Remember the Night (1940)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writer:

Preston Sturges (original screenplay)

Release Date:

19 January 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Just before Christmas, Lee Leander is caught shoplifting. It is her third offense. She is prosecuted by John Sargent...

Plot Keywords:

Trial | Christmas | Shoplifting | Canada | Moral Reformation

US TV Schedule:

Fri. July 24

6:15 PM

TCM

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Lee Leander
Fred MacMurray	...	John Sargent
Beulah Bondi	...	Mrs. Sargent
Elizabeth Patterson	...	Aunt Emma
Willard Robertson	...	Francis X. O'Leary
Sterling Holloway	...	Willie Simms
Charles Waldron	...	Judge in New York
Paul Guilfoyle	...	District Attorney
Charles Arnt	...	Tom (as Charlie Arnt)
John Wray	...	Hank
Thomas W. Ross	...	Mr. Emory
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Rufus (as Snowflake)
Tom Kennedy	...	'Fat' Mike
Georgia Caine	...	Lee's Mother
Virginia Brissac	...	Mrs. Emory

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #5592) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:S

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Filmed July-September 1939, and bears a 1939 copyright statement on the title card, even though it was not actually copyrighted until January 1940.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The street sign on the corner of the shop where Stanwyck tries to pawn the stolen bracelet reads "3rd Avenue" and "West 54th Street" in NYC. With 3rd Avenue being east of Fifth Avenue, which divides east from west Manhattan, the street sign should read "East 54th Street."

Quotes:

Lee Leander: One of these days one of you boys is going to start one of these scenes differently and one of us girls is going to drop dead from surprise.

Movie Connections:

References Svengali (1931)

Soundtrack:

Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)

Noir romantic comedy

This is pretty close to a noir romantic comedy. Sturges, in writing, and not directing, has produced a comedy about the romance between a thief and her prosecutor, which is as explicit about exploring dark themes as it is in celebrating typical Hollywood home-town virtues. Fred MacMurray is at once his characters from "The Eggand I" and "Double Indemnity." Barbara Stanwyck is both tough and vulnerable. Wonderful character parts by Beulah Bondi and Sterling Holloway.