Open All Night (1924)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Paul Bern

Writers:

Willis Goldbeck (writer)
Paul Morand (story)

Release Date:

13 October 1924 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A couple's marriage is going stale. She wants a take-charge kind of guy, someone who'll show her who the boss is...

Plot Keywords:

Circus | Farce | Paris France

Cast

Viola Dana	...	Thére'se Duverne
Jetta Goudal	...	Lea
Adolphe Menjou	...	Edmund Durverne
Raymond Griffith	...	Igor
Maurice 'Lefty' Flynn	...	Petit Mathieu (as Maurice B. Flynn)
Gale Henry	...	Isabelle Fèvre
Jack Giddings	...	Von De Hoven
Charles Puffy	...	Bibendum

Also Known As:

One Parisian Night (UK)

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Famous Players-Lasky Corporation

Quotes:

Lea: You look like a gentleman, but when I've been drinking I'm always wrong.

It's not much of a show, but yes, Raymond Griffith definitely steals the show there is

When the phenomenon "silent comedy" is mentioned, images of particularly three men come to mind: Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. These clowns did, each in their own way, set the standard --or, rather, showed exactly what was required to beat the standard-- of screen comedy, through some of the funniest movies produced to date. As a result, 'The Big Three' are today regarded as the ultimate example on what people went to see in order to cheer up; fast-driven adventures filled with gags and slapstick throughout.

This remaining view on silent comedy is, overall, very fortunate, as most of these films, once their creators went into features, have surpassed the time barrier and are as wonderful now as then. That being said, however, it is seldom added that this remaining view is not fully accurate. Often ignored is the fact that "gag-comedies" were by many considered somewhat "old-fashioned" already back then, and frequently replaced by so-called "drawing-board comedies," movies whose purpose was to amuse its audience with a funny story and little more; the idea was to let the story do the job alone and not be invaded by any gags or slapstick on the way.

Paramount's OPEN ALL NIGHT is one of these comedies. Starring a thirty-year old Adolphe Menjou, who had reached stardom the year before in A WOMAN OF Paris, the film tells the tale of an unhappy couple: the man is a sweet "monsieur" with no malice in him; in other words, a man every girl would want, apart from his own wife. The wife feels worthless in the company of a gentleman and wants a brute to handle her, a Stanley Kowalski who decides when to have sex and who treats his woman as he pleases. One day, their different views on how to lead a marriage is put on task, when the wife is introduced and consequently attracted to a muscular bicyclist; the husband, on the other hand, fells in love with the girlfriend of the bicyclist.

And that's pretty much all there's to it; almost. Thankfully, this old, not particularly interesting story receives a great deal of help to carry itself on by the talent of wonderful comedian Raymond Griffith; although not nearly as well remembered as his major contemporaries, the few surviving features in which Griffith appears have earned him great admiration among silent comedy enthusiasts, myself included. He is here seen in an early appearance as the character he'd make famous: the dapper gentleman dressed in top hat, tuxedo and moustasche. He appears for just a few moments in the film, but in these he offers some simple, but very charming bits of comedy; I especially liked the sequence in which he is standing over an acquaintance of his --an aging woman-- and holds his hands around her shoulders in romantic fashion, while he, it turns out, does so only to express his feelings for a pretty young girl beside him.

Adolphe Menjou would appear in movies far more flattering to his career in the future; and so would Raymond Griffith. However, thanks to the latter performer, OPEN ALL NIGHT stands as one of the more memorable "drawing-board comedies" (I never quite got where that phrase came from?) of the era. The film is available on DVD from Grapevine Video, in surprisingly decent condition, Grapevine-standards taken into consideration. Well worth a purchase, if only due to the few moments with Griffith.