This Is the Night (1932) User Reviews

An entertaining romantic farce that runs out of steam before the finale; Cary Grant's debut is very memorable

[robb_772 · 6/10 · 27 December 2006]

A slight-but-enjoyable romantic farce, THIS IS THE NIGHT is an entertaining little film that should earn a place in cinematic history simply because it contains the feature film debut of Cary Grant, who soon become arguably the most famous movie star of all time. Although he is regulated to playing a largely secondary character, Grant's incomparable screen presence makes him a standout from the very start. Playing an Olympic athlete, Grant makes his entrance into the world of cinema with a light step and a sharp wit - singing about apartment keys, no less! It's a memorable debut, and there are numerous other moments throughout the picture in which Grant demonstrates much of the early promise that would soon flower into full-throttle, megawatt star power in just a few short years.

As for the rest of the film, it is a reasonably solid comedy of adulterous affairs, with some surprisingly risqué elements that were permitted in the days before the Production Code was heavily enforced due to pressure from the National Legion of Decency in l933. The film begins delightfully as a light comedic ballet, with director Frank Turtle providing some truly madcap slapstick and even recitative singing that sets the viewer up for a knockabout farce. Unfortunately, this progressively free-wheeling atmosphere is largely abandoned in the film's last half, which plays out in a more or less predictable manner. The film still holds up perfectly well, however, until the too-conservative ending, which is a big disappointment after over 70 minutes of uninhibited fun.

On the plus side, the film is very well cast, and the actors manage to keep the picture engaging even after the initial momentum of the exhilarating first-half is long gone. Although she makes somewhat of an delayed entrance, Lili Damita brings both pluck and intelligence to the female lead, Roland Young makes the transformation of his somewhat unsympathetic character highly believable, and both Grant and Charles Ruggles offer top-notch support. The lovely Thelma Todd also makes the most of a rather bland role, and her talent for making a relatively thankless character seem genuinely inspired serves as a bittersweet reminder of yet another comedic great that was taken from us way too soon. In the end, THIS IS THE NIGHT is far too inconsistent to ever be considered a great movie, but it sure is a lot of fun!

An Enjoyable Pre-Code

[Maleejandra · 8/10 · 10 July 2009]

Claire (Thelma Todd) and Gerald (Roland Young) are carrying on a rather heated affair, but just as they are about to go away together to Venice, Claire's javelin-throwing husband Stephen (Cary Grant) returns home. In order to dispel his distrust, Gerald hires a woman to pose as his wife. Germaine (Lili Damita) is a hungry young French actress who poses as a more experienced woman named Chou Chou. She vamps Gerald incessantly while Stephen is around, and she is so successful that she makes Claire insanely jealous.

This sing-songy film is a delight to watch. It is fast-paced, comedic, and filled with a stellar cast, but it is not well known today. Film collectors find it interesting because it marks Cary Grant's first screen appearance and because it is one of the few films of Lili Damita, a popular but heavily-accented French star. Her career fizzled quite quickly, but not before she appeared with stars like Gary Cooper and Laurence Olivier.

Fans of the pre-code era will enjoy this one quite a lot, as it is peppered with naughty jokes ("I was living in Cin--, I was Naughty.") and a running gag about Todd losing her clothes.

Unique and memorable cast in sophisticated comedy

[csteidler · 8/10 · 29 October 2012]

Lili Damita sleeps, stretched across a luxurious bed…until a man wakes her up and tells her to move and we discover that she's a struggling actress sneaking some sleep on a quiet movie set. –Appearances are frequently misleading in this witty and ultimately charming comedy of manners, deceit and romance.

A great cast of more or less sympathetic characters surrounds the lovely Damita:

Roland Young and Charlie Ruggles are fine as a pair of wealthy gentlemen of Paris. Young is about to embark on a clandestine Venetian trip with girlfriend Thelma Todd—when her husband, Olympic javelin-thrower Cary Grant, unexpectedly returns home. One lie leads to another, and soon Young has hired an actress—Damita, eager to accept any job—to pose as his wife, and the whole gang boards a train for Venice.

Thelma Todd is excellent as the deceiving wife jealous of her lover's new partner; we don't get to see Todd angry in many of her movies, but smoke positively comes out of her ears here. Cary Grant—very youthful and athletic, bag of javelins slung over his shoulder—has a minor role but is awfully fun to watch (in his first picture).

Roland Young is outstanding as the would-be cosmopolitan lover who can't quite control either Damita or Todd; his face and mannerisms express varying degrees of discomfort, frustration and worry as he struggles to keep multiple relationships from caving in on him.

A hilarious running gag involves chauffeur Irving Bacon repeatedly catching Thelma's dress—in a car door, for example—and accidentally pulling it off.

Overall, it's very funny, with a plot that is tough to predict…and somewhat surprisingly, it gradually turns into a very sweet picture, at that. Very enjoyable, especially for fans of these great character actors—and well worth watching just to see Roland Young and the great Thelma Todd together.

Hilarious Pre-Code

[Michael_Elliott · 19 January 2011]

This Is the Night (1932)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Hilarious pre-code from Paramount has Roland Young playing Gerald Gray, a man dating a married woman (Thelma Todd). Things take a turn for the worse when the couple return to her home to find her husband (Cary Grant) there and in order to stay out of trouble the man's best friend (Charles Ruggles) tells the husband that the friend is actually married and the happy couple are on their way to Venice. The husband, not a bit fooled, decides to go along on the trip so the friend must find a fake wife (Lili Damita) to go along with the plan. This is a remake of a 1926 film and it's based on the play Naughty Cinderella. The naughty is certainly correct because this Paramount comedy has quite a few pre-code elements that would soon find themselves banned. Needless to say, having a film centered around a married woman dating other men was certainly a no no but it makes for one great laugh after another. After viewing the film I was really shocked to see that it wasn't more popular because the familiar cast is terrific and we get so many sexual jokes that it really stands out. The dialogue certainly implies many dirty jokes including one bit about "B.J." as well as our two lead actresses showing some skin. Of course we don't get any actual nudity but there's a very charming scene of Damita proving she can be naughty by taking her clothes off and coming off like a vixen. There's also a running joke with Todd constantly getting her clothes ripped off in a variety of ways. Both women have their legs constantly being shown as well as every other bit of skin they can get on camera. These elements certainly give the film a fresh touch and a pretty sexual one as well. Then we have the terrific performances that make the film memorable. Damita, who I had just seen in FRIENDS AND LOVERS, is must better here and in fact turns in a hilarious performance. I was really shocked to see how great she was here because her comic timing is right on the mark and she also plays the more dramatic, romantic moments just as well. Her coming timing really makes her character come to life and her previously mentioned seduction scene was priceless. Ruggles nearly steals the film as the silly assistant who gets this whole thing started. Todd delivers one of the best performances I've seen from her as her timing is great and just check out the wonderful scene where her married character gets jealous by her lover's fake wife. Young is also right on the mark and his chemistry with Damita is great. Then we have Cary Grant in his first role. I was surprised to see how natural he was but he plays the jerkish husband to perfection. I think the film starts to wear thin during the final act when every ones love starts to pour out but everything leading up to this is quite priceless. The performances, sexuality and laughs make this a must-see for fans of classic cinema.

Venice's Menace

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 9 January 2011]

Although This Is The Night which is the feature film debut of Cary Grant is an enjoyable enough bedroom farce it probably has more significance as the possible inspiration of one of Paramount's best feature films of the Thirties, Love Me Tonight. This film directed by one of Paramount's more competent contract directors Frank Tuttle plays a whole lot like Rouben Mamoulian's classic. Possibly if Tuttle had better material to work with, this film would be better known.

This Is The Night has Cary Grant as a French Olympic athlete whose sport is the javelin. But apparently he's not spearing Thelma Todd enough and she's casting a roving eye. The eye of Roland Young meets her's and the two plan a holiday in Venice.

To which Mr. Grant arrives and rudely interrupts. Thinking fast on his feet as American Express agent Charlie Ruggles arrives with tickets at Todd's apartment, Young says that he'll be traveling with his wife and once outside frantically looks for a wife. He finds Lily Damita and hires her for a railroad holiday from Paris to Venice. Ruggles goes along as a fifth wheel on this carriage, presumably to catch whoever comes flying off the rebound. As he's soused most of the time, I can't see what appeal he would have. Of course I can't see what appeal he would have sober.

Cary Grant was billed fifth in this film, but in 1932 he gradually went up the billing ladder and by the time of She Done Him Wrong, he's co-starring with Mae West. His debonair charm could barely be concealed in a role which required him to be a bit of a fathead.

Ralph Rainger and Sam Coslow wrote a couple of forgettable songs and it's in the musical numbers that this film bares the closest resemblance to Love Me Tonight. Note the Italian gondolier in the Venice scenes. He gets no billing in the film, but it is Donald Novis one of the most popular singers of the day on radio. In three years he would move to Broadway and play the romantic lead in Rodgers&Hart's Jumbo where he would introduce The Most Beautiful Girl In The World and My Romance. Novis had a wonderful tenor voice as you'll agree if you see this film.

Speaking of Rodgers&Hart maybe if they wrote a score as good as the one they did for Love Me Tonight, This Is The Night would be more remembered than as footnote as Cary Grant's feature film debut.

What an oddball film for Cary Grant to have his first role

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 5 September 2021]

This is a partial musical when musicals were anathema at the box office from 1930 until the Busby Berkeley musicals brought the genre back in 1933, although none of the billed characters actually sing. Two strip Technicolor existed at the time, but the film is black and white unless it is night and the characters are outside and then the film is tinted deep blue.

So all of this experimental art design is the backdrop for a pretty typical precode farce. Bachelor Gerald Gray (Roland Young) is having an affair with married Claire Matthewson (Thelma Todd). They plan to take a trip to Venice together because Claire's husband (Cary Grant as Stephen Mathewson) is at the summer Olympics throwing the javelin. But he returns unexpectedly, just in time to see the two train tickets that his wife had ordered. A poorly constructed alibi is devised - Claire was planning to take the trip alone. The two tickets were mistakenly left there for neighbor Gerald and his wife. Stephen suspects what is going on and insists that he and Claire take that trip and that Gerald and his wife come along on the journey with them, not believing that there actually IS a wife. So Gerald hires a starving actress (Lili Damita as Germaine ) to play the part of his wife. But even this is a switcheroo as the actual actress hired for the job (Claire Dodd) doesn't want it and gives it to Germaine. Complications ensue.

If Cary Grant had been just a couple of years further along in his film career, doubtless he would have had the part of the carousing bachelor and Roland Young would have been the cuckolded but suspicious husband and the film would probably have been better for it. But Grant is humorous carting around those javelins as phallic symbols. Irving Bacon was an odd choice for Roland Young's butler in a continental setting since he really seems like he would be better suited working in Mr. Drucker's store in Hooterville.

I'd recommend it for the weirdness of it all and to see Cary Grant in his first film role.

Stick with this one...despite bad casting, it's still very good.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 21 August 2011]

This is a Pre-Code sex comedy that is very good--but in hindsight, the casting was insane. If I explain the basic plot, you will understand. Beautiful Thelma Todd plays a bored wife who wants to have an affair. So, she picks out Roland Young--a very mousy man with absolutely nothing to offer her. And who is the husband of this lady? Yup, it's played by Cary Grant!! And, Grant plays an Olympic javelin thrower. Yet, oddly, she makes the moves on Young--who has the sex appeal of Edward Everett Horton! So, if you can ignore the dumb casting is the film worth seeing? Absolutely--it's a great farce with a really well-written plot. What happens is that Grant catches his wife with the other man. And, trying to help, Young's friend (Charlie Ruggles) tells Grant that Young is already very happily married--and makes up a story about a fictional wife. So, Grant asks Young to bring his wife with him on a trip--so they can all become good friends. So, Young scrambles to find a woman willing to pretend to be his wife and finds down in your luck Lili Damita (one of Errol Flynn's wives in real life). He thinks she's a prostitute, so he has no problem offering her money. But, she is a nice girl--and one that Young finds himself increasingly attracted to through the course of their trip to romantic Venice.

The casting can be blamed on the producer. But even a dumb producer can be overcome by a witty script--and this one is witty and filled with excellent dialog. In addition, it's a chance to see Grant in his debut film. Now that I think about it, if Grant and Young had switched roles, this would have been an even better movie.

Refreshing bedroom farce introduces 27-year-old Cary Grant...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 9 January 2011]

LILI DAMITA is supposed to be the star of THIS IS THE NIGHT, but the heavily accented French actress did not exactly bowl me over with her performance here. She's merely window dressing and pouts her way through a role with little substance.

But the supporting cast is excellent. ROLAND YOUNG, although miscast as a leading man, gets into wacky situations along with CHARLIE RUGGLES and THELMA TODD in this light-hearted bedroom farce wherein LILI DAMITA is hired by Young to pose as his adoring wife.

Blue tint is used for all of the night scenes in Venice and the photography is surprisingly crisp and clear for a film made in 1932. Some of the dialog is spoken in musical rhymes, surprising since most early sound films did not emphasize music at all, not even background music in many films of the early '30s.

It's a refreshing, funny, amusing sort of light comedy that uses a lot of cinema techniques that put it ahead of the usual fare from this era. As for Miss Damita (who later married Errol Flynn), I found her less than impressive both as a comedienne and as a looker. THELMA TODD, on the other hand, gives a more expert demonstration of comic ability.

CARY GRANT, in his film debut, at 27, is darkly handsome and shows assurance and a flair for acting that would serve him well through his long career.

A Delightful Film

[loza-1 · 10/10 · 18 June 2005]

I always wonder when I see the lists of "the hundred best films ever made" etc. You see, there is one thing that I have discovered over the years of delving around in old films, and it is this. It is not possible to compile lists of the best films ever made for the simple reason that some of the best films ever made are lying forgotten on shelves in film libraries, and, sadly, some are lost. There are so many great films that the public never get to see. The critics will have you believe that pictures like This is the Night is not particularly good, and is only of interest to fans of Cary Grant and Thelma Todd. People have forgotten all about it. The director, the star, the film is today forgotten.

Then you play the film. The acting is utterly superb, the comic timing superb. The film is cleverly and adventurously put together by the film makers. All the players, Grant, Todd, Ruggles and Young are excellent.

What is there to say about the lead, Damita? Well, with the coming of talking pictures, Damita with her French accent found it tough to get parts that would utilise her exceptional talents. Here is an exception. Not many people know that at Hollywood parties Damita was Chaplin's number one rival when it came to mime during party pieces. In one scene, we get a glimpse at the sort of thing that helped the Hollywood parties go with a swing. In dialogue Damita's comic timing is spot on, which just goes to show that you do not have to be mug ugly to be a comedienne. When she is on screen the laughter is the loudest. And sex appeal? She has been called "a French bombshell." If so, the French have to test her in the Pacific.

It would be criminal to ruin it all by telling everybody what the plot is. All I will say is that if you are not smiling or laughing at this film from beginning to end, then there is something wrong with YOU.

So next time you see a list of the 100 best films ever made, ignore it. My advice to you is to go out and find your own 100 best films. If you don't, you could miss gems like this, and the loser will be YOU.

Car Grant's First Hollywood Film

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 19 November 2022]

His role as a willing husband who takes his wife back from having an affair didn't sit well with the rookie movie actor in his first feature film. Carrying his new stage name, Cary Grant, the young screen thespian was disillusioned by his role as the cuckold husband Stephen Mathewson in April 1932's "This is The Night." His inner disgust belies what movie audiences first saw in his initial entrance: a confident, athletic actor seen easily climbing the stairs packed with an air of pleasantness in his personality. Wrote modern day film reviewer Steve Miller, "his charm and screen presence leaps off the screen, even as he shares scenes with actors who also have strong presences as well as a lot more experience in the film medium, like Thelma Todd and Charles Ruggles." The romantic comedy featured Paramount Pictures' latest hire, the 28-year-old former British vaudeville performer who had just signed a five-year contract with the studio after coming off a successful appearance on the Broadway stage.

The actor formally known as Archibald Leach screen tested positively for Paramount's co-founder Jesse Lasky and general manager B. P. Schulberg, who saw him as an "epitome of muscle glamour." They felt he could fit in the shoes of a youthful Douglas Fairbanks-type, who ironically Grant had met and played shuffleboard with on a Transatlantic cruise liner ten years earlier on his way to America. In "This Is The Night," Grant plays an Olympic athlete who catches his wife, Claire (Thelma Todd), planning to go on a European trip with a lover. Through all the escapades to Venice and beyond, Grant's character, knowing about his wife's wayward behavior, in the end happily forgives her and takes her back.

Once concluding the filming of the picture, Grant vowed he was quitting Hollywood and returning to the stage. His good friend Orry-Kelly, who later won three Academy Awards for his costume designs, tried to convince him to stay in hopes of better parts. Grant, still fuming and indecisive, then read some of the good reviews from the press praising his acting, even though they had mixed feelings about "This Is The Night" overall. Typical of the critics' enthusiasm for him was trade magazine Variety, whose reviewer wrote, "It's hard to tell about Cary Grant in this talker due to limitations of his role, but he looks like a potential femme rave." That, and his iron-clad contract with Paramount convinced him that maybe he should stay in Hollywood.

"I'm just a young girl living by her hips."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 2 December 2014]

Well this is a weird one. It's a Pre-Code sex comedy with very odd casting. Thelma Todd is cheating on her husband, Olympic javelin thrower Cary Grant. Wait until you see who she's cheating with -- Roland fricking Young! That's right, the mousy mumbly guy from Topper. On what planet, I ask you...on what planet!?! Anyway, to cover for their affair, Young hires Lili Damita to pose as his wife. Gradually he and Damita fall for each other.

Notable for being the feature film debut of screen legend Cary Grant, who makes quite an impression in his first scene. Cary's great in his minor role. Young is fine but I never liked his character enough to get invested in the story. Same with Todd. Damita is sexy but I couldn't understand half of what she said with her thick French accent. Charlie Ruggles does his usual shtick. If you're familiar with him, you'll realize he's very much an acquired taste. He's tolerable here though. Frank Tuttle's direction is nice. I think the blue-tinted night scenes are a good touch. Love the opening few minutes. It's an amusing movie at first but grows less so as each minute passes. It helps that the mood stays light. Didn't find much of it believable and, like I said, I didn't like the main characters much. Swapping Young and Grant's roles might have improved the overall picture. Although then we'd have the absurd image of Young as an Olympic athlete. But that's no more ridiculous than him being able to take any woman from Cary Grant. It's not a bad film and there's certainly enough of interest to entertain most classic film fans. Definitely one Cary Grant fans will want to see at least once.

This is Frank Tuttle

[boblipton · 8/10 · 1 July 2005]

Frank Tuttle was a highly competent house director for many years, working for Sam Goldwyn, Paramount and so forth, turning out well-made movies in which the style served the story. In our day of auteur worship and the insistence that, if a critic can't tell who directed a film without looking at the credits, it is not a good film, craftsmen like Tuttle are considered hacks. I disagree. You may disagree with me. We'll leave that unsettled for the moment and thumb wrestle over it later.

This movie has all the earmarks of a Lubitsch picture: the European settings (Paris, Hollywood, which Lubitsch said he much preferred to Paris France; Venice, where he had set the opening of TROUBLE IN PARADISE two years earlier) and is the sort of racy European comedy that Paramount specialized in until the Production Code killed them dead later that year. The setups are all Lubitsch: the recitative number "Madame Has Lost Her Dress" that opens the movie; The sexual imagery of Cary Grant carrying around a bagful of javelins and reducing Roland Young and Charlie Ruggles to blithering idiocy; Thelma Todd in her underwear; and into this mess lands Lily Damita, an honest girl reduced to sleeping on movie sets: trouble in Paris, Hollywood.

Although Tuttle lacks the ability to direct actors in the small, exquisite details that Lubitsch did, he had a fine hand at framing and storyline. The movie is near perfect, except for the miscasting of Roland Young as the love interest..... but perhaps that is the point of the matter: we do not always fall in love with Maurice Chevalier.

THIS IS THE NIGHT (Frank Tuttle, 1932) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 19 January 2014]

Cary Grant's film debut (which I now watched on the 110th anniversary of his birth) is hardly ever discussed but, recently, a fellow American movie-buff friend of mine rated it a startling ***1/2 (for the record, Leonard Maltin accords it a more modest **1/2 in his guide) and I also found it listed in the "Wonders In The Dark" website's poll of the "All- Time Top 3000 Movies"!

A very typical "frothy" Paramount effort from this era, and one that obviously apes the famed Lubitsch touch then in full force (even going so far as to borrow two of his alumni for the male leads, namely Charlie Ruggles and Roland Young). Grant is a singing javelin-thrower(!) married to Thelma Todd (who is constantly getting her clothes caught in doors and torn clean off her!); the latter has a fling with bachelor Young (this emanates from an era where the audience did not question the considerable age difference in a relationship – but, then, an older Grant would often be guilty of that as well!) and, when caught by Grant, pal Ruggles invents a wife for Young which Grant then asks to meet! They all end up on vacation in Venice (also partly the setting of Lubitsch's masterpiece TROUBLE IN PARADISE, made the same year and also featuring Ruggles!) with down-on-her-luck actress Lily Damita filling the part of devoted spouse to Young.

While the woman's supposed charms did not brush off on me (this is the first I have ever seen of her), the same cannot be said of her co-stars, all of whom vie for her attentions at some point or another – or, for that matter, the likes of Michael Curtiz and Errol Flynn who would make her their wife in real life (though both marriages ended in divorce)! Anyway, while the film definitely has a style and sophistication to it (not entirely typical of director Tuttle, whose forte would eventually be hard-boiled thrillers), the intermittent songs – another shameless borrowing from Lubitsch (not to mention Rene' Clair) – do come off as forced and a regrettable intrusion! The situations, while hardly inspired, are mostly engaging and the whole offers an entertaining ride despite finding all concerned not quite in their best form. Here, too, the use (or, should I say, misuse) of Italian comes into play – especially when Ruggles tries to leave Damita's room via a ladder on the point of being removed by a couple of local policemen and, consequently, falls into the canal below and is taken by the representatives of the law for a burglar, Grant, however, intercedes and, when he tells them Ruggles is actually the lady's lover, the two "guardie" burst into a litany of pardons (love, apparently, does conquer all) – which causes Ruggles to subsequently dub them "the 'Scusi' brothers"!

Cary debuts in fine mess

[st-shot · 4/10 · 19 March 2022]

Paramount introduces leading man for the ages Cary Grant to filmgoers as of all things a cuckold in this tired romantic comedy with little of either to show for it. Poorly written and miscast, it simply rings hollow with the graying and bumbling Roland Young (Topper) trying to keep his affair with Grant's wife (Thelma Todd) under wraps as they set off for a brief vacation in Venice.

In order to keep things discreet Gerald Gray (Young) employs Germaine (Lila Damita) to get the javelin throwing Steve Mathewson (Grant) off his back while he keeps his wife Christine (Todd) on hers. The conspiracy is dreadfully obvious however without a hint of sly wit that is crucial to bedroom comedies of this nature. Frank Tuttle proves he is no Lubitsch or Sturges but I'm not certain they could have done much better with the anemic script and poor casting of the entire dramatis personae who fail to get up much velocity in this early screwball. Limp and lacking spark, abound with cloying performances, This is the Night is lights out early.

Not Lubitsch, But Still Good

[GManfred · 30 June 2011]

"This Is The Night" is noteworthy primarily because it marks Cary Grant's feature debut, but can stand on its own as a prime example of Pre-Code comedy. Some of the subject matter and situations must have been regarded as naughty for its time, but as with many of Hollywood's Pre-code movies it is pretty tame by today's standards.

It is quite funny, but you have to give it a chance to warm up, as it takes a few minutes to get underway. The humor is very subtle and probably wouldn't go over well with modern audiences (see Adam Sandler). It comes with some unique quirks, like Cary Grant delivering a few lines in song, but once into the picture some old pros take over. Roland Young and Charles Ruggles, two veterans of the stage, have some of the best exchanges of situational dialogue and are aided by Thelma Todd, a comedienne who had a bright future but who was murdered around the time of the film's release. Her murder was never solved. Cary Grant plays it straight and Lili Damita is everyone's love interest but is the weakest member of the cast. It is very much like a filmed play, with just a few indoor sets, and there are only six cast members. The blue-tinted nighttime scenes were a nice, unexpected touch.

In short, it is well worth your time but give it a chance to get past the slow beginning. It is actually a quick 80 minutes.

This is Alright

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 14 June 2023]

"This is the Night" reminded me of another movie I watched titled "Sin Takes a Holiday" (1930). In "Sin Takes a Holiday" a rich playboy paid a woman to marry him--which would only be a marriage on paper--so that he wouldn't have to settle down with another woman. Eventually he fell in love with his paper wife.

In "This is the Night" a stammering, meek, middle-aged man named Gerald (Roland Young) was seeing a younger married woman named Claire (Thelma Todd). They planned a getaway to Venice, Italy when their plans were upset by Claire's husband, Stephen (Cary Grant). To avert Stephen's suspicions, Gerald had to say that he was already married, when he certainly wasn't.

Stephen had intercepted two train tickets for Claire and Gerald that Gerald was forced to claim were for he and his own (non-existent) wife. To complete the charade, Gerald hired French actress, Chu Chu (pronounced shoo shoo) (Lili Damita), to play his wife while they all went to Venice together.

"This is the Night" hovered between good and average. It began as though it was going to be a musical and then pivoted off of that, which I appreciated. I think what prevented it from realizing its full potential was the leading man, Roland Young. His meek, uncertain, wishy-washy personality made him nearly contemptible. I wanted to root for him to fall in love with the beautiful and charismatic Chu Chu aka Germaine, but his behavior kept making me want to flick him off of my screen as though he were a bug. He was by far the weakest character.

As for a debut film for Cary Grant, it could've been worse. His character, while important, didn't drive the movie. It was all about Claire, Gerald, and the show stopper Chu Chu.

Sort of a sister film to "Love Me Tonight"

[pacificgroove-315-494931 · 6/10 · 9 August 2020]

As a film history buff, I found this little known movie most interesting. It's partially a sister film to the innovative classic Love Me Tonight, though inferior to it.

The first segment of This Is the Night seems almost surely directed by Roubin Mamoulian; it's very similar in style, camerawork, and editing to what Mamoulian created in Love Me Tonight. Based on what I've seen of credited director Frank Tuttle's film output, I doubt he had the taste or technique to create something so avant garde and artistic. It uses sound effects as a comic substitute for dialog and singing, and features unusual screen compositions, fast cutting, and a very mobile camera. All clues that Mamoulian created it.

The rest of this comedy film is less interesting, but features witty dialog, and occasional unconventionally staged scenes.

For me, the major flaw is the, impossible to swallow but important, plot conceit that the pretty and rich young woman played by Thelma Todd would cuckhold her studly handsome young husband (Cary Grant) for little,meek, middle aged Roland Young.

Grant is physically is ideal for the part he's playing, but in this, his first film, lacks any charisma or acting ability. However the rest of the cast do a fine job.

Don't mess with my Chou-Chou

[ricardojorgeramalho · 7/10 · 14 December 2022]

A romantic comedy in the good way of the 30s in which everybody seems to be out of place but, somehow, it still works.

Roland Young, an eternal sidekick in screwball comedies of the 1930s, appears here as the protagonist, well supported by another talented actor recurring in this type of film, Charles Ruggles. It is they who lead the film, along with an unlikely Lily Damita, in a role that doesn't suit her particularly well, as she seems more suited for drama than comedy.

Paradoxically, the king of screwball comedies, Cary Grant, appears in a secondary role at the beginning of his career, which does not allow him to show his enormous potential for the genre, alongside with Thelma Todd, despite everything, much more comfortable in comedy, than the protagonist.

Good production, a glamorous Venice, despite being filmed at Paramount studios, an acceptable argument for the genre. Had this film been given proper casting and a more inspired direction, it could have been a classic.

Sadly, it's just a nice romantic period farce for fans of the genre.

Ruggles and Young provide the comedy here

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 7 March 2017]

"This Is the Night" is one of very few Cary Grant films in which he doesn't have the lead male role. At this early stage in his career, Grant played second fiddle to Roland Young. And that was more than just in the credits. Grant's Stephen Matthewson is about to lose his wife to the older and much less attractive Young, who plays Gerald Gray. The only possible explanation for this is that Gray is very wealthy – and unmarried. Stephen seems to have some sort of wealth himself, because he can go gallivanting around to track meets where he's a javelin thrower.

In this film, Gray and Steve's wife, Claire (played by Thelma Todd) are about to leave Paris for Venice, Italy. That's while Steve is off to the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. But, Steve missed his wife and turned around at London to return home. He walks in on Bunny West (played by Charles Ruggles) who's a friend of Gray, as he is delivering two train tickets to Venice. West says he mistakenly delivered the two tickets to this address, when they were for Mr. Gray and his wife. Steve tells him to get one more ticket with that of his wife, because he will go to Venice with the rest.

Gray then challenges West to find him someone to play his wife for the two weeks. Lili Damita enters the scene as Germaine. Much of the very light comedy occurs after this in Venice. West starts to fall for Germaine, while Gray and Claire get little chance to be alone. Before long, jealousies ensue, and Claire and Steve fall for each other all over again; and Gray and Germaine decide to marry.

There isn't much more to this film. The plot had great possibilities for comedy, but the screenplay was just too lame. A bright, crispy, witty script could turn this into a roaring comedy. As is, it just passes as somewhat interesting and enjoyable. Grant has very little comedy here. Most of it comes from Ruggles and Young.

Brilliant!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 7 January 2018]

A brilliant 1932 Paramount offering is available from several public domain labels. My copy from Scooter rates at least 8/10. This is a movie for which there is no middle ground. I looked up the reviews. Half the reviewers thought This Is the Night the worst movie ever made. The other half held that it was the best movie of the year! Guess which half I agree with? I thought it one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen in my life. I was crying at the finish, it was so wonderful.

This outstandingly attractive girl, played by the utterly entrancing and super-lovely Lily Damita, was being pursued all over Europe by an Olympic athlete played by Cary Grant. Most moviegoers consider Cary to be the handsomest and most desirable man in movies. Trailing along behind this romantic twosome was an old guy played by Charlie Ruggles, a comedian who is always cast as an ardent but perennially rejected old fool of a suitor. He's the comedy relief, you see. We always laugh at his earnest but tongue-tied efforts to impress the girl and his ridiculous bleatings about how much he loves her. Charlie has this part down pat. He plays it in dozens of films. He's been turned down, ridiculed and laughed at by many of the great sirens of the screen. Well, would you believe, at the end of this movie, the most beautiful Lily deals with stumbling, falling-off-ladders Ruggles in an entirely unique way? I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. I cried tears of joy. Who would ever think such a thing was possible? It seems the most beautiful girl is as intelligent as she is lovely. But there's no doubt about it, many movie fans are happier with the routine and conventional. They don't like being challenged by originality. And This Is the Night not only has an ingeniously constructed and highly original script to commend it, but marvelously adroit, sophisticated direction by Frank Tuttle (of all people!) who has evidently sought to out-Lubitsch Lubitsch - and has succeeded beyond all measure!

This is not a movie

[marthawilcox1831 · 1/10 · 5 July 2014]

This poor excuse for a movie should never have been made. Cary Grant trying to sing as though he's in an opera just doesn't work. His accent sounds a bit old fashioned Cockney in this film, and his character is unnatural. There are some scenes that border on nudity, but they don't add to the film. If anything it looks like a poor attempt to rescue the film. It is beyond redemption, and comes nowhere near the quality of 'My Favourite Wife'. Roland Young is not convincing as a lover or a man with a hot French wife. He usually plays the inebriated old man in films, but he is neither funny nor engaging. For this reason it is not a movie. I don't know what it is. It just adds another credit to Grant's film list.

Entertaining pre-Code fare

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 26 January 2024]

"Through moonlit mystery, your eyes are telling me, this is the night I've waited for. This is the night I'll hear the story eternal. Tonight we can't conceal the ecstasy we feel, though with the dawn, romance will be gone. Tonight is ours. This is the night."

A silly pre-Code sex farce that isn't a masterclass in anything in particular, but had enough elements that I ended up enjoying it, and probably rounded up a half tick. Without regurgitating the premise, some highlights:

• Thelma Todd having the dress underneath her fur coat torn off completely by the door of her car, leading to the cheeky and possibly disagreeable song "Madame Has Lost Her Dress" (including lyrics like "her breasts, her knees, let all work cease"), a joke that's reprised.

• Cary Grant in his first film appearance, toting giant javelins and singing some of his dialogue. It's crazy that his character would skip the Olympics and that his wife would be cheating on him with Roland Young, but did I mention it's silly?

• The search for a woman to play Young's Wife, someone so gorgeous that "when she walks down the street, her torso almost talks," leading to Lili Damita, because Claire Dodd (in an uncredited cameo) doesn't want the job. Initially she's too "Sunday-schoolish" for Young, but then via a series of winks, striptease, and use of the curtains to create a slinky little dress, she's in.

• The musical number with the porters at the station tossing bags up into the train, then all with their palms out asking for a tip.

• Damita (Chou-Chou) quietly driving the other characters wild, or making them jealous. There's the misunderstanding with Young's lack of sleep being due to the two of them having sex all night, and a kiss from him at the breakfast table that's so good it makes her dizzy, upsetting Todd. There's Grant hitting on her, upsetting Young. There's even the servant Bunny (Charles Ruggles) wanting to get into the act, upsetting Young further.

• Venice, which I'm always a sucker for, even if it's brief, mostly stock footage. The flower petals being inadvertently knocked off a bridge by a couple of strangers kissing, and falling to the gondola below, was a lovely little touch.

• Young delivered dry one-liners, like in response to Grant asking him, "Didn't you ever go in for athletics?" quipping "I used to 'jump' at conclusions." Or, when Damita is taking deep breaths and stretching her chest in front of the camera and says not to worry, she's just breathing, him telling her to stop it, because it "sounds immoral." He gets a similar line in when he's intoxicated by her perfume and says it's "de-moralizing."

• Thelma Todd in that barely there dress at the end, my goodness. It's tragic that she would die just three years later, at 29, under suspicious circumstances.

Not so great were the two separate references to wife beating, the acceptance of which in comedy in this period and for decades (e.g. Jackie Gleason's oft-repeated line in The Honeymooners, "To the moon, Alice, to the moon") is always jarring, and of course indefensible. It's the only low note in an otherwise, lighthearted, entertaining film.

"L'Amante!"

[daisukereds · 5/10 · 26 March 2023]

A girl is hired to pass as a man's wife, out of necessity to deter the husband of his lover from.. murdering with a javelin.

Watched solely out of interest over Cary Grant's debut film, stayed for Damita (I think I get Lili's charm just from this one role).

As a trip to Venize, it isn't very enticing. As a Comedy, it isn't quite fun. And as a romance, it is quite lacking, considering I didn't particularly enjoy old-man Roland Young as a lead or believable partner. Charles Ruggles, on the other hand, is always a treat! Surprised to know this was a box office success, as it is a rather dull movie.. Though I appreciated the musical "flare" with which it starts, and the out-of-place gag at the train station.

My interest waned, as did the pacing and content well past the middle.. I can't fault it, because it is a very competent movie that tells the story it wants to tell. I probably have seen too many good movies by now.