A Night to Remember (1942)

Director:

Richard Wallace

Writers:

Richard Flournoy (writer)
Jack Henley (writer)

Release Date:

10 December 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery

Plot:

A woman rents a gloomy basement apartment in Greenwich Village thinking it will provide the perfect...

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Mystery Writer | Husband And Wife Sleuths | Police | Murder

Cast

Loretta Young	...	Nancy Troy
Brian Aherne	...	Jeff Troy aka Jeff Yort
Jeff Donnell	...	Anne Stafford Carstairs
William Wright	...	Scott Carstairs
Sidney Toler	...	Inspector Hankins
Gale Sondergaard	...	Mrs. Devoe
Donald MacBride	...	Bolling
Lee Patrick	...	Polly Franklin
Don Costello	...	Eddie Turner
Richard Gaines	...	Lingle
Blanche Yurka	...	Mrs. Salter
James Burke	...	Pat Murphy

Runtime:

Spain:88 min | USA:91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

In one scene, Brian Ahere takes a burning roast out of an oven. The music Werner R. Heymann composed for this scene was used many years later for "You Bet Your Life" (1950) as the theme played whenever the wheel of fortune is being spun by a contestant.

Quotes:

Bolling: Yeah, and you admit exchanging blows with him
Nancy Troy: There was no exchange. Only two blows were struck. He struck my husband. My husband struck the floor.

A few good moments can't save this one.

This is available on DVD as part of Sony's "Icons of Screwball Comedy" series. I like Loretta Young, but she is certainly no "icon" of the genre, nor can this movie even be described as a "Screwball Comedy." Perhaps my disappointment in the film was based on faulty expectations. It's just a B picture from Columbia, clearly made on a shoestring budget, and what comedy there is in the film is pretty forced and obvious, exemplified by a tedious gag in which Brian Aherne has trouble opening a door. The plot -- a couple move into a building where a murderer lives -- was more entertaining when the Three Stooges did it. Even the solution to the mystery is forgettable. Young and Aherne are okay, but have nowhere near the chemistry of William Powell and Myrna Loy in their many films together. I'll give props to the cinematography: there is some fine work with limited light which, in some scenes, disguise the stage-bound nature of the film. Bottom line: this one's not worth your time.