Lady for a Night

Joan Blondell delivers something of a feisty Stanwyck-style character in her depiction of successful river boat owner "Jenny". Together with her local kingpin co-partner "Jackson" (John Wayne) they make a good living from the great and the good of Tennessee society. The thing is, though, "Jenny" has ambitions to join that society. She craves respectability and when an opportunity to marry into the "Alderson" family presents itself, she doesn't think twice. Her new husband "Alan" (Ray Middleton) is a bit of a drunk, but his family need her money so unwillingly tolerate her. All except, "Julia" (Blanche Yurka) who really does look down her nose at her new in-law. The more "Jenny" tries, the more cleverly antagonistic her nemesis becomes until finally murder ensues and the truth must out... It's a bit of an amalgam of stories this, and the really rather wooden Wayne features too sparingly to make much difference to the rather meandering drama. Hattie Noel has some fun as "Chloe" and there's a bit of toe-tapping mid way through but the rest of this is all just a little procedural with an expected twist right at the denouement. It's a good looking tale of rancour, envy, love and bitterness - but told in fashion you're not really likely to remember.

First off, anyone who watches this film because it's a John Wayne film (like me) may be disappointed because he is really a supporting actor. This is because he'd only been a regular starring actor in small-budget B-Westerns and in larger budget films he was mostly in secondary roles until the mid-to-late 1940s. Second, because the Wayne screen persona was not yet solidified, lovers of the Duke might also be shocked to see that for most of the film he plays a love-sick man who loses his woman to another. Had the later Wayne been in such a situation, he no doubt would have slugged the other suitor and drug off the woman for some lovin'--John Wayne style!! The real star of this film is Joan Blondell. Unlike Wayne, her star was starting to fall, as her prime as a leading lady was definitely the 1930s. Here she is a bit older and heavier, but this is also perfect for her role as a casino owner and singer.

Blondell's ambition is to leave the casino life to Wayne and marry a society man in order to ensure herself a play in polite society. Unfortunately, she's seen as a woman of low virtue and the only man she can find to marry is a drunk from a previously wealthy and well-heeled family.

Her welcome into the new family was not surprisingly rocky, as one of her new sister-in-laws was just plain evil. The longer the film progresses, the more evil and juicy this role becomes--making this a pretty exciting film and characterization. Ultimately, the plot takes a very dramatic twist near the end until it is all wrapped up nicely in the end.

The only serious negative about the film is that the plantation she moves to in Reconstruction-era Memphis is ridiculous and full of racist stereotypes. No, the Blacks do not eat watermelon or act as bad as Stepin Fetchit, but they play out an even more insidious role--happy Blacks who are content with the good treatment by their White "betters". This over-idealistic view of the South is insulting and may raise a few eyebrows. Try to look past this to see that you still have the basis of a very good film.

Lady for a Night is a Joan Blondell film with John Wayne as her leading man. It is not a John Wayne picture, I repeat not a John Wayne picture. If you're looking for fights, or shootouts, this ain't the film for you to see.

The Duke plays a part that would normally go to an actor like Ray Milland. He's the political boss of Memphis and the old Southern gentry of the town, tow his line. John Wayne even has a bodyguard, Leonid Kinsky. Who'd have ever thunk that.

Wayne and Blondell are partners in a riverboat gambling ship. Wayne would like to make it a matrimonial partnership. But Blondell, who's a girl from the wrong side of the tracks wants some respectability as well as money. When Ray Middleton gambles away the title to the old Alderson family estate, Blondell offers to marry him to save the good gentry from being thrown out on their duffs. It's a marriage she has soon cause to regret.

Blondell sings a nice number entitled Up In a Balloon on the riverboat stage and I bet she was looking around for Busby Berkeley. Kind of strange to see her singing without the splashy Warner Brothers production around her. But her performance was effective, the best in the film.

What struck me so curious was that they seem to have grabbed off characters from other films and tossed them here. Hattie Noel plays Blondell's black maid and it's a total ripoff of Hattie McDaniel from Gone With the Wind. Edith Barrett and Blanche Yurka play Middleton's aunts, Barrett good, Yurka evil. Edith Barrett copied Patricia Collinge as Birdie Bagtry Hubbard from The Little Foxes and Yurka is another Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca.

Still it does mix well and while it's not a great film, Lady for a Night is a passably decent one, though it's far from the usual Duke.

OK, it wasn't an Academy Award winner. However, it did have many good elements to it. I'm not going to waste time telling you what it was about, you can read that in other comments. John Wayne was young and good looking, standing straight and tall. John Blondell was young and pretty. I remembered her in later movies after she had gotten older and a little heavier. Old man time sure beats the heck out of all of us.

Some people will raise and eyebrow at the plantation type scenes with the blacks dancing and singing. Did that go on? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised that after hard work in the fields, ANY people would be happy for the party time. Hattie Noel played the maid (Chloe) of Joan Blondell (Jenny). Chloe was funny and did an energetic job. Were these type parts demeaning for Blacks? Sure. But the way to look at it, is that it was the beginning of getting the foot in the door to show what you could do. There was a lot of talent in that singing and dancing. Nothing to be ashamed of, many a White person has played a demeaning part. The main thing is to showcase your talent. Hattie Noel may not have had the good fortune to be in Gone With The Wind, but she would have done quite nicely.

The best acting came from Edith Barrett who played the kinder Alderson sister Katherine. Some might call it overacting but I don't think that to be the case. You could feel her anguish between being torn by family loyalty, fear of her sister and doing the right thing. She gave a terrorized, impassioned performance.

Also enjoyable was John Blondell's singing performances as the part owner of the riverboat. In fact, she was so good that I wondered if a professional singer had dubbed her voice, even though I was aware of her own musical talents.

Blanche Yurka played the evil sister Julia, and how she could ooze evilness, with those eyes boring into anyone who crossed her. She hadn't changed much from her earlier days as Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities.

Leonid Kinskey played John Wayne's bodyguard. Although Mr. Kinskey was always a good character actor (remember him as the funny bartender in Casablanca?), the reason for the part in the movie escapes me. I guess John Wayne needed a sidekick.

The rest of the cast was adequate, but nothing noteworthy that I can remember. Except of course for the can-can girls who really knew how to dance that thing with plenty of spirit.

OK, should you see it? If you have the movie or see it coming on the late show, no reason not to. The story is predicable and acting is adequate with a few who stand out as mentioned above. Don't watch it just to see John Wayne because the Duke was just being the Duke. And although the Duke is almost always fun to watch, this role didn't give him much room to do his thing. His part was overshadowed by larger parts going to Joan Blondell and the Alderson sisters. However, if you have the time, you will be entertained by a movie that is "not too bad" and "fairly enjoyable". There are some good acting parts and the singing and dancing routines are quite good too. I do not think you will be disappointed.

In this costume comedy-drama set in late 19th century Memphis, gambling hall proprietress Jenny Blake (Joan Blondell) has great wealth but no respect among the snobs in high society. Politician Jackson Morgan (John Wayne) doesn't care about Jenny's reputation, loving her regardless, but his feelings aren't reciprocated, and Jenny marries alcoholic Alan Alderson (Ray Middleton) in order to gain social acceptance, while the Alderson clan want access to Jenny's fortune, having lost theirs in the Civil War. The disapproving Julia (Blanche Yurka) does everything in her power to undermine Jenny's efforts.

The first scenes of the film seem like many other 19th century set pictures where a brash guy tries to romance an equally brassy gal. Things change a bit when Blondell marries and heads to the country estate, where the many similarities to Rebecca begin, with a dark and dour female presence (Blanche Yurka), a deadly secret from the past, and even rumors of ghosts. The movie is hard to take with the drastic shifts in tone from farcical humor to dramatic tension, then on to (a lot) of bad racial jokes and references (Wayne threatens to send a maid "back to Africa" and there are quite a few slurs). It seems like the producers just tried throwing everything into a blender and hoped something potable came out. It sort of did, but you wouldn't want to drink deeply. The movie is saved from failure by the talents of the two leads, Blondell still a sharp cookie even if the waistline was starting to grow, and Wayne was showing much improvement in his acting abilities.