Midnight (1939)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

Charles Brackett (screenplay) and
Billy Wilder (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 March 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A chorus girl, stranded in Paris, is "set up" by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man.

Plot Keywords:

Paris | Taxi Driver | Party | Contest Pool | Screwball

Cast

Claudette Colbert	...	Eve Peabody aka Baroness Czerny
Don Ameche	...	Tibor Czerny
John Barrymore	...	Georges Flammarion
Francis Lederer	...	Jacques Picot
Mary Astor	...	Helene Flammarion
Elaine Barrie	...	Simone
Hedda Hopper	...	Stephanie
Rex O'Malley	...	Marcel
Monty Woolley	...	The Judge
Armand Kaliz	...	Lebon

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #4906) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Argentina:16

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Jacques Picot: [Trying to describe Helene's hat] Well, it's...
Eve Peabody: Oh, I think it's a dream on you. You know, it does something for your face. It gives you a chin.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Masquerade in Mexico (1945)

Soundtrack:

Étude No.12 in C minor Op.10-12: Revolutionary

Best smart-ass film of the 1930's

MIDNIGHT, too often overlooked in the shambles of what has been called the greatest year for movies, 1939, because audiences, accustomed to "screwball comedies" weren't quite ready for this smart-ass comedy of manners scripted by Wilder & Brackett. Claudette Colbert, arriving in Paris dressed only in a gold lame evening gown with matching purse, but without any money or connections, shows how to survive without surrendering her virtue and finds both love and riches. Don Ameche, lethally handsome in beautiful B&W shows he can wear a dinner jacket as well as Cary Grant, or Gary Cooper or Fred Astaire. This film is almost as good as the best Preston Sturges comedies and deserves to be seen by a contemporary audience.