing pleasure (to which I shall explain).

The plot centres around a young American GI being kidnapped by the soviets with a view of having him exchanged for to ex Nazi's who double crossed the Germans's during the war and are now hiding in Berlin (the West side). The Russians wish to exchange the American GI (who's father just happens to be a prominent businessman who flies to Berlin to exert his influence). One questions begs answering. Why didn't the Russians just kidnap the two ex Nazi's themselves without any American involvement????

And to add insult to injury the actual exchange insults the intelligence of the viewer as the Russians appear total clutses (the hand over the hostage in American territory before they receive their Nazi's (in fact they don't anyway). Sheer stupidity.

That aside, what the movie did highlight to me was that Gregory Peck was / is an outstanding actor. He is so far above the other cast members it isn't funny. His portrayal of Col Steve Van Dyke is excellent, being harsh, caring and funny at the appropriate moments. The movie also allowed me to acknowldege Broderick Crawford's acting ability.

I gave the movie a 7/10, it is certainly enjoyable enough, but I can't help wonder how the script got an Oscar nomination?

I really enjoy this movie and have seen it frequently through the years. It has been running on the Fox Movie Channel lately. I think the other comments are probably true, but I enjoy watching the film nonetheless. I love the very end when Gregory Peck is listening to the way the situation he commanded is presented by the news over the radio, while he smokes and surveys the cleaned-up city of Berlin. Peck presents a man who might be in a dirty job but can look himself in the mirror. I agree it is an adult movie in that the characters acted like adults. I felt during the drinking scene Hoffie conveyed that she had some remorse and was tired. (Just before, I enjoyed scene showing the bad feelings between Hoffie and the secretary. "Would you be kind enough to tell Major VanDyke that I am here, please?) Later, it was pretty clear how Hoffie figured out Steve was onto her. The other character I liked was the British fellow. I enjoyed his dialog. I told my British husband about the scene. I also enjoyed listening to the American idiom of the time. I liked all of the characters very much and look forward to seeing it again. Another user mentioned the Oscar for best screenplay for 1954 went to Broken Lance. I liked that movie, too!

A splendid thriller set at the beginning of the Cold War . It deals with an US soldier kidnapped by the Russians . Gregory Peck plays the military officer assigned to resolve the case by carrying out a swap . Broderick Crawford performs the wealthy and obtrusive man whose son has beeen abducted by the Communists . While Rita Gam appears as Gregory Peck's secretary who helps the starring . A stirring story of Cold War Berlin and one tough , rugged , two-fisted American who fought blond bait and hidden fire in a One Man War ..to bring kidnapped GI back alive ! The story of a country-spy !

A nice drama of espionage and contra-espionage with crosses , double-crosses , double-agents and being well set in post-WWII . It displays a complex intrigue with thrills , suspense, twists and turns . It contains attractive acting , adequate photography , appropriate set design , evocative musical score and alright realization . For any thriller going filmmaker Nunnally Johnson deserves all the praise . Main and support cast are frankly well , giving efficient interpretations . Gregory is pretty good , as usual , as commander-in-chief whose hard mission goes awry , but he attempts to solve it at whatever cost . While Broderick Crawford is acceptable as angry, meddling father , Rita Gam as a poker-faced secretary , Buddy Ebsen previouly his TV hits as Peck's aid , Walter Abel , among others . Being shot in Germany here apppears some German actors as Peter Van Eyck , Marianne Koch and Swedish actress Anita Bjork in a fine role as an East German agent . Of course , the acting main honors go to starring , as that you have never really seen Gregory Peck until you see him in Night People .

Colorful cinematography in CinemaScope that captures the headline-hot story well made by cameraman Charles Clarke, shot on location in Múnich, Baviera, Berlín, Germany and England . The motion picture was competentely written/produced/directed by Nunnally Johnson. He was especially a prestigious screenwriter, writing known films as The Grapes of the wrath by John Ford . Besides , he directed a few important films such as : The Angel wore red , The Man who understood Women , The three faces of Eve, The Man in the gray flannel Suit , Oh Men Oh Women , How to be very very popular, Black Widow , among others . Rating : 6.5/10 . The picture will appeal to Gregory Peck fans . Worthwhile seeing .

Nunnally Johnson has been awarded every prize a screenwriter can be given. This film, with its many strengths, demonstrates why as well as does any of his efforts. The storyline here is both complex and adult; it is a Cold War thriller with very-strongly-developed characters, fine performances and great B/W production values throughout. Johnson wrote the script from a story by Jed Harris and directed. The story revolves around a Colonel played strongly by Gregory Peck who is in charge of US forces in Berlin who are dealing daily with the four powers governing their sectors there. Three challenges weigh on him at once. The Russian counterpart he has been trying to help defect is murdered; a young US serviceman is inexplicably kidnapped after meeting the German girl he loves, and demands are made by the Russians to get into their hands two persons in exchange for the soldier. Then the young man's industrialist father arrives to complicate matters further, making demands, while the Colonel discovers a traitor in his own circle of operatives. There are many fine performances in the well-chosen cast, headed by Peck's very strong military character, aided by Walter Abel and Buddy Ebsen; others noteworthy include Peter Van Eyck, Max Showalter, Jill Esmond, Marianne Koch, Anita Bjork and Broderick Crawford. Lovely Rita Gam plays the Colonel's secretary and steals every scene she is in. I found the military-parade pre-opening too-long; but the dialogue, characters and situations were everywhere absorbing and amazing memorable; had Johnson done nothing bu the scripts for this and "The Dirty Dozen", his place in Hollywood history would be secure. I suggest that with all its fine technical and creative aspects, when viewers talk about films "they used to make but can't or don't make any more", "Night People" is exactly the sort of powerful and adult film they have in mind.

I like Gregory Peck, Buddy Ebsen, and Broderick Crawford, but the Yankee game was the most exciting part of the movie. A US soldier is kidnapped, and his influential father comes to Berlin to make sure that his return is accelerated. I would do the same thing. Peck tries to put him on a guilt trip about an exchange of "innocent" people for his son. Sorry, but my son would come first. I wouldn't care if they exchanged Eisenhower for him; I want my kid, Joe. Now, if he went straight into the Russian sector with $100,000, I am sure he could have made a deal on his own. The plot is thinner than the margin of victory of the Yankees, but the film is watchable.

I'm surprised to read as many positive reviews as there are for this movie, which I thought was a bit of a loser. This tale of negotiations for the release of a kidnapped American soldier in postwar Berlin is a bit of a talkfest which fails to achieve much suspense. The opposing side, the Russians, are barely çharacterized except as a pair of klutzy, easily bluffed soldiers right at the end. There is a lot of talk about people who scarcely appear, or don't appear at all. Broderick Crawford does best with his part, although it is stereotyped. Gregory Peck gives it a shot, but his part does not add up to a convincing or sympathetic character. The mysterious Hoffy fails to charm or interest, she is just colourless. The bit parts aren't particularly interesting either. Some strong action would redeem these weaknesses, but it's mostly people walking in and out of rooms. There is some sassy talk but it is stagey and unconvincing. So it wasn't really worth anyone's time and has to rate as borderline for entertainment value.

This film is so well crafted that it still can't be faulted - 60 years later. There's not a weak player in the cast - and this must be the film to remember both Peck and Crawford by. Peck by his mastery of the very complex character he has to play, Crawford by the masterful way in which he plays his usual, boorish, stereotype - but then brilliantly wises up to reality. The scenes where Peck and Crawford interact are electric.

The plot is very, very complex. Even if you pay full attention to every word and every character nuance, you'll probably still be unprepared for the twists and turns of Nunnally Johnson's subtle and complex story.

On this topic, you'll note some reviews criticising the plot for weaknesses. Not So. It is a foolhardy reviewer who goes up against a Nunnally Johnson script! To elaborate I'd have to spoil. Suffice it to say that this story is a wild horse - and you'll have one heck of a job staying on its back as it bucks, twists and cavorts.

Worth seeing - has to be seen, some might say - more than once!

The subject would sound attractive to aficionados of Cold War spy stories (a-la John Le Carre or Len Deighton). Unfortunately, it's a huge disappointment: The story has incredible plot twists; everybody talks fast and furious like James Cagney in a 30s talkie; the are no subtleties whatsoever: it's us (the West) who are right, and it's them (the Russians) who are the new Nazis. Pure Cold War propaganda film that didn't survive the future.

This Cold-War caper can't compare with the masterpieces of the genre such as The Third Man or The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, but it still has its charms. Broderick Crawford plays a very American bull in a Berlin china shop as the father trying to ensure the return of his kidnapped son. The hard-charging and politically connected businessman has come to set everyone else straight and soon gets his comeuppance at the hands of Gregory Peck, who's devising a plan to free the captured soldier. Anita Björk plays the shady go-between who makes the deal possible.

The film is shot in Cinemascope and in color and most of the scenes are studio interiors, with few outdoor establishing shots. This combined with the relatively flat lighting mirrors the lack of shading in the characters, most of whom have very little depth or subtlety. Plus, the anamorphic Bausch and Lomb lenses tend to distort objects at the right or left edges of the frame, where the director often likes to place actors.

This is a film that tells rather than shows, but the telling is well done and the actors are in good form, so what's not to like?

Nunnally Johnson's Night People is a fine little gem of a film. It's a police thriller disguised as a Cold War spy story, told at a good pace. It's fast enough to get through many days of tense activity at the border in Berlin, but slow enough for us to savor the personalities and their interactions. Gregory Peck and Broderick Crawford are great. So is Rita Gam, underused, in a nuanced role that - my speculation - seems to have been a victim of the 1954 censors. The film could have been much more interesting, and an award-winner, if the seedier side and back-story of the relationships among Peck, Gam and Anita Björk had been brought to the screen. As it is, these are only hinted at obliquely, and most of the interesting hints come from Gam, with changes of intonation, sideways glances, sighs, etc. Walter Abel and Buddy Ebsen are great in supporting roles. One disappointment is the unrealistic change of heart from Crawford's character. Björk is a disappointment overall, cruising in one gear almost the entire film. But then, she's carrying a lot of baggage, and risk.

Maybe not a barn-burner, but definitely worth seeing because of Peck. The movie actually captures quite well the tradecraft and moral dilemmas of counterespionage, and the scenes between Peck and Crawford are first-rate. Berlin locations add to the authenticity of this forgotten little movie.

Nunally Johnson proves again here that he was not really a film-maker. This so-called "thriller" is intelligent, literal and well acted - but way over-talkie and lacking in any visual style. They went to Berlin to film - and what a fascinating back-drop this is - but they hardly ever go outdoors. It seems to have been filmed mostly in poorly constructed studio sets. The best thing here is Peck's commanding performance as the hard-bitten military man, embittered by his dirty job. The attempt to use Buddy Ebsen for comic relief rarely works, and the political propaganda is offensive, particularly the referral to the Russians with terms like "cannibals". All in all pretty lame stuff.

Back in 1954, this spy film appeared on the Silver Screen. When it did, it was not promoted as a spy thriller to audiences. However, this is was one of those particular movies called " Night People " which does produces a bigger bang than one expects. The story as written by Jed Harris and directed by Nunnally Johnson begins slowly and tells of a single United States soldier, Cpl. John Leatherby (Ted Avery) stationed in West Germany shortly after W.W. II. After his kidnapping, the Americans are notified. A noise which is heard in the state department and there after reaches the the parents of the young soldier, who happens to have some very powerful friends, one which takes his millionaire status and starts banging on Washington doors to get his son back. Back in Germany, the problem lands on the stoop of one, Col. Steve Van Dyke (Gregory Peck) who is ordered to resolve the issue. He is an experienced soldier, but is hindered by the boy's Father (Broderick Crawford) who tries to throw his weight around and ably assisted by Sgt. Eddie McColloch (Buddy Ebsen). Dealing with the other major powers controlling the Eastern section of the Berlin Wall, proves a difficult task, what with the rise of the Russians, Ex-Nazis, double agents and political victims all vining for his attention. What we expect as an audience members is a sleeper, instead this film lays the foundation of later Tom Clancy type spy thrillers and Gregory Peck does a notable job in his role. Without hesitation I would recommend this movie due to the participation of Broderick Crawford, Buddy Ebsen, Anita Björk and Marianne Koch, and all the rest of the cast who made this remarkable film a classic. ****

Imagine taking Mike from Roman Holiday and sticking him in an Army Colonel uniform, then planting him as head of a rescue mission in occupied Berlin. That's what you'll get if you rent Night People. He's just as insincere as he was as the slick newspaper man, manipulating people to buy time and get his way. He doesn't come across as a seasoned, competent soldier. He can't even pronounce "dumbwaiter" correctly!

This supposedly tense drama didn't really capture my attention. Young Ted Avery gets abducted in post-war Berlin, and Greg Peck heads the rescue mission. He has a contact (who's also his secret lover) Anita Bjork, and Ted's worried father Broderick Crawford to deal with, but he has plans that he sometimes doesn't let anyone in on-even the audience. The best part is Walter Abel acting as the comic relief doctor. It's a small part, but within his brief minutes of screen time, he bums cigarettes off of every costar and remarks about Greg, "I used to think he was a little crazy, but I changed my mind. He's big crazy!" Unless you're captivated by Cold War dramas, you can skip this one.

A film that starts out innocently enough and is shot in Technicolor doesn't hold out much hope of being much of a tough Berlin Cold War drama like Carol Reed and James Mason might have made. Nonetheless, Night People gets pretty engrossing as the story unfolds. What it lacks in shadowy black and white photography and bleak ambiance, it makes up for in a couple of cool plot twists and attention to keeping the story moving. Gregory Peck bites off his lines as if he really means them as the colonel who's trying to get the young corporal who was kidnapped from the US sector after he kisses his German girlfriend good night, to the Russian sector and held for the ransom of an elderly couple, the wife of whom is part of a cool scene in a big beerhall restaurant where Peck is chewing the scenery and German sausages with Broderick Crawford. Crawford's character as a rich Toledo industrialist and well connected father of the kidnapped corporal gets pretty interesting as well as he's bent on throwing as much of his considerable weight around as he can in order to expedite his son's return. But this is international intrigue which requires a lot of preparation while the go-between German ex-mistress of Peck who likes absinthe, gets slowly revealed. Actually, the story is mostly top-notch, though with sergeant Buddy Ebsen's numerous humorous observations and overall casualness, the film is a lot lighter though not necessarily less smarter than some the of black and white classics.

I must be missing the plot or something. I found this movie Night People extremely boring and Gregory Peck's performance even more wooden than usual. Set in Berlin at the height of the cold war there are no scenes of the city ( I think the whole movie must have been filmed on a studio sound stage) and absolutely no excitement throughout. And where does the title Night People even fit in. Nominated for an Academy Award for best story? Give me a break.

If you're a shoot 'em up blood and gutser, rock 'em, sock 'em kind of viewer, you're not going to like this movie. But if you like a thinking person's movie with a little suspense and mystery, you'll love it. I thought the acting was good all the way around especially by Peck and Crawford.