..- drama stalks - NIGHT after NIGHTThe film""s screenplay was adapted from Louis Bromfield""sCosmopolitanmagazine story, "Single Night.She complained about his overly-handsy approach:"You had moments of kind of making like an octopus.I never saw so many hands in all my life."He apologized for liking her so much: "My only excuse is that I liked ya - right away.So I started wrong.Can""t we begin all over again?" He wished to resume their relationship, but other matters were more pressing at the moment: (Nikki: "We don""t have time for that now, anyway").[Note: Robert Mitchum""s role was inspired by the real-life character of Harry Powers, known nationally as "the Bluebeard of Quiet Dell" (outside of Clarksburg) and West Virginia""s most famous mass murderer, who was hanged on March 18, 1932, at the West Virginia Penitentiary.Tell him theMorning Postwill be behind him hook, line, and sinker."After dismissing his buddies, Hildy remarks: "Walter, I see you""re still at it." Although he takes a seat for himself, she must ask for the simplest common courtesy for herself: "Do you mind if I sat down?" She plops herself on a desk and then asks for one of his cigarettes ("Oh, may I have one of those?").Many scenes resembled a number of taut 50""s black and white platoon-unit films, some with tension between commanders, such as Samuel Fuller""s two Korean War films,The Steel Helmet (1951)andFixed Bayonets! (1951), Robert Aldrich""sAttack! (1956), and Anthony Mann""sMen in War (1957).