- Remember the Night (1940) movie review summary: Suspected shoplifter Barbara Stanwyck and assistant D.A. Fred MacMurray find out that romantic love redeems as well as corrupts in director Mitchell Leisen and screenwriter Preston Sturges’ engaging Christmastime comedy-drama.
Remember the Night (1940) movie review: Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray discover that love redeems and corrupts
A holiday delight that resonates from a Preston Sturges screenplay,[1] the 1940 romantic comedy-drama Remember the Night inconspicuously assays familiar moral territory. As he did with the screenwriter’s classic 1937 comedy Easy Living, Mitchell Leisen directs.
In the earlier collaboration, down-on-her-luck Jean Arthur chances upon luxury, an impetus for Sturges to lightly pit haves against have-nots. In Remember the Night, new to DVD from the Universal/TCM Vault Collection,[2] Barbara Stanwyck has less serendipitous designs upon material satisfaction.
Yet Preston Sturges is not as concerned with economic wealth this time around. Instead, the prosperity of kindness is the reason for the season.
Remember the Night plot: Love as ‘joyful equalizer’
Feeling guilty after some of his legal maneuvering leads to the postponement of the trial of suspected shoplifter Lee Leander (Barbara Stanwyck), New York City assistant D.A. John Sargent (Fred MacMurray) bails her out so she won’t have to spend Christmas behind bars.[3]
Virtuous John is headed back to Indiana for the holidays and assumes that Lee might have a family to visit as well. Since she also happens to hail from the Hoosier State, the duo leave the big city together, heading over the river and through the woods. Lee’s estranged mother (Georgia Caine) rejects her upon arrival, but John’s sympathetic mother (Beulah Bondi) and warm Aunt Emma (Elizabeth Patterson) embrace her as a guest.
Preston Sturges softly evokes the Nativity story in this journey – e.g., a humorous set piece with a cow recalls the tradition of Mary and Joseph – though further allusions are merely suggested. In fact, Sturges is at his most subdued with Remember the Night. Mitchell Leisen complements the screenwriter’s approach with his trademark precision rendered delicately and his cynical eye likewise controlled.
As Remember the Night progresses, the filmmakers provide further evidence that the affluence examined in the story is not monetary but measured in goodness. The Sargent family enjoys a modest life presented with the appropriate sentimental trimmings and nothing more. The generosity Lee encounters from John and his down-home relations reveals the richness of love. Thus, romance blossoms expectedly.
As John falls for Lee, his moral parameters become more fluid. As Lee falls for John, her integrity emerges. In an article that accompanies the Remember the Night DVD (one of several archival Special Features found on the disc), Preston Sturges offers his summary concisely: “Love reformed her and corrupted him.” The decency inherent in love is a joyful equalizer.
Charismatic Barbara Stanwyck
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, together for the first of their four screen pairings,[4] create an enticing couple. His ordinary charm and conventional geniality balances her resilient humor and canny allure, though the actress surpasses her leading man in charisma throughout.
In support, veteran actresses Beulah Bondi and Elizabeth Patterson don folksy archetypes with agreeable good cheer.
Beyond its notable thematic rewards, Remember the Night is worthwhile for these merry performances.
Remember the Night (1940) cast & crew
Director: Mitchell Leisen
Screenplay: Preston Sturges
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
Charles Waldron … New York Judge
Paul Guilfoyle … District Attorney
Charles Arnt … Tom
John Wray … Hank
Snowflake (Fred Toones) … Rufus
Tom Kennedy … ‘Fat’ Mike
Georgia Caine … Lee’s Mother
Virginia Brissac … Mrs. Emory
Spencer Charters … Judge at Rummage SaleCinematography: Ted Tetzlaff
Film Editing: Doane Harrison
Music: Frederick Hollander
Art Direction: Hans Dreier & Roland Anderson
Producer: Mitchell Leisen
Running Time: 94 min.
Country: United States
“Remember the Night (1940) Review” notes/references
Director Preston Sturges
[1] A screenwriter since 1930 (e.g., The Big Pond, The Power and the Glory, The Good Fairy), Preston Sturges made his directorial debut with two releases that came out the same year as Remember the Night: The political comedy The Great McGinty, featuring Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff, and another (sort of) Christmas-themed effort, the socially conscious comedy-drama Christmas in July, starring Dick Powell and Ellen Drew.
The year after Remember the Night, Sturges would direct Barbara Stanwyck in one of his (and her) best-known efforts, The Lady Eve, costarring Henry Fonda.
Remember the Night DVD
[2] A Paramount Pictures release, Remember the Night– like the vast majority of Paramount’s titles from 1929–1949 – belongs to Universal Pictures’ movie library.
The DVD’s special features include the following:
- An introduction from Turner Classic Movies (TCM) host Robert Osborne.
- Interviews with art director Henry Bumstead (No Man of Her Own) and actress Constance Moore (I Wanted Wings; Take a Letter, Darling) about Mitchell Leisen.
- Galleries of promotional stills and posters.
- The theatrical trailer, trivia, and an article about Remember the Night.
Christmas in January
[3] Despite its Christmastime setting, Remember the Night opened in the United States in January 1940.
Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray movies
[4] Following Remember the Night, Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray would be seen together in the following:
- Billy Wilder’s un-Christmasy film noir Double Indemnity (1944).
- Roy Rowland’s Western The Moonlighter (1953).
- Douglas Sirk’s soap opera There’s Always Tomorrow (1956).
Remember the Night (1940) movie credits via the American Film Institute (AFI) Catalog website.
Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck Remember the Night image: Paramount Pictures.
“Remember the Night (1940) Review: Barbara Stanwyck” last modified in March 2025.