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A ravishingly beautiful 20-year-old Loretta Young is "Midnight Mary" in this 1933 melodrama directed by William Wellman. The film also stars Ricardo Cortez, Franchot Tone, and Una Merkel. Young, on trial for murder of Cortez character, a gangster, is waiting for the jury to come in. She tells her story in flashback. Down on her luck, recently out of prison, she meets Cortez, becomes his girl and gets the easy life. One night, during a shooting, the wealthy Tone helps her escape. After she receives secretarial training, he gets her a job in his law firm. But her past catches up with her.

Loretta Young is stunning and her clothes are fantastic. She gives a very good performance. Since it's a pre-code drama, there's talk of sex, suggestive scenes, and the women get slapped around.

Very entertaining and absorbing, with Young a class act all the way.

This is a seldom-discussed but highly significant title in the pre-code canon, as it delineates the compromises a pretty and (originally) moral young woman must make to extricate herself from poverty during the depression. Overall, it's a predictable melodrama, very typical of its period, and the fact that Wild Bill Wellman was for some reason working at MGM for this one tends to stultify the brashness that was his trademark in his early years at Warners. Nonetheless, the tricky editing is very Warners-like and keeps the story moving at a rapid pace, particularly in the jaw-dropping montage where the eponymous character loses her virginity. Most importantly, the script is very frank about sex and absolutely cynical about American society at the time. The most notorious scene is all innuendo -- in order to distract her gangster paramour, Mary inaudibly whispers in his ear, obviously relating in quite some detail the pleasures she will endow him with if only he comes to bed with her immediately. Loretta Young is luminous as always and Ricardo Cortez has a nice time with his role as a confident hoodlum who knows he has her on a string. As for Franchot Tone and Grady Sutton...

This Review is worth an 11 for the gowns, 8 for the rest. Loretta in Adrian's clothes was a knockout...I have seen this movie twice on that wonderful TCM and that beaded skullcap hat still makes me marvel...it takes a pretty face to pull that one off. Story is interesting enough but the actors were really perfect for this big little movie. Ricardo Cortez was at his sexy handsome smarmiest..Franchot Tone was at his great kind, rich and wimpiest and sweet Loretta held the whole shebang together and I cannot imagine anyone thinking/saying she wasn't right for the part. Plus, if clothes make the man then clothes really make the woman... Now about the story...Loretta of got a few bum raps along the way, love, etc., but wait, just spend 75 minutes and judge for yourself.

Wow! What a movie! Definitely one of the best Pre-Codes I've seen. Swiftly paced, perfectly edited, with Loretta Young at her most beautiful and giving one of her most believable and honest performances.

After seeing many of Loretta's films from the early 1930s, now I think that she gave her best performances in this period of time. There is a quality of freshness and naturalness, that gives much more truth to Loretta's portrayals in the early 1930s than to her interpretations of the late 1930s and 1940s, with few exceptions. Besides, those huge, beautiful eyes of hers, that smile, those apple cheeks, that slender figure so perfect for those early 1930s gowns, never looked better than in this period.

Here she impersonates a doomed girl, who's known all the ugly aspects of life; the film begins when she's being tried for murder. The movie is told via-flashbacks and depicts how she got into this situation. It's so strange that this picture was produced by MGM; it could have been perfectly done at Warner Brothers. Well, the director, William Wellman, had been making lots of films on the Warner lot (Loretta as well), so he must have put much of the Warner's "Touch" and "mood" into it, perfectly blending it with MGM's gloss and top production values.

Ricardo Cortez is excellent as the "aparently" suave gangster in love with Loretta and Franchot Tone is aptly cast as a society lawyer who falls for her. An excellent cast of supporting actors include Una Merkel, Warren Hymer, Martha Sleeper and those usual reliable butlers: Robert Greig and Halliwell Hobbes.

I found this film so entertaining, so timeless, so modern in many ways. Pre-Code Fans don't dare to miss it!

Midnight Mary (1933)

Wow, you'll never see so many wipe transitions from one scene to the next, which is a big part of how this great little movie moves and moves. Loretta Young is terrific in a common role for the time--a woman who is good at heart getgin in trouble through circumstance and a little too much trust, or plain old willingness. She is surrounded by a mixed and twirling (and large) cast of secondary characters, a couple of them well known such as leading male Franchot Tone.

William Wellman is a director known most of all for being professional. He has no signature style, and unlike say William Wyler or Michael Curtiz, also accused of being professionally style-less, he has no truly amazing films to his name. But boy does have have a dozen really excellent ones. And few duds. In fact, one reason I went out of my way to see this, at a neighbor's house who gets TCM, is because of Wellman.

And also because of Young, who was a starlet and a beauty in her time. If she lacked some on screen spark to make her a superstar, she still had a lovable, solid, convincing presence every time. In a way, she was perfect for Wellman. Tone, in his come and go role, is fine, as is the quirky Andy Devine (the guy with the hoarse, high voice).

Another reason to see this is the freshness it has as a pre-code film. There is a natural acceptance of couples living together (and presumably sleeping together) that is not a salacious part of the film but just makes it true--or at least less artificial. It's a great aspect to many of this era's movies, in some ways my favorite era of all the 1930s, as great as the later and purposely artificial screwball comedies truly are.

What will hold this back at all for some viewers is a lack of total polish and storytelling finesse (filming and editing, as well as writing). It isn't that films in 1933 were always plagued by small flaws like these, but even the masterpieces of the time feel a little raw in spots. This is a charm, a benefit, if you look at it that way. Don't expect "Casablanca" or even "It Happened One Night" (from the next year) and you'll really enjoy this. The plot is familiar, the acting routine, the lighting bright (high key). But it's really fun and well done and a fast ride. Do it.

Interesting drama about a young woman named Mary Martin (played by Loretta Young), on trial for murder, who awaits her verdict and remembers back to her past leading up to this crime. From childhood rummaging through garbage at the dump, to being placed in a "house of correction" as a teenager when she is unjustly accused of stealing a pocketbook, to unknowingly playing lookout for a bunch of crooks pulling a job, Mary really is a good girl - she's just had a life that went from one bad break to another, it seems. Unable to find a real job, she ends up a gangster's moll and, along with his gang of hoodlums, she's now dressing to the nines in satin gown, skullcap, and fur coat and assisting them with crimes - but when she meets a handsome, rich playboy (Franchot Tone) one night while out on a "job" with her gang, she asks him to help her get away from this life of crime.

This film is really interesting, well-edited and fast-paced, with compelling story that completely held my interest, and a really great performance by Loretta Young who really makes this film. Una Merkel adds to the mix as Mary's gal pal Bun, and Andy Devine is fun as Franchot Tone's goofy sidekick. Franchot Tone, by the way, looks extremely handsome in this with top hat, white tie, and tails (oh, my), Loretta Young is very beautiful, as usual, and there is just tons of chemistry between the two of them in their romantic scenes. Watch for those kisses - wow!

Midnight Mary is pre-code bliss par excellence! Loretta Young stars as a down on her luck young woman who finds herself in situations that she never would've found herself in later in her career! From the opening courtroom scenes where Mary finds herself reminiscing about her past, we are taken on a roller coaster ride through the years to find out how she came to be where she is now! Mary isn't a bad girl, she's just had a lot of bad luck and made unfortunate choices in consequence.

Loretta has tons of chemistry with her co-stars Ricardo Cortez (yummy) and wise-cracking, adorable Una Merkel, who has a really great philosophical drunk scene in the movie! There are many scenes that wouldn't have made it past the censors later on, such as the one at the kitchen table where Loretta and Franchot Tone discuss a subject that's on a lot of people's minds a lot of the time. And towards the end of the movie, there's a scene with Mary trying to seduce Leo, who responds by licking her fingers as she strokes his face.

This is a great little morality play and a comment on the hard times encountered during the Depression Era, when many people were forced into hard choices they might never have made otherwise.

All the cast is great, including Franchot Tone as the suave lawyer who befriends and saves Mary and Andy Devine as his loud-mouthed friend who's along for the ride.

Midnight Mary really is Pre-Code Bliss!

Mary Martin (Loretta Young) is called "Midnight Mary". She is casually resigned to her fate as the jury goes to deliberate in her trial. She recounts her descent into the city underworld from losing her mother in childhood poverty to petty crimes to connecting with gangsters and finally to the crime for which she is being prosecuted.

This is a pre-Code crime drama. It's a compelling story although I am not a big fan of the flashback structure of the story telling. Loretta Young is terrific in this. This is Once Upon a Time in Crime Land. It's melodramatic. It's gritty. It's pre-Code goodness.

Midnight Mary is the story of a girl who grows up poor, gets involved with people on the wrong side of the tracks, and tries to get out. The film opens and closes with Mary in a court room awaiting the verdict in her trial for murder.

Loretta Young plays Mary; Young is absolutely beautiful and proves to be a great actress in all of her scenes.

Ricardo Cortez plays her gangster boyfriend well enough. He is appropriately sinister at times and average in others.

Una Merkel plays Mary's best friend, a cute and funny smart-cookie type.

Franchot Tone is standout in this film, especially in his romantic scenes in which the kisses are long and passionate, the looks are meaningful, and the chemistry is hot and thick. Otherwise, Tone is sweet and lovable as always.

This film was beautifully photographed and employed great costuming resembling both late 1920s and early 30s styles.

This film was made before the production code that censored everything that came out of Hollywood, so it utilizes many racy scenes. One occurs when Young and Tone blatantly talk about the possibility of sex, another when the far from stiff kisses last longer than three seconds, another when Young whispers dirty things into Cortez's ear, and still another when a girl gets pregnant out of wedlock. There is also some abuse shown.

The ending of the film is very satisfying and concludes a great film.

Loretta Young stars in Midnight Mary which opens with her on trial for murder. During a recess she thinks back on her life which was a pretty rough one and how she got to this point with District Attorney Frank Conroy asking for the death penalty.

Young is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and every time she strove for respectability she got slapped back. She has two men in her life gangster Ricardo Cortez who is suave and dangerous and playboy lawyer Franchot Tone who MGM once again was putting in white tie and tails.

You know this is a pre-code film because at one point Loretta Young is shown to be in an undisguised brothel. Such places later on were only hinted at, never shown.

Such gangster regulars as Harold Huber and Warren Hymer are part of Cortez's mob. Andy Devine has a part as a kind of sidekick to Tone. But the best support in Midnight Mary comes from Una Merkel as a wisecracking easy come, easy go sort of gal.

Both Loretta Young and her two leading men are shown to great advantage in Midnight Mary. A good one for fans of all three to enjoy.

Ricardo Cortez and Loretta Young are paired together on screen. Loretta is never anything but the silver screen beauty whom Prince Charming falls in love with while Ricardo can either be the Prince Charming or the bad guy.

In "Midnight Mary" Ricardo Cortez is Leo Darcy, a gangster, and he's no Prince Charming. Mary Martin (Loretta Young) found herself attached to him out of necessity. She was homeless and hungry and he had food and shelter.

It wasn't a free ride. She had to do her part in the gangs capers even if it was only being a lookout or a shill. When a robbery went bad Mary was saved by Prince Charming who went by the name of Thomas Mannering Jr. (Franchot Tone). He was really a fairytale. He stood defiant in the face of a gunman (Leo) just to be in the company of Mary. It was as stupid as it was unbelievable. Tom had just met Mary moments earlier which, to me, means he wasn't going to risk his life just to get to know her.

Tom would prove to be Mary's way out--out from under Leo and out of the criminal life. He could help her financially and he was a swell guy. Prince Charming, like I said.

"Midnight Mary" was a recap of Mary Martin's tragic life and the two men in it--one good and one bad. It was moderately interesting, but it could only go as far as my fondness of Loretta Young which is little if at all. I've seen her in eight movies and she's never impressed me. I think she got a job in Hollywood just because of her ability to make a seductive face.

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Midnight Mary (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Famous Pre-Code has Loretta Young playing the title character, a woman who always finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. After a stint inside a reform school she winds up on the streets without a job but is taken under the wing of a gangster (Ricardo Cortez). She eventually tries to go straight with the help of a lawyer (Franchot Tone) but soon the gangster wants him dead. Young is one of my favorite actresses and there's no question this here is one of her most famous films but to me the story is really lacking and not too original. It really seems like MGM wanted to throw Young into the sex/vamp role but they didn't put too much thought into the screenplay. The movie certainly isn't bad but at the same time it's not the greatest that it could have been. The biggest issue with Young's vamp here is that she never does anything wrong. She's a good girl from head to toe so there's no point in trying to push her off as the vamp. What makes this film work so well are the incredibly strong performances from the three leads. Young is very sexy and believable in her role. Cortez even manages to deliver a strong performance but the scene stealer has to be Tone. Andy Devine and Una Merkel have supporting roles. To me this film works best as a love story because in heart that's exactly what it is. Throw in the sexy wardrobes of Young mixed with Wellman's direction and you've got a pretty good film that's worth watching.

This is a well-made and well-acted film. Loretta young gives a convincing performance as the girl who goes off the rails, tries to turn her life around and fails. The only thing that marrs the otherwise very enjoyable picture is the ending: It is such a hard-boiled drama - almost a kind of very early film-noir - that the sugary conclusion really does not fit. I blame the studio!

(1933) Midnight Mary CRIME DRAMA

Adapted from the story by Anita Loos that opens with Mary (Loretta Young) waiting for prosecution and while she was waiting inside of a judge's office, upon looking at the year of the law books, viewers then get to see how it all lead up to that shown in flashbacks. From the time she was poor and unable to find a job until gangsters, Leo (Ricardo Cortez) and Angelo (Warren Hymer) pick up her and her best friend Bunny (Una Merkel) to hang out with them. Every time Mary tries to leave the gangster life, she is then pulled back in after unsuccessfully finding decent employment. It is not until she meets a successful and an already married young man, Tom Manning (Franchot Tone) is when she is geared to be attached to him. Creating a conflicted rift between Mary and the gangsters intentions.

It is just outdated with some scenes that did not make much sense that needed explanation such as when Leo handed her a 50 dollar bill, instead of using it find work and so forth, she would then give it away. Made during the pre-code era when censor boards were involve with what is allowed to shown on screen, so at times it makes sense even though it does nothing to the story.

Midnight Mary is essential viewing for the pre-code fanatic. I am not a big fan of Loretta Young and her bug eyes, but she was superb in this, as a good girl who suffers some rotten luck along the way to becoming a gangster's doll and prized possession. Ricardo Cortez was incredibly sexy and smooth as the jealous gangster; what a fascinating performance. Franchot Tone was his usual handsome, sophisticated self, but the weakest link in the film. His energy level can't compete with Ricardo's. From the opening courtroom scenes, with Loretta reading a Hearst Cosmopolitan magazine (with only her bug eyes showing), to the inevitable ending, this film will keep any pre-code viewer on the edge of their seat. 9 out of 10.

I never thought much of Loretta Young as an actress until I saw her pre-code work, where she really got to play multi-faceted characters. Her luminous screen presence and sense of inner moral fortitude are compelling, especially when she played so-called "bad girls."

Mary Martin isn't a bad girl, really, but a woman often lured into crime by bad circumstances and poverty. This story, which only occasionally lapses into melodramatic excess, is moving and hard-hitting in a way American films were reluctant to be outside of noir come the rigid enforcement of the Production Code from the mid-30s to the early 1960s.

Aside from Young and an excellent supporting cast, this movie is superbly directed by William Wellman, one of pre-code's most distinctive directors. His movies defy the stereotype that all early talkies were static, poorly acted nonsense. There's a technical bravura in this movie and his other early sound masterpieces like THE PUBLIC ENEMY.

William A. Wellman produced many great film Classics and this was one of his greatest. However, Loretta Young,(Mary Martin),"The Bishop's Wife",'47 looked radiant and sexy in her role as a young woman who got off in life on the wrong side of the bed everyday. Mary ran into Ricardo Cortez,(Leo Darcy),"Charlie Chan in Reno,",'39, who was a big time gangster and managed to involve Mary in his criminal activities, forcing Mary to spend time in jail and away from her new lover. Franchot Tone,(Thomas Mannering,Jr.),"Jigsaw",'49, fell in love with Mary Martin while eating some turkey in his apartment late at night. The conversation turned to sex and Mary said," Sex is All that Men Always Think About", which must have gotten some attention in the early 1930's. Andy Devine,(Sam Travers),"Pete Kelly's Blues,",'55, was a sidekick for Thom Mannering and played lots of slapstick comedy which he was famous for during his Hollywood career. Una Merkel,(Bunny,'Bun') gave a great supporting role as a dippy blonde who got pregnant by one of Leo Darcy pals. If you love old time great Classic Actors, this is the film for YOU.

Too bad Cortez is such a lout, because the kissing scene with Loretta Young is va-va voom, better than anything Franchot Tone delivers.