This Could Be the Night

Quite a bit like the recent "Cold Comfort Farm" (though with a little more dramatic weight) in that in both a plucky, well-bred young woman plunks herself down in a hostile environment, rapidly wins her difficult new companions over and quickly whips them all into shape - without so much as breaking a nail in the process. And much like that picture, this too is great fun.

The director, Robert Wise, has a terrific feel for the nightclub setting and a lot of affection for its colorful inhabitants - always the key for this sort of film working. It's delightfully lively, beautifully paced and works in some fine musical numbers as well.

Marvelous cast. I love the sly, knowing look on schoolteacher Jean Simmons' face after Tony Franciosa, playing the street smart, cynical nightclub manager, comes to her rescue by breaking up a fight in her classroom. Franciosa was an intense, unselfish actor who was great at portraying inner conflict in a natural way that served the storyline, not his ego.

The algebra test subplot (yes, algebra) is a bit of a reach, and the film seems to end somewhat prematurely, but an accomplished piece of film-making nonetheless. Leonard Maltin inaccurately describes Paul Douglas' character as a gangster when in fact, he's merely a nightclub owner who, quite understandably, comes into contact with some unsavory people.