One Exciting Night

If Rhythm Serenade disappointed, Miss Lynn's third and final on-screen movie offering, One Exciting Night (1944) should have given her flagging film career a much needed boost. Abandoning the all-hands-to-the-wheel flavoring of her first two films, One Exciting Night (as the title implies) is a crime comedy/drama produced on a grand scale and niftily directed by Walter Forde who keeps the moving skidding along (except for a slightly draggy sequence with boring Richard Murdoch's m.c.). True, the twists and turns of the saboteurs-at-large plot are interrupted by six songs, but two or three of them are really great. I particularly enjoyed "It's Like Old Times", a really catchy number by Dave Franklin which director Forde stages in a very attractive manner. "You Can't Do Without Love" (which was used as the movie's USA release title) and "It's Easy To Say Good Morning" were also most agreeable. Thanks to Otto Heller's radiant photography, Miss Lynn looks gorgeous. She's given top-notch support by Donald Stewart (in a very clever dual role) whose movie career, alas, never amounted to much, despite his charismatic performance in this one. Frederick Leister comes over strongly as the villain, while Cyril Smith almost walks away with the movie as his pickpocket accomplice. All in all, a most entertaining film – and one for the permanent collection, thanks to an excellent Sony DVD. (This review is an extract from my book, "British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD").

This was the last film of a brief film career of Vera Lynn who at the time of writing is still going strong at 99.She is an iconic singer but she is not an actress,so she is at rather a disadvantage trying to carry the film as the leading lady.The producers were rather tempting fate by using the title,particularly since it does not live up to the contents of the film.The best part of the film are the musical numbers,none of which are memorable or formed part of her later repertoire.The story is rather witless and is typical of films made in the wartime.The version on the DVD is 70 minutes long and it has to be said that this is a small mercy.

The title suggests an Old Dark House comedy thriller, but despite a wartime backdrop the baddies are crooks after a stolen Rembrandt rather than the usual enemy agents. Vera Lynn wears harsher makeup than in her previous film 'Rhythm Serenade' and a much uglier hairstyle, but in the adroit hands of veteran comedy & thriller director Walter Forde finally blossoms as an actress. She's aided by a well mounted production handsomely photographed by the great Otto Heller, well matched by a likeably offbeat performance by leading man Donald Stewart and with a fun supporting cast of eccentrics, of whom I particularly enjoyed Mary Clare's contribution.

The plot gets more and more outrageously complicated as it progresses in a way that recalls Forde's silent comedies (Stewart even looks a bit like Forde), complete with one of those preposterously lifelike rubber masks that often feature in thrillers (the one in this film being slightly less unbelievable than usual) and even contriving to strand Vera on a window ledge at one point. Great fun.

Not so exciting, really, but an entertaining enough diversion. Vera Lynn, the Forces Sweetheart, was a sweet girl with a good voice, but she was no movie star and would have struggled as an actress were it not for her voice. As it was, this was the last of three films she made during the war to boost public and military morale; her importance in that respect can't be overlooked, and despite her so-so acting skills, it's not difficult to see why the nation took her to its heart.

Vera Lynn was a wonderful singer with a beautiful voice, with some great songs under her belt, her most famous being "We'll Meet Again". Stand corrected on having said about the number of films she did, only three of them had her in the lead role.

'One Exciting Night', out of her films where she played the lead, is the best of them and a big step up from her previous film 'Rhythm Serenade'. Richard Murdoch is rather dull and the film drags in the middle. Otherwise 'One Exciting Night' is well above average as a film that showcases Lynn as quite a capable and charming actress as well as a singer.

She sings wonderfully here, and the musical numbers while not among her best do nothing to squander her talents.

It is also the best looking of her films, the photography is pretty beautiful. The script is quite good too and balances well. The story is the least thin and contrived of her films, apart from a draggy mid-section, and also the least heavy-handed.

Lynn has a good supporting cast on the whole. Donald Stewart is a likable leading man who complements Lynn well. Frederick Leister is fun, while Cyril Smith very nearly steals the show.

All in all, Lynn's best film and quite pleasing. 8/10 Bethany Cox