Midnight Mary (1933)

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Anita Loos (story)
Gene Markey (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

30 June 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A young woman is on trial for murder. In flashback, we learn of her struggles to overcome poverty as a teenager...

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Trial | Prison | Murder | Gangster

Cast

Loretta Young	...	Mary Martin
Ricardo Cortez	...	Leo Darcy
Franchot Tone	...	Thomas 'Tom' Mannering Jr.
Andy Devine	...	Samuel 'Sam' / 'Sammy' Travers
Una Merkel	...	Bunny 'Bun'
Frank Conroy	...	District Attorney
Warren Hymer	...	Angelo Ricci
Ivan F. Simpson	...	Mr. Tindle (as Ivan Simpson)
Harold Huber	...	Mr. 'Puggy' Nestle
Sandy Roth	...	Blimp
Martha Sleeper	...	Barbara Loring Mannering
Charley Grapewin	...	Court Clerk (as Charles Grapewin)
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Churchill, Mary's Butler
Robert Emmett O'Connor	...	Charlie, the Cop

Also Known As:

Lady of the Night (USA) (working title)
Midnight Lady (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In a closeup of a page from the phone book, with exception of name of hero, the same four or five names are printed repeatedly.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Jingle Bells

Pre-code Bliss!

Midnight Mary is pre-code bliss par excellence! Loretta Young stars as a down on her luck young woman who finds herself in situations that she never would've found herself in later in her career! From the opening courtroom scenes where Mary finds herself reminiscing about her past, we are taken on a roller coaster ride through the years to find out how she came to be where she is now! Mary isn't a bad girl, she's just had a lot of bad luck and made unfortunate choices in consequence.

Loretta has tons of chemistry with her co-stars Ricardo Cortez (yummy) and wise-cracking, adorable Una Merkel, who has a really great philosophical drunk scene in the movie! There are many scenes that wouldn't have made it past the censors later on, such as the one at the kitchen table where Loretta and Franchot Tone discuss a subject that's on a lot of people's minds a lot of the time. And towards the end of the movie, there's a scene with Mary trying to seduce Leo, who responds by licking her fingers as she strokes his face.

This is a great little morality play and a comment on the hard times encountered during the Depression Era, when many people were forced into hard choices they might never have made otherwise.

All the cast is great, including Franchot Tone as the suave lawyer who befriends and saves Mary and Andy Devine as his loud-mouthed friend who's along for the ride.

Midnight Mary really is Pre-Code Bliss!