Lembra-se Daquela Noite?

TCM aired this Christmas Eve this past year. I can't believe so few people have seen this judging by the 20+ reviews and 500 votes. It is an undiscovered gem waiting to be found. Hopefully with more airings around the holiday it will build a much deserved following.

This is such a charming film with two superlative stars - Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. While they both play roles they easily inhabit - her as the tough broad and him as the good-as-gold good guy - they both bring such warmth, charm and ease into their portrayals as to seem like a warm pair of gloves on a cold's winter night.

I love the references to Indiana. Both of my parents were Hoosiers and we went back to visit many times for reunions and Christmases. So much of the film seemed like a visit home to me. "Back Home In Indiana" is such a great melody, as was "A Perfect Day". Wouldn't it be great if families still gathered 'round pianos for a sing-a-long? MacMurray's farmhouse was such a wonderfully authentic set.

Wouldn't all of us love to be welcomed into a home like this, with so much love and warmth. There are so many nice old-fashioned touches, like popping corn over the fire, stringing popcorn for the Christmas tree, making popovers, a church bazaar, and a New Year's Eve Barn Dance. There is a wonderful touching scene when the spinster Aunt is letting Stanwyck borrow a gown of hers - only to find out it was a wedding dress she never got to use. I had to laugh at all the undergarments that went along with it (corset, bust lace, hip lace, etc, all to make a woman appear curvier). At one point she asks Stanwyck the size of her waist, which she answers is a 25 or 26. The Aunt says when she was young, they thought 19 inches was big. Ouch, those corsets must have hurt!

There are many different moods to this film which made it so interesting. At times, it felt like a screwball comedy, then a noir-ish piece, there's drama, and there's romance. I think this is a film the whole family can watch as it will appeal to most everyone. This one will have you laughing and tearing up at sentimental moments. A true classic that should be more appreciated today.

"Remember the night" was the follow-up to "Midnight" in Leisen's filmography,and although the director substitutes melodrama for comedy the recurrent feature is the Cinderella syndrome :a false baroness in the latter,a thief in the former.

Whereas "midnight " was proof positive that money can't buy you love in a very funny way,"remember the night' is graver ,although very moving,a true story of redemption at Christmas time.

Fred McMurray is some kind of Prince Charming,but a prince who was not born silver spoon in hand :he had to work to pay his studies,he is a self made man his family is proud of.My favorite moments are the celebration of Christmas in the family home -a thing the girl never knew : mitigating circumstances-.This may be the moral of the tale:your do not have to come from a rich family provided this family cares for you and is a moral pillow.

Barbara Stanwyck and McMurray made a nice pairing that was used again. A wonderful movie for Christmas time ,like "it's a wonderful life" or " the shop around the corner"

Remember the Night is directed by Mitchell Leisen and written by Preston Sturges. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson, Willard Robertson and Sterling Holloway. Music is by Friedrich Hollaender and cinematography by Ted Tetzlaff.

A lovely heart warming tale for the Yuletide season, story pitches Stanwyck as a lady thief and MacMurray as the prosecutor who takes pity on her and takes her home to meet his family. Back stories are revealed and the chemistry between the two principals is palpable. The genius pen of Sturges provides much humour, romance and family values, while Leisen smartly directs his cast to bonzer performances. Also of note is that the director never lets the film slip into deep treacle territory, getting the various balances just right.

A must see Christmas movie across the board. 8/10

Watching Remember The Night I remembered something else that audiences might have forgotten in 1940 in seeing this film on screen. The District Attorney of New York County was one Thomas E. Dewey who was definitely not one for mixing business with pleasure. If one of his Assistant District Attorneys went bail for a prisoner he was prosecuting and took her home for Christmas and across a few state lines to boot, that man would not have had a job and Dewey wouldn't have cared about reasons of love.

But with a script by Preston Sturges and direction by Mitchell Leisen you could forget about reality and concentrate on Christmas romance. Leisen assembled a great cast of character players in this very charming comedy/drama. And you can't miss with leads like Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in the first of four films they did together.

MacMurray's the ADA who's prosecuting Stanwyck for shoplifting and this ain't her first offense. But a combination of her beauty and charm and one flannelmouth defense attorney has him feeling sorry for her and then going her bail and taking her home because, after all it's Christmas.

They have an eventful drive to Indiana where they both coincidentally hail from and MacMurray himself winds up a fugitive from a speed trap in a hilarious sequence. And the two see the kind of homes each came from, something that prosecutors and criminals don't often see from each other's point of view.

Beulah Bondi and Elizabeth Patterson play MacMurray's mother and aunt and are quite the contrast to Georgia Caine who is Stanwyck's cold hearted mom. Spencer Charters does a good job as the speed trap judge in Pennsylvania.

My favorite however is Stanwyck's attorney Willard Robertson who is really carried away with himself as her lawyer. He's giving her a defense on the shoplifting charge that Clarence Darrow gave Leopold&Loeb. Man does love to hear himself talk. But his talk keeps the trial over the holidays allowing cupid to work.

Stanwyck and Sturges became friends and he confided in her that he would be directing as well as writing soon and next year he might just have a project perfect for her. The project turned out to be The Lady Eve according to a recent biography of Stanwyck.

Remember The Night is a charming film by some charm masters. But I suspect that Thomas E. Dewey probably hated it.

4 years before the memorable "Double Indemnity," Fred MacMurray first teamed with Barbara Stanwyck in "Remember the Night."

The story is typical Preston Sturgis-people meeting in unusual circumstances and falling in love.

In this one, MacMurray prosecutes Stanwyck for shoplifting, and since it's Christmas time, he takes her home for the holidays. They encounter a madcap adventure before settling in his home.

Virginia Brissac is memorable in a brief but devastating performance as a cold mother whose veneer tells you immediately what she is like. Contrast this with MacMurray's family, the wonderful, understanding Beulah Bondi as his mother and Elizabeth Patterson, as an also understanding spinster aunt. This film tries to depict that we are what we are because of our environment. It alternates in being funny and serious. Stanwyck's hard-nosed character does become gentle right-away but that's due to environmental factors.

The ending may disappoint you at first but upon further thought there is hope for our two major characters.