Lucky Night

This movie presents some good ideas about the manner of living life. The characters ably portrayed the pulls and tugs of living safely versus serendipity. It also demonstrates a good working relationship between people in a marriage who are working together as a team. How often is honesty between people present in real life?

Cinematography, costumes, and sets rate at least a B if not higher, so I can not imagine the source of disapproval unless it is with the ideas presented. But of these things, even the millionaire steel company owner approved. Whether or not other reviewers saw these things, I can not tell.

The second half of the movie is all about applying the frolic of the first half to the reality of day to day life...and well worth looking forward to, much less sitting through. Bill's "idea" is to seize every opportunity, much less day, and Cora's "practicality" is the deadening effect being reasonable at all costs can have. Henry O'Neill was a great find, and you'll notice him more often than you'd think once you've identified him: as Bill's worst enemy at the beginning of the movie, it is he, as Cora's dad, who brings not only the couple but the theme together by the end of the movie. Deeper than it appears, it is charming through and through

MYRNA LOY and ROBERT TAYLOR play a couple of flighty characters who think they can live on love alone. They only sober up after hubby gives up his $35 a week job in order to put some excitement back into his life. This notion doesn't sit well with Loy, who by then has become accustomed to the security of a paycheck and making it on her own without the help of her wealthy father.

That's about it for the plot. The stars do what they can to make this dreary story work--and for awhile I thought they were going to succeed. The first fifteen minutes show possibilities that are never reached in the rest of the script. How and why Metro didn't turn this into a workable enough story for their two stars is a mystery to me.

None of it makes much sense, but both stars give it their all. Taylor is relaxed and casual about everything for awhile and actually shows a bit of a flair for light comedy that was never capitalized on for most of his career. Loy is a delight, even when the muddled script makes her appear foolish and downright sappy.

It's just another one of those trifles from the '30s that fans of the stars may want to look at, but as entertainment it falls far short of the mark.

Lucky Night gets off to a roaring start, with Loy and Taylor tearing up the town and obviously having a ball together. There's great chemistry and the situations they get themselves into are a lot of fun to watch. For awhile I was really thinking this movie was going to turn out to be an underrated and little-known gem.

Unfortunately, when the pair sober up the next morning, the story goes off the rails and becomes a dreary, incoherent mess. Taylor's character keeps rambling about how he has some "idea" about what life should be, but he can't articulate what he means. The dialogue actually becomes so bizarre at times that I wondered if the writer was all there.

This one is worth checking out if you're a fan of Loy -- she's always a pleasure to watch -- but if you start to get antsy halfway through, change the channel. You won't be missing anything.

Schizophrenic writing dominates "Lucky Night," a 1939 film starring Robert Taylor and Myrna Loy. Loy is Cora, an heiress who gives it all up for the excitement of looking for a job and living on her own; she meets up with unemployed and flat broke Dick (Taylor). The two of them embark on a wild night of gambling and winning, where everything they touch turns to gold. Pretty soon they're in love and, to the horror of Loy's father, tie the knot.

This film starts out like gangbusters, like a lost treasure - a fast- paced, deft comedy with wonderful dialogue and the two Golden Age stars playing off of each other beautifully. Suddenly, it all stops and gets very serious with bizarre dialogue. Cora wants to be safe and happy with home and hearth; Dick still craves the excitement. She leaves him.

The film picks up a little toward the end, but what a disappointment. Perhaps the marital problem storyline would have been fine, but not after the way this film started; it's too much of a let-down. Not only that, but Taylor's character starts talking in absolute riddles. Somebody at MGM was asleep at the wheel. This is the type of thing that under Thalberg would never have been released as it was.

Like Tyrone Power, Taylor gets short shrift in his acting because of those amazing looks, but jealous critics (mostly men probably) failed to notice that, like Power, he had a beautiful, rich speaking voice and loads of charm. Less ambitious and less complicated than Power, Taylor pretty much took what MGM handed him. "Lucky Night" is one example. Despite the script, he shows his affinity for comedy. Loy is lovely as the heiress, but thankfully, both these actors appeared in better films.

"Lucky Night" coulda been a contender; instead, it's that rarity in film history - a bad movie from the magic year 1939.