Night Court

Made 73 years ago, "Night Court" is a very good, gritty precode about corruption in high places. In this case, it's a judge, played by Walter Huston.

When a young woman, Mary (Anita Page) finds a bankbook left behind by a neighbor, she returns it, and finds herself sentenced to the work house for six months. The money belongs to Judge Moffett (Huston), who, to keep his activities quiet, hangs out in his girlfriend's apartment. The Judge believes that Mary looked at the bankbook and knows where he keeps his money. He sets her up and has her arrested as a prostitute. Her baby is put into care, leaving her poor cab-driver husband (Phillips Holmes) with nothing, and thanks to Moffett's girlfriend, he's even doubting his wife's innocence.

However, he knows in his heart that Mary isn't capable of such a thing and sets out to clear her.

The original was written by Mark Hellinger, a reporter, and producer of "Naked City" in 1948. The story is loosely based on a real-life character.

Though some of the acting is melodramatic, as this was the style of the day, it's still compelling. Walter Huston is terrific, mean as dirt, and Holmes and Page are very sympathetic. Anita Page, about 22 here, worked until she died in 2008! Philips Holmes died in 1942 in a plane crash. For some reason, he reminds me of Tony Goldwyn.

Three other cast members of note: Mary Carlisle (who as of this writing is still alive) as an honest judge's daughter, Lewis Stone as the honest judge, and Jean Hersholt as the building janitor.

Very good and absorbing, though it's stylistically of the time.

After concealing his mistress in the office closet, corrupt New York "Night Court" Judge Walter Huston (as Andrew J. Moffett) answers a reporter's questions regarding an investigation led by fellow jurist Lewis Stone (as William "Will" Osgood). Denying all irregularities, Mr. Huston carries on his tough sentencing of prostitutes and petty thieves while letting hardened criminals off the hook. Later, Mr. Huston orders mistress Noel Francis (as Lillian "Lil" Baker) to lay low in a poor section of town, to avoid being questioned. She has some incriminating evidence in her purse, which is seen by pretty apartment neighbor Anita Page (as Mary)...

The young wife and mother decides to say noting about "Mrs. Moffett's" bank book, but Huston is taking no chances. He has Ms. Page railroaded. When her husband, handsome cab-driver Phillips Holmes (as Mike Thomas), shows up in court wondering what happened to his wife, the dirty judge takes the couple's baby away. The plot thickens with murder as Mr. Holmes endeavors to untangle the mess. This early "talkie" is nicely handled by all. An unusual pacing works to the film's advantage, making a series of shocking events engrossing. Holmes is an appealing "working class hero" and receives an outstanding cast of co-stars.

******* Night Court (4/23/32) W.S. Van Dyke ~ Phillips Holmes, Walter Huston, Anita Page, Noel Francis

A great little Pre-Coder with Walter Huston playing a slimeball crooked judge being investigated by a committee headed by honorable judge Lewis Stone. Huston is such a creep in this. He sends an innocent woman to jail on a trumped-up charge, has her husband beaten up, AND has their kid taken away from them. All because he wrongly believed the woman knew something about his crooked activities. What a bastard!

Walter Huston made a lot of interesting movies in the '30s and this is certainly one of them. He does a good job with an evil unconscionable character. Anita Page and Phillips Holmes are great as the young couple Huston sets out to destroy. Jean Hersholt has a small part as a friend of Holmes. This is a really good one for fans of the kind of gritty urban crime dramas that were made in the early '30s. Pretty compelling stuff.

Night Court was a slight, but interesting, entry in the pre-code genre of social commentary or expose´ films of the early 1930s…I would say the same group that included the seminal `Public Enemy'. What made this film a joy to watch was not the revelatory peek of criminal machinations pervading the lower levels of the NYC justice system, but the relationship between the cabbie and his wife, unfettered by Production Code standards in effect just a few years later. The scenes of Mike and Mary and their baby in the one bedroom flat they shared were charming, and Anita Page evoked a warmth and naturalism uncommon in those days when the talkie was only 3 years old. No wonder she's still working 70 years later! Walter Huston was downright despicable, and his speeches to his night court denizens about maintaining law and order were rather chilling considering the depth of his criminal manipulations of the justice system. And the setting up of Mary Thomas as a prostitute to discredit her was an eye-opener and quite frank. The film moved along at a good clip, facilitated in no small measure I'm sure by the breezy direction of `One-Take' Woody Van Dyke who had a reputation for bringing a film ahead of schedule and under budget. Perhaps it is for this reason that scenes play out naturalistically, with the actors given what appears to be some latitude with the dialogue and action in order to move things along. Some occasional hammy acting doesn't really detract from the pre-code forthrightness of the picture.

Disregard the mundane title, this is a good movie. The website classifies its genre as a crime/ thriller picture, and it is exactly that. It stars Walter Huston, arguably America's best actor, as a terminally corrupt judge who is interested in self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. Rotten to the core, he victimizes a young couple with a baby he suspects knows something about his lurid after-hours affairs. Huston has never been better when at his worst and runs up against a good guy (in this case, a good judge), who, as they used to say in the 30's, wants to 'get the goods' on him. Good Guy Judge is played by Lewis Stone (Judge Hardy, of Andy Hardy fame).

Things get worse before they get better, and the scenes with Anita Page, as the young wife arrested on a phony charge, are hard to watch. Phillips Holmes plays her husband in one of the best roles of his short career (he was the cowardly weasel in "An American Tragedy").

The movie, made so long ago, is outdated particularly in the resolution of the cases that come before Judge Moffett. Defendants are held and tried at breakneck speed, often with out benefit of counsel. As we know, the wheels of justice grind very slowly nowadays. And everybody has at least one lawyer.

Do yourself a favor and get past the unimaginative title - this film is proof that you can't judge a book by its cover, or a movie by its title.