Clash by Night

Marilyn Monroe impresses as a naïve small-town girl in Fritz Lang’s dark melodrama fraught with sexual tension.

  • Director

    Fritz Lang

  • With

    Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas, Marilyn Monroe

  • USA 1952. 105min

  • 35mm

  • Certificate

    PG

Mae returns to her small hometown following a decade absence. Attracting attention from the good-natured, unsophisticated local fisherman, she finds herself torn between passion and security. Peggy, the girlfriend of Mae’s brother, Joe, is also impacted by gender expectations and seeks independence. Monroe is startlingly natural as the tom-boyish, gritty, blue-collar Peggy. She more than holds her own against veteran performers Stanwyck and Douglas.

Contains scenes of racism.

The screening of Clash by Night on Friday 17 July will be introduced by season curator Kimberley Sheehan.

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