L'uomo che amo

When I wash up on that proverbial desert island with little more than a generator, a VCR (or DVD player) and a TV, I want "History is Made at Night" among the 10 films in my possession.

Someone -- film critic Myron Meisel, I think -- once described this as the most romantic film ever shot in the English language, and I completely agree.

The plot turns on some of the creakiest story points ever conceived. But no matter, because the leads are so appealing, the look of the film so overwhelmingly romantic (Borzage at his best) and the score is so warm and appropriate, that "HIMAN" is just irresistible.

Fairly sharp mixture of comedy, romance and melodrama has an American woman in Paris falling for the charming head-waiter in a posh French restaurant; later, after returning to the States (and to her abusive husband), she chances to meet the dashing Frenchman again. Sparkling first-half is either enhanced or destroyed by heavy drama in the second-act, depending on your viewpoint. However the film affects you, the finale aboard a sinking cruise ship certainly boasts showmanship! I caught this in a romantic mood, so I enjoyed it; any other day of the week, I might've taken a glimpse and passed.

*** from ****

This is one of my all-time favorite films, partly because it stars Jean Arthur, one of my all- time favorite actresses, has Boyer's charm, and is beautifully directed and produced. An artistic achievement of its day.

Poor Jean Arthur, trying to get loose from a really ruthless, jealous soon-to-be ex, is set up in her Paris hotel room by husband who has hired a gigolo to sneak in. Boyer, on the balcony, gets wind of it and spoils it and steals her away. They wind up at his place of work, a elegant Paris restaurant, and they dance, dine, laugh, and begin to fall in love. But when she returns to the hotel, it seems the hired gigolo is dead, and her husband coerces her back, threatening scandal, making her give up the divorce final.

Broken-hearted, Boyer and his chef friend go to America to try to find the lady, but cannot, so decide to go to work at an upscale café where Boyer hopes she may patronize. She does and they reunite and the cruel almost-ex-husband, who is a very wealthy shipower and builder, fixes it so Boyer is about to get arrested for the Paris murder. Jean and Boyer try to return to Paris on board a new ship of her husband's and he orders the captain to go full speed into a dense fog...and, well, it is suspenseful and frightening and wonderful. It plays up the speed competitions of the great Ocean Liners, the luxuries and yet dangers of this mode of travel. I learned all I know of Ocean Liners of the time thru movies like this, Love Affair, and Now Voyager, etc, because I would never have the opportunity to sail on one myself. Movies were always a great source of learning to me! But this film is especially entertaining, even though Jean Arthur is playing a straight romantic drama this time. Boyer never disappoints. I count this as another of the late 1930's golden crop of finest all-time films...

I saw this on a VHS release here in the 1980's and was one of those films years later I could not forget. How could one forget this memorable title with a equally interesting and unusual combination of love, comedy, drama and disaster that in many other circumstances would simply not work! Boyer and Arthur's romantic moments...pure magic as is Boyer and Leo Carillo's comedic turns. Produced to the tune of over a million dollars (a very generous budget for 1937) independently by Walter Wagner the look of this "A" production certainly reflects this. The deft hand of Borzage could only keep the goings on fluent with the seemingly challenging narrative in a film that easily keeps the viewers attention. To my mind one of the highlights of 30's cinema. I urge anyone interested in this era - see this film!! Available on DVD (mine is a South American copy and OK print quality).

This mixture of suspense, comedy, and romance might seem unlikely to work, but it does, due to director Borzage's vision of a love that magically transcends even the most dire of obstacles. This movie is in love with love and the improbable, and in some ways is a Cinderella story almost in reverse (including the removal of a lady's slippers on two occasions). Arthur and Boyer are lovely together. Some of their scenes, luminously lit and heightened by Alfred Newman's lyrical score, are heartbreaking: their beautiful voices are almost like cellos. (Newman wrote a number of such tender and yearning scores in the thirties, including those for "Stella Dallas" and "These Three.") There's also an interesting paralleling of the love/passion that Arthur's husband has for her and that Boyer's friend has for him, although one is destructive and the other nurturing.

Years ago there was a local radio station in San Francisco that played short clips from films and invited listeners to identify the film and the actors and thereby win a prize. At that time I had never seen "History," but knew of it and its two stars, and was therefore able, on hearing the distinctive voices of Arthur and Boyer, to identify the film and be awarded a free fancy haircut.