Some hazy psychological stuff and a tangle of flashbacks hamper "The Long Night," but nevertheless the picture is a success. Henry Fonda, who shoots one of the slimiest characters seen recently on the screen, recaptures what will have to be called his "faith in humanity,' and after keeping off the police for a long night full of well-filmed memories, goes with hope to his trial.

The faith in humanity, which many people may find hard to take, is personified agreeably in Barbara Bel Geddes, who is convincingly charming and pure in her film debut. The thorn in the side of Fonda and Bel Geddes's true love, velvet-smooth Vincent Price, complicates the plot by trying to seduce the girl and torture Fonda with an induced inferiority complex. For you see, he is but a working man, who little understands the complicated nature of woman. It takes a while, but Fonda finally realizes that the ladies are as simple as he had thought, and that everyone loves him.

Price plays magnificently, Fonda competently, and Bel Geddes sweetly. The villain, a conjurer who tries to hypnotize the young people, has some of the over-dramatic flair of John Barrymore, and is by far the most fascinating character in the movie, while Ann Dvorak, as a friend who rebels from him, does nicely in her role of a DP, or disenchanted person.