''Club Havana'' is a 1945 American film

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. It was produced and released by independent film company

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation (generally known as PRC) was the smallest and least prestigious of the 11 Hollywood film companies of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called " Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower St ...

. It has been compared to the 1933 film '' Grand Hotel''.

Plot

Rosalind (

Margaret Lindsay Margaret Lindsay (born Margaret Kies; September 19, 1910 – May 9, 1981) was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive. She was noted for her supporting work in successf ...

) returns to her Miami home following a divorce to see her boyfriend Johnny Norton ( Don Douglas). They visit nightclub Club Havana, where Johnny tells Rosalind that he has fallen in love with another woman. Saddened, Rosalind tries to kill herself, but Bill Porter (

Tom Neal Thomas Carroll Neal Jr. (January 28, 1914 – August 7, 1972) was an American actor and Amateur boxing, amateur boxer. Between 1932 and 1934, he was an amateur boxer who fought in many fights. As an actor, he was best known for his co-starring ...

) prevents her from doing so. Meanwhile, Jimmy (Eric Sinclair) has discovered that Joe Reed (

Marc Lawrence Marc Lawrence (born Max Goldsmith; February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005) was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C. Lawrence. Early life Lawrence w ...

), who murdered club performer Julia Dumont, has been released as the police believe there is not enough evidence that Joe killed her. Although Jimmy witnessed the killing, he is afraid to see police, fearing that Joe will go after his girlfriend Isabelita ( Lita Baron). Jimmy instead decides to phone the police, but Myrtle (Sonia Sorel) listens in on the phone call and informs Joe of Jimmy's actions. Joe hires a gunman to murder Jimmy, but the killer shoots Myrtle after she shouts a warning to Jimmy, and she ends up hitting the gunman with her car. As Jimmy goes to the police station to testify, Johnny and Rosalind decide to get back together and go home.

Production

The film was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Originally, writer Fred Jackson was set to direct, but Ulmer replaced him by February 1945. The cast includes

, Don Douglas, and

. The film's story was written by Jackson. It was shot in only four days. Ulmer did not use a script for the film, as producer Leon Fromkess told him "OK, you say you can do things – shoot it without a script – invent it." He shot the film on only one set. Ulmer later recalled in an interview with

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. He started out his career as a young actor studying under Stella Adler before working as a film critic for ''Fi ...

that he "adored making" the film.

Release and reception

''Club Havana'' was distributed by

. They released the film in November 1945. Film scholar Hal Erickson believed the film was "'' Grand Hotel'', PRC style." Film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

wrote negatively about the film, calling it a "very cheap production with little of interest."

References

External links

* {{Edgar G. Ulmer 1945 films 1945 drama films American drama films Films directed by Edgar G. Ulmer Producers Releasing Corporation films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films