The Other Side of Midnight (1977)

Director:

Charles Jarrott

Writers:

Herman Raucher (writer)
Sidney Sheldon (novel)

Release Date:

8 June 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The Romance Of Passion And Power

Plot:

A Greek tycoon's mistress tries to track down and find her ex-World War II lover.

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | WWII | Sapphire | Woman Crying | Lockheed L 10 Electra

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Marie-France Pisier	...	Noelle Page
John Beck	...	Larry Douglas
Susan Sarandon	...	Catherine Alexander Douglas
Raf Vallone	...	Constantin Demeris
Clu Gulager	...	Bill Fraser
Christian Marquand	...	Armand Gautier
Michael Lerner	...	Barbet
Sorrell Booke	...	Lanchon
Antony Ponzini	...	Paul Metaxas
Louis Zorich	...	Demonides
Charles Cioffi	...	Chotas
Dimitra Arliss	...	Sister Theresa
Jan Arvan	...	Warden
Josette Banzet	...	Madame Rosa
John Chappell	...	Doc Petersen

Runtime:

165 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:R | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Camarillo Airport - 555 Airport Way, Camarillo, California, USA

Company:

Frank Yablans Presentations

Trivia:

Because of a phenomenal success of the book, 20th Century Fox was sure that this was going to be a huge hit at the box office. At the same time there were such low expectations surrounding Star Wars (1977) that most theaters refused to book the film. So the distributor at Fox came up with the idea of a package deal: telling theater chains that if they wanted this movie they had to book Star Wars first. This movie went on to become a box office dud while Star Wars went on to become one of the most successful films of all time.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Cathy first comes out of the bedroom and overhears Larry and Noelle planning her demise, she has on underpants beneath her nightgown. But when she runs outside into the rainstorm and her nightgown gets soaking wet you can plainly see she has on no underpants.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Empire of Dreams: The Story of the 'Star Wars' Trilogy (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Know Why (and So Do You)

Trashy. Equivalent to a summer paperback read..

Producer Frank Yablans and 20th Century Fox spent some serious cash on "The Other Side of Midnight" filming scenes on location in Paris, Washington, DC and Greece. It certainly looks good on screen. The lush musical score by Michel Legrand made the movie sound more important than it really is. (When is a Legrand musical score not lush?) But the plodding epic WWII romantic story about two women who are in love with the same pilot, adapted from the best selling Sidney Sheldon novel, should not be taken too seriously. The movie is so soapy, I'm surprised Procter & Gamble did not co-produce the movie.

Marie-France Pisier tries her best to flesh out (pun intended) her character of Noelle, using her body to get to the top. But the scenes with Sorrell Booke as a businessman who bought Noelle from her father, Christian Marquand as a filmmaker and Raf Vallone as a Greek tycoon, were rather embarrassing and I did not feel any sympathy toward her character. John Beck fared even worse as a very uncharismatic, two-timing cad.

It is interesting that after "Midnight", Pisier (who I remember from a much better movie from two years earlier, Cousin, Cousine) went back to appearing in movies in her native France and Beck continued to appear in soaps, this time on television.

Somehow, I thought Susan Sarandon fared best because she was the best actor of the three leads. I felt more sympathy for her character Catherine than Noelle. And what has happened to Sarandon after this trash-fest? Can someone say a thinking man's sex symbol? (Oscar-winning performance as Sr. Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Walking" notwithstanding.)

Why a 5 out of 10 instead of a 1 or 2? I remember reading many negative reviews when it was first released in 1977. However, unlike what was reported in the IMDb Trivia section, the movie did have a long run in theaters and was a moderate success at the box office. Even though I was very leery of the film's 2 hour, 45 minute length, I caught the movie on cable TV. This movie is like a trashy summer novel, I could not put this movie down. Without giving the ending away, the plot twists almost made the film worth my time. Having seen the movie several times in the past few years, The Other Side of Midnight is a bad movie but I plead guilty to admit that it is so bad, it's good.

Update (5/10/2007): I tried to re-watch this movie and ended up fast forwarding through the boring parts. I guess my original review was rather generous.

If you cut down the "getting to know you" musical montage scenes, the transition scenes where people are walking from one beautiful scene to another and delete the gratuitous nude scenes, it might have been better. The movie is also filled with script exposition and not enough actual scenes that might have made the movie more interesting. The scenes between Pisier and Michael Lerner, who plays an investigator trailing John Beck's character, are especially deadly.

Sarandon's performance still holds up. She exudes more depth to her character than the script allows.

I sense that the movie was made by some dirty old men whose idea for a "chick flick" was to see the main female characters naked. A naked male lead? Not a chance.