Lady of the Night

A new print of this film was screened in San Francisco at the July 2004 Silent Film Festival, with live original piano accompaniment. For Shearer fans, an unbelievable treat. She plays two roles, displaying a unique sensitivity to each character's situation. Even though the script is sparse, Monta Bell's direction and usage of prolonged portrait shots pulls the viewer into a deep understanding of the parallel stories. For trivia fans: Norma really had her eyes under control for this one! There are more 3/4 and full-faced shots than I have ever seen or could hope for. She more than deserves the on-going introduction of, "The lovely Norma Shearer." We must have a DVD of this one!

Monta Bell and Norma Shearer had an actress-director collaboration as important as that of Von Sternberg and Dietrich. And deeper. For while Sternberg never tired of exploring the planes of Dietrich's face, Bell explored Shearer's soul -- and through her, explored the moral nature of American women in the pivotal decade of the 1920s. All three of their extant films are to be cherished, but this is their absolute masterpiece.

Before he is taken away in handcuffs, a father says farewell to his newborn baby girl. The unfortunate man is sentenced to 20 years in the penitentiary, by a judge who also has a newborn baby girl. The convict's baby grows up in poverty; the judge's daughter grows up wealthy. Eighteen years later, pretty débutante Norma Shearer (as Florence Banning) graduates from an exclusive finishing school. In a dual role, attractive delinquent Norma Shearer (as Molly Helmer) graduates from a girls' reform school. The central role Ms. Shearer plays in "Lady of the Night" is the latter one - "Molly" the lower class young woman...

"Molly" dates underworld pipsqueak George K. Arthur (as "Chunky" Dunn). She wears a feathered hat that looks like it would strike you blind if Shearer turned her head suddenly. She receives some unwanted attention from a sleazy man. A very handsome young inventor, Malcolm McGregor (as David "Dave" Page), intervenes and saves Shearer. She is smitten. He is interested as well, but Mr. McGregor later meets Shearer's "Florence" - and they begin to date. This makes "Molly" sad. She will have to either fight for Mr. McGregor or let him find happiness with "Florence" the more socially suitable mate...

In 2006, "Lady of the Night" was been beautifully restored for broadcast on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). This version runs 61 minutes, which suggests at least one reel's worth of running time is missing. Still, the film plays beautifully. It's possible that something implying prostitution was cut as the title "Lady of the Night" suggests this - but there is no explicit evidence in the feature. Jon Mirsalis' new musical score is marvelous, accompanying the visuals without being obvious. Shearer and director Monta Bell work wonderfully together. One of the most poetic scenes is Mr. Arthur's attempt to touch a ray of light, arriving via a hole in Shearer's window shade...

Watch for a very brief glimpse of Joan Crawford's profile in the scene where Shearer hugs Shearer. Soon to join Shearer as an MGM super-star, Ms. Crawford served as body double, due to the star playing two roles. There aren't a lot of scenes involving Shearer and Crawford. Due to the feature film's short running time, it's possible some missing footage involved the two actresses. It's also possible some unknown connection between "Molly" and "Florence" was intended; in the present version, there is no connection made and their resemblance is not noted. Nice to see Kellogg's frosted corn flakes, too. If you aren't sure about "silent" feature films, this is an appealing taste.

******** Lady of the Night (2/23/25) Monta Bell ~ Norma Shearer, Malcolm McGregor, George K. Arthur, Joan Crawford

Norma Shearer is terrific playing a dual role in this well-done silent film about two women - Molly, the daughter of a convict and Florence, the daughter of the judge who sentenced him. Molly of the heavily painted face, huge feather hat, and big beaded necklace, lives in a flat on the wrong side of the tracks and goes out with a little local named Chunky. But while out at the nearby dance hall she meets a handsome, crooked grinned lug named Dave Page, who she instantly falls in love with. Dave has invented, of all things, a device that can open any safe in the world - encouraged by Molly to "not go crooked", he sells the invention to the judge and a group of bank directors, and soon literally bumps into Florence - and into a love of his own! Poor, poor Molly.

Norma Shearer is so good in this, the characters of Molly and Florence completely seem like two different women, and excellent split screen photography is used here when they are both on screen at the same time. I thought there would be something in this about the fact that the two are lookalikes, perhaps switching places or something - never happens. The fact they look alike is just not part of the plot here. The lighting is done in an interesting way in this - Norma as Florence seems to be shot in more filtered, subtle lighting and she looks very lovely - Norma as Molly is severely lit to make her look more sharp and, boy oh boy, does the thick makeup she wears as this character look really harsh - she looks almost like a prostitute here. The print of this film looked gorgeous, full of sharp contrast, and brightly tinted in sepia/orange, pink, and blue shades. The piano score for this, done by Jon Mirsalis, is wonderful and matches the story well.

A judge (Fred Esmelton) sentences a man (Lew Harvey) to 20 years in prison. Cut to 18 years later, and the judge's daughter Florence (Norma Shearer) is graduating from finishing school, a privileged young lady ready for society. Meanwhile, across town, the convict's daughter Molly (also Norma Shearer) is getting released from reformatory school, with no prospects for a future. Molly and her friends quickly turn to prostitution, with Molly "taken care of" by Chunky Dunn (George K. Arthur). Molly meets handsome inventor Dave (Malcolm McGregor), and quickly falls for him and his possibility of a brighter future. But Dave meets Florence while seeking backing for one of his inventions, and falls for the more reputable girl. Also featuring Dale Fuller, Gwen Lee, and Betty Morrissey.

I think this may be my favorite performance by Shearer. While she's the usual wet-blanket as the goodie two-shoes Florence, she's alive, vibrant and real as the hard-bitten Molly. The plot and secondary characters are largely forgettable, with the exception of Molly's friends. 19-year-old Joan Crawford sort of makes her screen debut as Shearer's body double whenever her two characters share the screen. Crawford can fleetingly be seen made-up as the Molly character during one brief moment when Florence and Molly embrace, as well.