Her Adventurous Night

Dennis O'Keefe is going on his first fishing trip in fifteen years, since they day he had met his future wife, Helen Walker; it was the same day the local bank was robbed and a teller killed, a crime whose perpetrator was never identified. When he pulls out his fishing gear, he finds an old pistol, and the adults reminisce. Their son, Scotty Beckett, is fascinated by it. O'Keefe warns him that he's tired of being called every day by old friend Tom Powers, the school principal, about some scrape that Beckett has gotten into with his wild imagination. He heads off to fish, while Beckett takes the gun to school, is caught, and spins a crazy story about his parents and bank robber Tom Powers.

It's a very funny piece of nonsense for most of its length, with O'Keefe playing the frazzled comic butt he had perfected in the previous year's BREWSTER'S MILLIONS; Miss Walker is also funny in her split portrayal of down-to-earth mother and youthful dizzy blonde in her son's tall tale; and Powers likewise gives a great performance, as down-to-earth and kindly principal and sullen and dangerous bank robber.

Tom Powers had quite a career in the movies. He is best remembered as Barbara Stanwyck's dull husband in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, but he had been in the movies for a third of a century, starting out as a member of Vitagraph's stock company. He spent a lot of time in their westerns, but he appeared in more than sixty shorts for the Patents Trust company, many of them westerns. He also appeared in VITAgraph's early features, including playing the title character in 1915's BARNABY RUDGE. In 1917, he abandoned the movies for the legitimate stage, and for a quarter of a century, he acted and directed, frequently on Broadway. Then he returned to the movies in 1944. Most of his roles were minor ones, but he remained in demand until his death in 1955, age 65.

How many film like this are vanishing forever? The similar kids-catch-murderer HOME SWEET HOMICIDE must be Randolph Scott's least shown title.

There is nothing special to recommend HER ADVENTUROUS NIGHT. Its stars are good but second rank. It's production is accomplished (particularly camera) and it passes time but it's major quality, as a snapshot of the post war period with the fashions, running board cars and retail shortages, is also the thing which makes it a relic. Given a list of titles who is going to pick this one out? Do the original materials still exist?

For the record, the mix of domestic comedy and whodunit, common at the time, seems to be working against itself. The elements which catch attention - O'Keefe's job as a 'phone linesman, Powers excellent in a dual rôle, menacing and benevolent, are continually interrupted by weak comedy. The shoot-out in Judels' wine cellar makes a brief, noirish action highlight. Good players try to convince us their material is better than it is.

It's sobering to realize that even the memories of the people who once valued this as part of their entertainment diet, may now have faded.