Midnight (1939)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

Charles Brackett (screenplay) and
Billy Wilder (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 March 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A chorus girl, stranded in Paris, is "set up" by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man.

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Taxi Driver | Party | Contest Pool | Screwball

Cast

Claudette Colbert	...	Eve Peabody aka Baroness Czerny
Don Ameche	...	Tibor Czerny
John Barrymore	...	Georges Flammarion
Francis Lederer	...	Jacques Picot
Mary Astor	...	Helene Flammarion
Elaine Barrie	...	Simone
Hedda Hopper	...	Stephanie
Rex O'Malley	...	Marcel
Monty Woolley	...	The Judge
Armand Kaliz	...	Lebon

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #4906) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Argentina:16

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Mary Astor's pregnancy caused some filming problems.

Quotes:

Stephanie: Before we go any further, I'd like your attention one moment more. Is there anybody in this room named... Eve Peabody? No? Well, does anyone here know a Miss Eve Peabody? Well, I won't trouble the rest of you any further. Now, my dear, Chopin's 11th Prelude.
Prince Potopienko: It is the 12th and it is an Etude!
[Shrugs shoulders]
Prince Potopienko: Huh!

Movie Connections:

Edited into Visions of Light (1992)

Soundtrack:

Étude No.12 in C minor Op.10-12: Revolutionary

A criminally underrated comedy classic

Why this simply marvelous comedy is not hailed as a screwball classic standing shoulder to shoulder with "It Happened One Night," "The Awful Truth," and "My Man Godfrey," and just under "Bringing Up Baby," is utterly beyond me. Claudette Colbert sparkles in the role of an American golddigger in Paris, Don Ameche is a charming romantic lead, Mary Astor is a delightfully bitchy rival, and John Barrymore is spectacular in one of the funniest performances I have ever seen on celluloid. As others have stated, it is astonishing that he read his lines off cue cards. Anyway, everything in this film works perfectly together: the acting, the direction, the crackling writing, and the zany plot which I will not go into now, but which is absolutely ideal for a screwball. It is also refreshingly politically incorrect, and while feminists might flinch at one or two scenes, that should not prevent anyone from enjoying "Midnight," which is really one of the best comedies of all time. An enthusiastic and unequivocal 10/10.