Film historians often point out that 1946 was a record year at the box office. Producer Joan Harrison offered to remind the moguls and audiences that Hollywood was still a woman's town after the men returned from the war. Nocturne is jammed with women who make the dream factory run. In one scene after another, George Raft talks to a collection of sass mouth dames who put him on notice during his murder investigation. Lynn Bari might be as hardboiled as they come, but she's no film noir cardboard cut out. She gets the best lines and the best of George Raft.