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THE FINISHING TOUCH (1932) was a two-reel comedy short made by a bunch of Hal Roach refugees after they were all fired from the Roach lot in a cost-cutting measure during the Depression. Even the director George Stevens and producer Warren Doane were from Roach. Skeets Gallagher lives in an apartment with his wife and mother-in-law. His wife has prepared a cake to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary, but he has totally forgotten about it. After an argument, she and her mother leave for the train station to ride to Reno, Nevada and get a divorce. Skeets doesn't have enough money for a train ticket to stop them, so he sub-lets the apartment to Bert Roach. He misses the last train to Reno and comes home to find a wild party with lots of women and bootleg liquor at his former apartment. He throws the bunch out, but Yola d'Avril is accidentally knocked out and she falls behind the couch, hidden. His wife has a change of heart and returns home, so Skeets must hastily cleanup the place. Meanwhile two dim-witted policemen, Fred Kelsey and Tiny Sanford arrive due to the noise complaints. Skeets has a lot of explaining to do... This is a funny short from start to finish made by the best in the business.

A great feel-good movie for Christmas time and New Year's, Remember the Night stars Barbara Stanwyck as Lee Leander, a an unemployed woman who makes a living as a shoplifter. Caught a few days before Christmas, she has a quick trial in court. Prosecutor John Sargent, Fred McMurray, feels his case slipping away, as the looks on the jury's faces seem to indicate that they would feel bad about making her spend Christmas in jail. Her defense attorney spins a wild tale about her being hypnotized by the beautiful jewels that she stole. McMurray sees an opening and requests that the court hear from an expert hypnotist, who is out of town until January. Stanwyck has to wait in jail over Christmas.

Sargent feels badly about that, and pays a bail bondsman to get her out of jail. The bail bondsman delivers her to Sargent's apartment, since she has no where to go. She is initially indignant, as she thinks Sargent wants sex in repayment, but he is a nice guy and takes her out for a Christmas dinner. During dinner and dancing, they discover that they are from small towns in Indiana that are near each other. Lee hasn't been home since she ran away as a teenager, so Sargent offers to driver her to her mother's for Christmas.

The reunion doesn't go so well, so Lee travels to Sargent's mother's house with him and experiences a loving Christmas with him. Perennial movie mother Beulah Bondi loves Lee at first sight, but is slightly concerned after Sargent tells her that Lee will be prosecuted for shoplifting after Christmas. She can already tell that Sargent is falling in love with Lee.

This movie is definitely sentimental, but has just enough laughs to keep the film fun and not maudlin. An early scene where the couple are hauled into a country judge's office for accidentally driving through a farmer's fence may seem goofy, but it also shows that Sargent is already willing to bend the law to keep himself and Lee from paying a ticket. This also forces the couple to go through Canada on their return trip. Lee could easily skip returning to the United States and prosecution, but she doesn't want to get Sargent into trouble at his job.

The only sour note in the film is that Fred "Snowflake" Toons plays Rufus, Sargent's butler/servant. He acts like a dim-wit, but does provide needed food when they are stuck and starving on their trip. This was Preston Sturges' last screenplay before getting the chance to write and direct in The Great McGinty. Apparently Sturges was frustrated by director Mitchell Leisen's changes to his script. The costumes by Edith Head are lovely. Even Stanwyck's 1908 wedding dress that she wars to the hick barn dance looks incredible

This is really a bare-bones disc. There isn't even a menu. After the copyright notice we get the Universal logo and the film starts playing. The BluRay disc does have optional English subtitles, despite what another reviewer claims. The picture quality is very sharp and the sound is a very nice two-channel mono soundtrack. There are 12 chapters, but no menu for chapter stops.