Remember Last Night?

It's a wild party all right, with a lot of content that would curl the hair of the average movie- goer nowadays. While we in the 21st Century have been brutalized to boredom by the sight of a person's entrails being blown via shotgun blast onto the walls like some kind of macabre Rorshach, these folks would have been mortified at such a sight. But abuse people? While mid-party, even before the first piece of significant action, we are treated to profligate drinking, both individual and group (You have to see this to believe it.), impaired driving, racism (The most embarrassing and shamefacedly tacky minstrel-take-off I've ever seen!), vandalism, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and dangerous driving.

Notwithstanding, the movie is an instructive social exhibit of a time when, during the depth of the worst depression in history, these brutes marauded carelessly while the world burned around them. Never has a house staff been so clearly cast as in utter disgust of their employer's very existence.

Overall, a terrific example of its time. Fun, too, even if it's darn near too nasty to live.

Report from Cinesation 2006: REMEMBER LAST NIGHT? (****) The notes suggested that James Whale sold this idea to Universal by comparing it to The Thin Man-- but it's The Thin Man as written by Evelyn Waugh, a tale of bright young things drinking and partying fast enough to keep despair at bay, and a reminder that Whale belonged to the same generation of artists formed by World War I who produced things like The Sun Also Rises and Goodbye To All That.

A group of young friends party the night away on a series of amazing Art Deco sets, and when they wake up in the morning, one of them has been murdered. As the mystery-plot mechanics take over, it loses some of its brittle, dark charm, relying on Arthur Treacher in the Thesiger part as a mordant butler for laughs. But at its best this is one of the most striking comedies of the 30s, energetic and gay (in the old sense-- mostly) and often very funny, yet worldly and almost bleak at the same time. If only the solution of the mystery could have paid off the film's tone thematically. The collector's print shown, incidentally, was 16mm, but could have been 35mm for how beautifully it showed off the film's remarkable sets.

"Remember Last Night?" is a movie relic from an era when Hollywood stars held a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. (in this case, MANY drinks...)

Director James Whale (best remembered for "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein") opens his film with the wildest alcohol-drenched party ever put on celluloid. The plot thickens the next morning when one of the partygoers is found dead..and no one can recall anything about the previous evening (hence the title of the movie!) Robert Young and Constance Cummings star as the upper-class ringleaders of the pickled partiers with Edward Arnold playing the frustrated detective trying to solve the case.

Poking fun at excessive drinking would never fly in today's politically correct world, but in 1935 James Whale pulled it off flawlessly!

An enjoyable stylized film directed by someone who really put his mark on his films (James Whale). There is even a satire on one of his films as Constance Cummings says to Robert Young, "I feel like the 'Bride Of Frankenstein' ". Edward Arnold was terrific as always. Robert Young never did a film where he wasn't good. Out of the 100 films he did he was always great. Young actors should study him and watch his films from the beginning of his career and watch his talents grow. Edward Brophy brought in the comedy relief and also never disappoints. Robert Armstrong as the 'Driver' has come down to be an underrated actor, was also great. Sally Eilers was also a great comic-dramatic actress. The other supporting actors including Reginald Denny, Arthur Treacher, Jack LaRue, Gregory Ratoff, Dewey Robinson, E.E. Clive were wonderful. We don't have these wonderful character actors today. They made each picture very special,including this one.

Louis B. Mayer famously insulted Robert Young by saying he had no sex appeal, but when you watch his movies, it seems like the casting offices didn't take Mr. Mayer's criticisms to heart. Bob almost always had a romance in his movies, and he certainly kissed a lot of leading ladies! Take Remember Last Night: the first shot of the movie is him kissing Constance Cummings. They break and she smirks as she says, "Very good technique. Not at all like a husband." Bob grins and responds, "We aim to please." I hope Louis B. Mayer's silly little insult didn't hurt his feelings, since he continually proved him wrong.

The start of the movie shows how frivolous a bunch of rich party guests are. Robert Young bowls with champagne glasses as pins, Arthur Treacher's tuxedo shirt is used to keep score, and the incredibly drunken guests drive themselves from venue to venue so the fun will never end. There's an incredibly offensive sequence when all the guests dress up in blackface, but you can realize they're supposed to be rotten people.

They're also supposed to be stupid people, as they cluelessly bumble around the house the next morning with terrible hangovers. Constance asks, "Is that my foot?" and when Bob's robe gets wet, she tells him to change lest he get "hydrophobia." In the aftermath of the party, they discover one of their friends has been murdered. Detective Edward Arnold and his incompetent sidekick Edward Brophy are called out on the case, and everyone becomes a suspect, however rich, frivolous, and inept they seem.

This is a pretty entertaining movie, if you can realize it was made in 1935 and whatever jokes are cringeworthy were merely meant to show how silly the main characters were. If you're not in the mood for something like this, you can pop in another Robert Young movie, since he played a rich playboy in dozens of them.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. During the hypnosis scene, the spinning image will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"