The Night of January 16th

19411941
PGPG
1h 20m

The story revolves around three people; Tycoon Bjorn Faulkner, who is being called upon by his board of directors to explain a missing $20,000,000; Kit Lane, his secretary who also has a per... Read allThe story revolves around three people; Tycoon Bjorn Faulkner, who is being called upon by his board of directors to explain a missing $20,000,000; Kit Lane, his secretary who also has a personal interest; and Steve Van Ruyle, a sailor who has inherited a position on Faulkner's b... Read allThe story revolves around three people; Tycoon Bjorn Faulkner, who is being called upon by his board of directors to explain a missing $20,000,000; Kit Lane, his secretary who also has a personal interest; and Steve Van Ruyle, a sailor who has inherited a position on Faulkner's board of directors. Faulkner is (presumably) murdered, and Kit is falsely accused of the mu... Read all

6.2/10

118

Director
- William Clemens
Writers
- Delmer Daves(screenplay)
- Robert Pirosh(screenplay)
- Eve Greene(screenplay)
Stars

Top credits

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Clarence Kolb, Robert Preston, and Alice White in The Night of January 16th (1941)

Nils Asther, Ellen Drew, and Robert Preston in The Night of January 16th (1941)

Ellen Drew and Robert Preston in The Night of January 16th (1941)

Nils Asther and Ellen Drew in The Night of January 16th (1941)

Ellen Drew in The Night of January 16th (1941)

Director
- William Clemens
Writers
- Delmer Daves(screenplay)
- Robert Pirosh(screenplay)
- Eve Greene(screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

The story revolves around three people; Tycoon Bjorn Faulkner, who is being called upon by his board of directors to explain a missing $20,000,000; Kit Lane, his secretary who also has a personal interest; and Steve Van Ruyle, a sailor who has inherited a position on Faulkner's board of directors. Faulkner is (presumably) murdered, and Kit is falsely accused of the murder. Steve assumes the job of clearing her name. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

sailor tycoon b movie district attorney held at gunpoint 21 more

Trivia
An interesting element to the live play was that the jury was selected from the audience at each performance, and different endings were used according to how the jury voted at the end. (In Rand's reckoning, the heroine on trial technically wasn't guilty of the charge against her, but the evidence presented was evenly balanced; the verdict would be a reflection of the jury's own consciences.)

Connections
Referenced in Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (1997)

Top review

5/10

Neither here nor there/ 1941

This Paramount B picture made in 1941, based on a successful Broadway courtroom drama written by Ayn Rand in her playwriting days, is --let's face it--a mess. The one-set play was obviously much rewritten by Hollywood hands who set out to make a movie ["open up'] the bought property. In the process, no one seems to have decided whether it should remain a courtoom drama or become a comedy or be a bit of both The confusing plot is predictably improbable, mixing comedy and suspense in a heavy-handed fashion, all directed clumsily by Wm. Clemens. Robert Preston is appealing and so is Ellen Drew. Cecil Kellaway somehow shows up along the way for no reason at all, but does a delightful turn as a drunk. Cliff Nazarro, also for no apparent story reason, appears briefly as a double-talking gas station owner. Leon Belasco is also seen as the Cuban airplane steward who ends the film. The silent movie star, Nils Asther, in one of his few sound film roles, is the the debonair continental villain. Incidentally, this film was made the same year Paramount agreed to let one of their contract writers, Preston Sturges, direct his first picture. Judging from this picture, they certainly needed all the help they could get.

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