La signora di mezzanotte

Claudette Colbert at her best, playing a down-on-her-luck singer in Paris who is mistaken for a member of Hungarian royalty; she goes along with the deception, but only to help wealthy John Barrymore out of his marital fix. Tightly-wound screwball farce written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, from a story by Edwin Justus Mayer and Franz Schulz (with such a distinguished pedigree, the movie has to reach some high expectations--and does so joyfully). Directed in an efficient, brisk manner by Mitchell Leisen, with superb performances by the cast and pleasant, airy surroundings. Remade in 1945 as "Masquerade in Mexico". *** from ****

MIDNIGHT, too often overlooked in the shambles of what has been called the greatest year for movies, 1939, because audiences, accustomed to "screwball comedies" weren't quite ready for this smart-ass comedy of manners scripted by Wilder & Brackett. Claudette Colbert, arriving in Paris dressed only in a gold lame evening gown with matching purse, but without any money or connections, shows how to survive without surrendering her virtue and finds both love and riches. Don Ameche, lethally handsome in beautiful B&W shows he can wear a dinner jacket as well as Cary Grant, or Gary Cooper or Fred Astaire. This film is almost as good as the best Preston Sturges comedies and deserves to be seen by a contemporary audience.

Break out the night vision goggles, the pick-axe, and the compass to find this one if you haven't seen it. I caught it at the MOMA cinema in the old museum basement and laughed so hard I was in tears -- and so were the hundred+ people around me. Monty Woolley and Hedda Hopper are a stitch to watch -- but this is definitely Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche's movie. Colbert spends the first 15 minutes of the movie cold, wet, and hungry -- and Ameche (her knight in shining Taxicab) thoroughly enjoys her predicament. The volley of screwball slap-lines goes on for another hour before the shoe finally fits (as we knew it always would.) The best grins are from Ameche's smug insanity -- and a shaving mug fully loaded.

Best of all, the dazzling innocence of the comedy writing from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett is so light and politically incorrect that you can almost smell "Some Like It Hot" on the distant horizon. There is no meanness or cynicism in MIDNIGHT. Just a good story, good laughs, and a cast full of people you want to meet again and again.

Claudette Colbert wanders around Paris broke and in gold lame in "Midnight." She meets a cab driver and, finding herself attracted to him, she takes off. While he's organizing a city-wide cabbie search for her, she's at a private party and winds up at the Ritz as Baroness Czerny - which is his last name, chosen by her in a moment of panic. She is backed in all her lies by John Barrymore, in a wonderfully funny performance, who wants her to woo his wife's boyfriend away from her.

There are some familiar themes at work here - one is the suitor for hire and/or opportunity, used (with variations, of course) in "Her Cardboard Lover" and "Palm Beach Story," "Mannequin," and the affable, unambitious man who feels that by having nothing, he has everything, such as in "Magnificent Dope" and "You Can't Take it With You." That's the Ameche character. Knowing she could fall for him sends Colbert running - just as she ran from Joel McCrea in "Palm Beach Story." This hunger for money in some characters (usually women) and loathing of it (usually men) is a strange dichotomy than runs through several post-Depression, pre-war films.

The handsome Czech leading man, Francis Lederer, plays Mary Astor's boyfriend who falls for Colbert. In 1929, when he made a film in Germany with Louise Brooks, Lederer couldn't speak a word of English. He lived to be nearly 101 and in his last years, taught at the American National Academy of Performing Arts, which he and his wife founded.

The funniest scene to me was a phone conversation between Barrymore and Colbert, in which she pretends she's talking to her sick daughter. But everyone is great in this movie, which is very funny and refreshing.

Although languishing in obscurity in comparison to other great films of 1939, Midnight is a classic that deserves to be ranked among the best comedies. In this sophisticated twist on the Cinderella story, a penniless showgirl (the incomparable Claudette Colbert) passes herself off as a foreign aristocrat to help John Barrymore win back his erring wife from a champagne mogul. If she succeeds in winning this millionaire for herself, she'll have the rich lifestyle--the "tub of butter"--for which she's been scheming, but taxi driver Don Ameche is determined to teach her the age-old lesson that love is better than riches. Not only is the film a delight for fans of Colbert, whose genius for offhand, sophisticated comedy shines here, but viewers are also treated to one of Barrymore's last and funniest performances. Although he is said to have read his lines from cue cards for this film, his performance looks flawless: worldly, cunning, and wildly eccentric. Ameche provides the perfect counterpart for Colbert, holding his own in the dizzying round of deceptions, impersonations, and frivolous lawsuits. This is a sparkling, witty film that should be part of every comedy fan's library.