The Longest Night

Longest Night, The (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Surprisenly effective mystery from MGM runs just 50-minutes but there are plenty of smiles and drama along the way. A department store owner (Robert Young) shows up at the store to do some business when one of his workers is found strangled to death. The cops are called in and they demand that everyone there remain in the store until they can find the killer who in return keeps killing more people. THE LONGEST NIGHT is the shortest film I can think of that MGM made around this time but no matter what the length is, the film remains an entertaining little gem thanks in large part to some nice characters and performances. Even by 1936 this type of mystery film had ran its course but it's easy to see why studios made them since they could do them cheap and it probably wasn't too hard to turn a profit. The actual story here, outside taking place in a department store, really doesn't offer anything new or original as we get the typical story of a wide range of characters being thrown together and one of them is the killer. The nice thing here is that it's never obvious who is doing the killings or why and I really enjoyed how the film slowly gave out clues and pieces to what's actually going on. Another major plus is that the cast members are so entertaining that you can't help but have fun with them. Young is as charming as always and he has some nice chemistry with Florence Rice who plays one of the worker's whose sister might be involved in the crime. Ted Healy and Sidney Toler are both in fine form here so fans of theirs will enjoy seeing them here. Julie Haydon, Leslie Fenton and Samuel S. Hinds. At just 50-minutes there's really not too much time for a lot of plot but I think that's a good thing because the film is extremely fast-paced and this help builds up some nice drama at the end. There's also not any boring dialogue to slow things down so this is a good example of the running time fitting the story and had they forced ten or twenty more minutes worth of footage it's doubtful the film would have been as entertaining.

Department store owner Robert Young (as Charles "Charley" Phelps Jr.) arrives to consider selling his asset, then stumbles upon a strangulation victim. He orders a lockdown and cooperates with lawmen Sidney Toler and Ted Healy. Connected to the victim is pretty Florence Rice (as Joan Sutton), who provides Mr. Young with romance. She is the sister of beautiful Julie Haydon (as Eve), who helps boyfriend Leslie Fenton (as Carl Briggs) rob a warehouse in the opening sequence. All are suspects, some are victims. "The Longest Night" is so short you don't have time to wonder who may be guilty.

**** The Longest Night (10/2/36) Errol Taggart ~ Robert Young, Florence Rice, Sidney Toler, Julie Haydon

B-movies were short and relatively low-budgeted films intended as a second film in a double-feature. Usually, there was an A-movie, some more prestigious and larger-budgeted film as well as the B....along with various shorts (such as a cartoon and/or a news reel) shown at most theaters during this era. Many of them were made by small studios like Republic or Monogram and many more were made by practically microscopic studios that actually didn't own their own studio space but rented it from a larger studio and filmed mostly at night. But what many folks don't know is that the biggest studios ALSO made Bs, and "The Longest Night" is clearly a B...and it is from MGM...the largest and fanciest studio of the era.

So why is "The Longest Night" a B? Well, at only a paltry 51 minutes, this alone would make it a B-movie. But it's also a fancy B (almost a B+ film if there was such a thing), since it's cast has some A-list actors, such as Robert Young who is in the lead.

"The Longest Night" is a murder mystery. Apart from westerns this was probably the most common genre for Bs. A few of these mysteries were very good. Most, sadly, are filled with cliches and are very formulaic. Despite "The Longest Night" being a higher-budgeted B from MGM, I'd place it in the latter category...being mostly formulaic and cliched.

What are some of these cliches and formulas? Well, in this case you have the typical idiot cop investigating (Sidney Toler is particularly one-dimensional here), his even stupider sidekick (Ted Healy is practically sub-human in his stupidity and uselessness), a smart civilian who for no discernible reason is practically Sherlock Holmes (Robert Young) as well as predictable scenes, such as one where someone says "I didn't kill her, but I'll tell you who did..."....and a shot rings out and kills them!! In other words, no matter how enjoyable all this is, it's also predictable and a bit silly. This clearly is NOT a thinking person's mystery and it obviously was hastily written. On the plus side, however, the cinematography is unusually good and the film is slick looking and enjoyable. Overall, a very mixed bag.

Store clerk Eve Sutton is the lookout for her comrades as they steal from the department store. Her sister Joan Sutton reports her suspicions to her supervisor Mrs. Briggs. Store owner's son Charley Phelps is taken with Joan. When Mrs. Briggs' dead body is found, the police investigators descend upon the store and round up everybody.

Fifty minutes is not really a full film but it's not a short either. It has the form of a whodunnit in a locked room. Only it has non of the tension. The attempted comedy is not funny. If anything, it loses any tension with the bumbling cops routine and the ridiculous actions. The cops don't call for backup. They don't try to barricade the civilians in a safe room. It's a lot of bad character work as people are literally getting murdered and nobody seems to behave realistically. It needs to be a slapstick Scooby Doo whodunnit adventure if it decides to be an actual comedy.

This is a fairly entertaining programmer featuring Robert Young in his early screen career. He is again teamed with Florence Rice, an up and coming actress who never quite made it in the big times, though she showed potential. Of interest is Ted Healy as Police Sergeant Magee (yes, another dumb detective/policeman role). Healy was the comic responsible for introducing The Three Stooges to the world. That may be a blessing or a curse depending on how much you like Moe, Larry, and Curly.

"The Longest Night" is a compact comedy thriller with the entire story taking place on one night (hence the title) at one location, a department store, except for the opening sequence which takes place on the street. Sidney Toler, in his pre-Charlie Chan days, has the meaty part of Captain Holt, the one in charge of the investigation when a murder occurs in the store. The cast includes an assortment of character actors including the often corny Olin Howland as a floorwalker.

Thought there is much attempt at humor, most of it is lame by today's standards. Many of the supposedly funny lines fall flat; even the slapstick seems forced. This film would have played better with less comedy and more thrills and chills.

Taken as a short murder mystery, "The Longest Night" works. Taken as a comedy, it falls on its tush.