May 6, 2013

37 Midnight (1939)

****
Country: US
Director: Mitchell Leisen

In the late thirties and early forties, Billy Wilder and his writing partner Charles Brackett seem to have turned for inspiration time and again to the great European fairy tales. They created their own version of  "The Beauty and the Beast" in Ninotchka (1939), with Greta Garbo as the beast humanized by the love of Melvyn Douglas. In Ball of Fire (1941) they stood the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on its head by making the dwarfs monklike scholars and Snow White a slangy night club singer named Sugarpuss O'Shea. And in Midnight (1939) they offered their own playful interpretation of "Cinderella," with Claudette Colbert as the penniless heroine who finds wealth and love granted her through the intervention of a kindly benefactor.

Claudette Colbert is Eve Peabody, a gold-digging chorus girl who arrives in Paris on the Monte Carlo train in the dead of night, with no luggage, no money, and only the dress she's wearing, which happens to be a gold lamé designer evening gown. She's soon being driven around Paris by taxi driver Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche), a Hungarian émigré, in an unsuccessful search for a job as a night club singer. When Tibor offers to let Eve spend the night at his apartment while he's out driving his cab, Eve, sensing the clear sexual attraction between the two, ditches him. There's no way this single-minded gold digger is going to become romantically involved with a poor man, even if she does love him.

Eventually Eve crashes a ritzy musical party, where she encounters a young champagne baron (Francis Lederer) who instantly becomes besotted with her. She also meets the possessive wealthy woman he's having an affair with (Mary Astor) and her older husband (John Barrymore). Before long, Eve finds her every wish spontaneously coming true—an apartment at the Ritz, a car and chauffeur, a brand new designer wardrobe, and a fantasy identity as the Baroness Czerny. This Cinderella's benefactor, though, is not a fairy godmother, but a fairy godfather in the form of Barrymore, who hopes to use Eve to lure his wife's lover away from her. In the meantime, Tibor has enlisted the cab drivers of Paris in a search for the missing Eve. The race is now on. Will Tibor find Eve before it's too late and she's trapped in a loveless marriage to millionaire Lederer?

As in all comedies based on impersonation, it's the unforeseen complications that ensue which are important, which move the plot along and provide the laughs. Wilder and Brackett keep the complications not only coming steadily, but building in intricacy and hilarity as one deception leads to yet another. The plot reaches its farcical third act at a country house party with Eve and Tibor each trying to top the other's fantastic explanation of their outlandish behavior, then finally moves to the courtroom for an even more farcical finale that in American screwball comedy ranks right alongside the courtroom scenes in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and The Awful Truth. Wilder and Brackett also keep the bon mot-packed dialogue (and the sexual innuendo) coming fast, and the skillful cast handles it with aplomb, casually tossing out Wilder and Brackett's clever dialogue as though it's ordinary conversation with an unusually large quotient of intelligence and wit.

In fact, with all its other fine qualities—the beautifully crafted screenplay by Wilder and Brackett, the polished direction by screwball comedy expert Mitchell Leisen (Easy Living, Hands Across the Table, Hold Back the Dawn), and that glossy Continental opulence Paramount excelled at—in the end it's the great cast that really puts Midnight across. Hedda Hopper plays the imperious matron hosting the musical soirée in one of the last of her 140 film roles before moving into radio and journalism (her famous celebrity gossip column had debuted a year earlier). A scene-stealing Monty Woolley plays the crotchety judge in the courtroom finale; that same year he became a Broadway star in The Man Who Came to Dinner and just two years later a leading film actor in the movie version of that play. Rex O'Malley gets in some of the best quips in the film as Mary Astor's Noel Cowardish friend, a forerunner of the gay pals who have become so common in recent years.

Astor, her screen career still unsteady after the divorce scandal a couple of years earlier, makes the most of her rather thankless role as Barrymore's neurotic, self-centered wife. Whenever she's in the presence of Colbert, she becomes the green-eyed monster personified, her bitchiness a good warm-up for her Oscar-winning performance in The Great Lie (1941). But she does manage to humanize the character by making us see the helplessness of her foolish infatuation with Lederer and the hurt of her rejection when Colbert suddenly appears on the scene. Don Ameche, best known for the musicals he made at Fox in which he typically played the second male lead, gets one of the best roles of his career. Like his work in Heaven Can Wait (1943) for Ernst Lubitsch, Midnight shows that when given a well-written part and a sympathetic director, he was a more proficient actor than he's generally given credit for.
Mary Astor and John Barrymore
But for me the most fascinating performances in the film are by Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore, and some of my favorite scenes are the ones between these two. Consider the scene at the musical party where they first meet. Eve has sneaked into the party and sits next to Barrymore during the musical performance. To watch these two pros act the scene almost entirely with their facial expressions and not a word of dialogue—this is where their experience in silent film really shows—is a treat not to be missed. Every expression, every glance, even the subtlest shift of position as they sit tells us something about their two characters—Barrymore casually watchful and catching on to the situation with lightning speed, Colbert anxiously watchful while trying to appear casual as servants search for the party crasher. Barrymore reportedly had trouble remembering his lines (the effects of years of alcoholism were becoming evident by this point, and at times he does look rather dissipated), but it's certainly not apparent as he carries on a number of extended conversations with Colbert in long, unedited takes. Known for his heavily dramatic performances, Barrymore responds to the comedic tone of the film with a marvelously light touch, and he and Colbert have such tremendous rapport that you can almost sense their pleasure in working together.

Claudette Colbert, like her great contemporaries Irene Dunne, Barbara Stanwyck, and Katharine Hepburn, was adept at both drama and comedy. But I have always preferred Colbert's comedic performances to her serious ones, and this is simply one of the best performances of her career. Her Eve Peabody might be money mad and impulsive, but Colbert gives us a good sense of Eve's better qualities—the spirit of adventure with which she approaches life, her stoical acceptance of life's unpredictability ("Every Cinderella has her midnight," she observes at one point), and the way Eve's vulnerability to love interferes with her dedication to the pursuit of a rich husband. She's a person whose mercenary carapace conceals a soft center. It's a character not all that different from the one she would play a few years later for Preston Sturges in The Palm Beach Story, a film that would make a wonderful double feature with Midnight.

Coming near the end of the heyday of screwball comedy and in such a notable year in American film, Midnight isn't as well remembered today as it deserves to be. It might not have the pointed social agenda of Capra's screwball comedies, the mania of Howard Hawks's, or the physical comedy of Leo McCarey's. But it does have a great deal to recommend it, and for me it ranks right up there with the best and funniest of the genre, with one of Wilder and Brackett's best engineered and sweetest screenplays and Mitchell Leisen's best job of directing. It also has some of the most accomplished acting to be found in a film of this type, with one of Claudette Colbert's very best performances, close to Don Ameche's best (I'd give that honor to Heaven Can Wait), a hint of the great things soon to come for Mary Astor, and the opportunity to see the older John Barrymore still in dignified command of his prodigious acting skill.

This post is part of the Mary Astor Blogathon, co-hosted by Tales of the Easily Distracted and Silver Screenings, which runs May 3-10. For more information and a schedule of posts, visit the Mary Astor Blogathon Page.

37 comments:

  1. Excellent review! Now, I'm wondering how it is I've never seen this movie. With performances such as you've described, this sounds like a film not to be missed.

    This description made me laugh: "A scene-stealing Monty Woolley". He is, indeed!

    Thanks for participating in our blogathon.

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    1. Silver Screenings, thank you. Every time I see "Midnight" again I'm reminded what a really enjoyable movie it is. It was a pleasure to be part of the blogathon.

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  2. RDF: I too enjoy Colbert's comedies more than her dramas. She had wonderful timing and she and Barrymore are a delight to watch. BTW, glad you mentioned Ameche's other standout work Heaven Can Wait--he was excellent in that, too.

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    1. Kim, Claudette Colbert is one of my top 5 golden age film actresses. I'd say this, "The Palm Beach Story," and "It Happened One Night" are my favorite Colbert performances, and they're all comedies. I like the way she gave her comedic characters a serious edge, and sometimes managed to find humor in her serious characters. One movie I want to watch soon again is "Torch Singer" (1934), which has the most complete blend of serious and comedic of any performance of hers I've seen.

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  3. R.D., I had either forgotten or hadn't realised about this being a Cinderella story with John Barrymore as the fairy godfather, but, as soon as you mention it, yes! It also struck me for the first time while reading your piece just how many similarities there are between this film and 'The Palm Beach Story' - as you say, they would make a great double feature, since both star Claudette Colbert as a woman wanting to engineer a rich marriage but being derailed by pre-existing love for someone else. And in both films the poor man turns up to protest, not wanting to play along.

    I definitely agree with you that both Barrymore and Colbert shine in this and that, even though JB was ill and couldn't remember his lines, he still speaks them so well and brings a wonderful warmth and mischief to his part. Also agree that the whole cast is excellent - it's a pity that Mary Astor didn't get a bigger part, but she brings a lot of quality to the role and I agree it is a good warm-up for her wonderful performance in 'The Great Lie'. There is also a poignancy to seeing her reunited with old flame Barrymore in what I've heard was his last good part - I haven't seen the three little-known films he made after this one but haven't heard anything good about them. Of course Mary Astor went on to a lot more roles after this, many of which I still have to see. Anyway, a great piece, as ever.

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    1. Judy, those similarities between "Midnight" and "The Palm Beach Story" (which I wrote on last year) are something that struck me only as I began writing this post. There are differences attributable I think to the differing temperaments of the writers, but an awful lot of similarities. Many films of this type cop out on the ending by making the poor man the heroine chooses a rich man or aristocrat in disguise. Of course, Sturges contrived to have it BOTH ways in "Palm Beach"!

      Not long ago I saw another film with Barrymore released in 1939, "The Great Man Votes." He was very good, seemed most capable, and gave a very subtle performance. I have seen "The Invisible Woman" many years ago and found it very enjoyable fluff but wasn't familiar enough with Barrymore at the time to form an opinion about his performance.

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    2. R.D. I've seen 'The Great Man Votes', which was released a couple of months before 'Midnight' - must agree Barrymore was good, but I remember not liking the film much overall. Maybe I should revisit it. Haven't seen 'The Invisible Woman' as yet but I do hope to do so. Thanks for the reply!

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  4. I had forgotten about that wordless scene between Colbert and Barrymore. Now I want to see this one all over again.

    I agree, it's a great comedy. Leisen, Wilder and Company make it all look so effortless, which of course, is the hardest thing in the world to do.

    Another great post, R.D.

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    1. Kevin, great thought about how important it is to make comedy look effortless. Nothing is more grating than someone straining to be funny. You've made me think how nearly everyone in "Midnight" was also an accomplished dramatic actor and relied on the writing and direction to make them funny.

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  5. Thanks for the great review! Yet another movie I shall have to check out. Don Ameche AND John Barrymore? Hurrah! And reuniting the former on-and-offscreen pair of Barrymore and Astor? Too fun for words!

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    1. Gwen, that great cast alone makes this one worthwhile. Add a great script and direction and that lush Paramount decor, and you have a winning combination.

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  6. Fantastic review! "Midnight" is one of my most recent discoveries and now one of my top favorites. I'll have to print this post out so I can re-read your review in depth ( it's hard to read anything thoroughly and slowly on a computer screen ). Thanks for a great entry in the Mary Astor blogathon!

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    1. Thank you! I returned to "Midnight" many years after fist seeing it and after watching many of the great screwball comedies in the meantime, and I was pleased with how well it stood up in comparison with the better-known screwball classics.

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  7. Love, love, love this film! I agree that Barrymore is just the bees knees here, as is Claudette. But, our Mary makes the most of her time on screen and she sure looks lovely.

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    1. FlickChick, glad to hear you like "Midnight" as much as I do. Mary Astor does do a lot with a rather two-dimensional role, not the first time she managed to do this. I love Claudette Colbert too (one of those actors I'll watch in just about anything), and John Barrymore is an actor I'm coming to appreciate more and more.

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  8. Very interesting R.D. Thanks for making me aware of this film. I've never heard of it before! It looks like it would be really funny and I'm going to need to track it down. Nice work.

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    1. Jon, the film is a delight and well worth tracking down.

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  9. Midnight is one of my favorite screwball comedies so I'm so happy you chose to write about it. And you put in a good word for Don Ameche, too! I've got a soft spot for him. Colbert is at her most charming here. But I have to say, the one who made me scream with laughter was Rex O'Malley. When he leans in and shouts, "She's a spy!" (context very necessary here), I just collapse. As you mentioned, Mary Astor doesn't get a lot to do here, but she's still surprisingly sympathetic in what could have been another ice-cold bitch role. Great review as always.

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    1. Aubyn, it's one of my favorite screwballs too but seems to have been unfairly neglected in favor of films with bigger stars or more thematic heft. Colbert WAS a charming actress, who could at the same time seem both worldly and just a little world-weary. Rex O'Malley (wonder what ever happened to him--he seemed to play butlers on TV for a large part of his career) is a hoot as Astor's pal. Astor does a good job of making her character seem malevolent, then pathetic, and finally abashed. She seems to put a lot into the character given that the writers didn't give her a lot to work with.

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  10. I love this film and I thought the story was magical. Once again, Claudette Colbert shows that she is a wonderful comedian. This maybe one of my favorite Don Ameche performances. Mary Astor combines beauty and meanness in her performance.

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    1. Dawn, great observation about Mary Astor combining beauty and meanness. She made even unsympathetic characters like her Mme. Flammarion here fascinating by suggesting there was a still a bit of humanity to them.

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  11. Every few years I need to be reminded of how wonderful Claudette Colbert really was. Thanks for the kick in the pants.

    It is truly poignant in "Midnight" to see Mary with John Barrymore when one thinks of their history.

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    1. Caftan Woman, I could watch Claudette Colbert movies all day. She was a versatile, hard-working professional who always managed to look and seem relaxed even when her character wasn't.

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  12. Great look at a terrific comedy. As you probably know I am a big fan of Billy Wilder and his stamp is all over this film. I know Wilder had little use for director M. Leisen who he always thought was ruining his scripts. Colbert and Barrymore, as you mention, are the acting highlights.

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    1. John, I too am a big fan of Wilder's writing and directing, even if he was a bit of an egomaniac about it. I've never understood Wilder's (or for that matter Preston Sturges's) animosity toward Leisen's direction of their screenplays. I suspect they felt he didn't showcase their dialogue enough, which I notice in the pictures they directed themselves is always front and center. I've also noticed that Leisen seemed to have a tendency to embellish the screenplay with bits of "business," which again moves the writing from the center of attention. As much as I like Wilder, I've sometimes criticized him for what I find to be a rather facile cynicism, but there's none of that here.

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  13. A terrific post R.D. on this classic. You bring out all its qualities and especially the great ensemble acting that brought it all together. It's a perfect movie of its kind - with Claudette Colbert providing the sparkle. I am a fan of Mitchell Leissen and think he should be better recognized, David Chierichetti wrote the only biography of him - Mitchell Leissen: Hollywood Director. It was privately printed but can still be found.

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    1. Christian, thank you. How right you are that it's just about a perfect screwball comedy, one of the most delightful of all the films of its type.

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  14. R.D., I haven't seen this film for a long time and your observations really inspire me to watch it again soon. I have the sense that I haven't taken as close a look as I should - particularly regarding John Barrymore's performance. It's interesting that both Wilder and Sturges complained about about Leissen's direction of their work. I can't fault Leissen, so I imagine their complaints must've been rooted in their (then) frustrated desire to direct.

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    1. Eve, I've always wondered if Wilder and Sturges were so rough on Leisen because he didn't emphasize their dialogue as much as they did in their own films. He tended not to treat dialogue as sacred but to permit it to give way to characterization and action and bits of business at points. But I think Wilder and Sturges probably had a fairly specific vision of how their screenplays should be filmed and found Leisen's filming decisions different from their own preferences.

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  15. R.D.
    Beautifully done! You pointed out so many things that make this film one that shouldn't be ignored. While it is often forgotten, there are so many great things about it. Of course, the scenes with Colbert and Barrymore which you point out here.

    After doing so much research on Astor and knowing of her love affair with John when she was just a teen and he was still married. I always view the film for subtle hints of any lingering feelings, all these years later while filming Midnight.

    You tough upon Colbert's range with dramas and ROMCOMs here and I've often wished that Astor had been offered more comedic leads. She had a wide range but I just don't feel directors, the studios were all Gung-ho to showcase her over other proven comedic actresses like Colbert, Lombard, Hepburn etc.

    Another thought provoking review, R.D and a great contribution to the Blogathon.

    Have a wonderful weekend!
    Page

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    1. Page, thank you so much. One reason I devoted so much space to Barrymore is that even though he's not one of the romantic leads, he adds so much to the film in terms of both his character and his performance. Mary Astor did have far greater range than she's remembered for. It's too bad that like a lot of good actresses she was so often typecast. One film I wish had been covered in the blogathon is 1933's "The Little Giant" with Astor playing against Edward G. Robinson. It's one of her rare "normal" roles and she comes across as very sensitive, intelligent and sympathetic.

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  16. Colbert in a Wilder written role-does it get much better than that? This movie, and your thoughts, are just too much fun. Thanks

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    1. Thank you for your kind comments. Wilder and Colbert ARE a great team--witty, sassy, and as you say a lot of fun.

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  17. Nice review. I haven't seen the movie in many many years and need to revisit it.

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    1. Thanks, Filmboy. I was in the same situation--many years passed between my first viewing and the next, and I had forgotten how very good, and how very entertaining, the movie is.

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  18. "Wilder and Brackett keep the complications not only coming steadily, but building in intricacy and hilarity as one deception leads to yet another."


    Indeed R.D. What a great way to wake up on this overcast Thursday morning to this fabulously-written essay in the Mary Astor blogothon. It certainly helps that I am also a big fan of this film and the director Mitchell Leisen, but the prose here really examines this film comprehensively and insightfully--I'd go as far as to assert that it's a "model" of film criticism. There's so much I concur with lock, stock and barrel--Monty Woolsey's delightful turn, the dead-on comparison of the courtroom scene with counterparts in MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN and THE AWFUL TRUTH; the underlining sexual innuendo and the specification that Colbert and Barrymore are the film's standout performances, even with Astor's work (which you painstakingly delineate) most exceptional as always.

    You have done something here R.D., that any critic strives to do when writing. You have engaged and exhilarated me to the point where I want to see this film again ASAP. And I own the DVD to do it. I'll add that Leisen's output over the past years is finally getting the respect it has long deserved, but may have been denied in part because of the work of his celebrated contemporaries.

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    1. Sam, I don't think I've ever received such a complimentary comment and I thank you for it. Comedy is quite resistant to analysis, which is the approach I generally take, so I don't find it easy to write on any comedy film. Nor do I always find it easy to write on films that mean a lot to me because I'm always fearful that reducing them to words will demean them as visual works of art. But this one did offer me a lot of inspiration.

      When I start preparing to write, I look for one thing as a way into the film to get my thoughts going, and here it was that scene between Colbert and Barrymore at the soiree. I don't know why Leisen isn't more appreciated. His main period was the late 30s-early 40s, but he came back in the early 50s with "The Mating Season," which I think is unfairly neglected. And as I'm sure you know, he directed a handful of early "Twilight Zone" episodes including that memorable one with Roddy McDowall as the first Earth astronaut on Mars. Anyway, thanks again for contributing your thoughts on the film and for the warm glow your comments about the post have given me (and this is one of those days when I really need it!).

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