Two O'Clock Courage (1945)

After nearly running over him with her cab, Patty Mitchell picks up a fare who claims to have amnesia. As he fumbles to remember the basic facts of his identity, Patty becomes interested in... See full summary »

Director:

Anthony Mann

Writers:

Robert E. Kent (screen play by), Gordon Kahn (additional dialogue by)

Stars:

Tom Conway, Ann Rutherford, Richard Lane

Cast

Cast overview:
Tom Conway	...	Ted 'Step' Allison
Ann Rutherford	...	Patty Mitchell
Richard Lane	...	Al Haley
Lester Matthews	...	Mark Evans
Roland Drew	...	Steve Maitland
Emory Parnell	...	Insp. Bill Brenner
Jane Greer	...	Helen Carter (as Bettejane Greer)
Jean Brooks	...	Barbara Borden

Storyline

After nearly running over him with her cab, Patty Mitchell picks up a fare who claims to have amnesia. As he fumbles to remember the basic facts of his identity, Patty becomes interested in the stranger and decides to help him in his search. But as the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, and Patty's interest becomes more personal, the stranger finds that he is the prime suspect in a murder case.

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Plot Keywords:

suspect | search | identity | murder | amnesia | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1946 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Dos en la oscuridad

Filming Locations:

RKO Studios - 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min 66 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of two wartime murder/mysteries starring Tom Conway in which he is aided by a female taxicab driver (due to the "man"-power shortage of WWII). Coincidentally, Emory Parnell and Jean Brooks also appear in both films. The other is "The Falcon In Hollywood" (1944).

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Goofs

Near the end, when the police attempt to enter room 212, three bullets are shot through the door from inside the room. After the police gain access and the door swings open, the holes are absent. when it then swings back to reveal Barbara Borden, the holes once again appear.

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Connections

References Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

User Reviews

Oh! What A Night

**SPOILERS** Walking around the almost empty streets in the dead of night "The Man", Tom Conway, is almost hit by a taxi cab driven by pretty taxi driver Patty Mitchell, Ann Rutherford. It turns out that "The Man's" mind is as blank as a fresh sheet of typewriter paper with him in a complete fog to who he is and what he did and what caused that gash that he had on his head when Patty first picked him up.

Seeing the evening papers "The Man" and Patty see the headline banner news of theater producer Robert Dilling being murdered in Oceanview where "The Man" was just hobbling around. The description of Dilling's killers matches the description of "The Man" right down to his pin-striped suit that he's wearing. "The Man" together with Patty slowly uncover his identity by backtracking to where he was that evening before he fell, or was hit, on his head. Putting everything together "The Man" at first finds that he's called "Step" by his friends. Later with the unexpected help of "Step's" forgotten friend and associate Mark Evens, Lester Matthews, finds out that his real name is Ted "Step" Allison and that he checked into the Recency Hotel where Ted and Patty just came from to check out who he was in the first place.

Ted finds in his hotel room a letter from a friend of his, the late Larry Tenny, about a play that he wrote called "Two O'Clock Courage" and that the play seems to be the reason that Dillings was murdered.Ted himself is almost killed later in the film, as he gets too close to who the killer is, with a bullet to his head but it was that attempt on Ted's life that brought back his memory and with that the identity of the person who murdered Dilling.

Ted really had some night for himself in the movie "Two O'Clock Courage"; he loses and finds himself he ends up being arrested by the police for the murder of Robert Dillings talks his way out of being put behind bars and later solves the Dilling murder and the reason that he was killed. There's also the secondary emotional plot-line that erupts at the end of the film between the killer and his jilted girlfriend. To top it all of Ted meets falls in love with and marries lovely taxi driver Patty Mitchell; all this happens to Ted before the night was even over.

Besides Richard Lane playing the bumbling reporter Haley who in the end drove his boss news editor Brant, Charles C. Wilson, almost into the loony bin the police inspector Bill Brenner, Emory Parnell,on the Dilling murder case was even funnier in a dangerous sort of way. Insp. Brenner had a very bad habit of holding his revolver pointed at almost everyone that he came in contact with in the movie. It was sheer luck that everyone in the film made it to the end without unconsciously getting themselves shot or killed by this absent-minded policemen.