Remember The Night (1940)

I am sure that people who are already familiar with Remember The Night already notice when it starts to become a more popular viewing choice towards the end of the year (due to it being set during the Christmas holiday period). I wasn't familiar with the film before now, but I suddenly started noticing it everywhere. I can only imagine that it's a solid choice for some of the classic movie channels, and the recent (typically sublime) UK Blu-ray release from Indicator must have helped it become even more ubiquitous than usual this December.

Written by Preston Sturges and directed by Mitchell Leisen, all you should need to know to get you interested in Remember The Night is that it was the first movie to pair up Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. It's not their best (because four years later they would work together in the classic Double Indemnity), but it's a very enjoyable use of their talents.

Stanwyck plays Lee Leander, a woman who has been arrested on a shoplifting charge. She did it, and she doesn't seem too remorseful about doing it, but MacMurray's prosecuting attorney, John Sargent, knows that a jury can be affected by seasonal goodwill just before Christmas, which is why he is happy to request a continuance of the trial until after the holidays. Unfortunately, with no family or funds available, this means that Miss Leander will spend the holiday season in jail. Sympathetic to her situation, especially as he caused it, Sargent manages to get her out on bail. Dropped off at his apartment, Miss Leander quickly ends up making Mr. Sargent regret his good deed. He is heading home for the holidays, and decides to take Miss Leander to her family, where she can enjoy some time before heading back for her assigned court date, and so begins a blossoming relationship that could cause hurt and happiness in equal measure.

The thing that works best about Remember The Night is that it's a message movie that delivers a message you might not actually expect. Yes, there are the usual enjoyable character interactions, and there's a fun set-piece or two (small in scale, but there throughout the runtime nonetheless), as well as the strengthening connection between the two leads, but this is a film that uses the goodwill of the season to reflect a light of joy/shame on the many supporting characters. Stanwyck's character is not pleading innocence throughout, nor does she ever really make any excuses for her own behaviour, but viewers, and those in the movie who get to know her without their view shaded by her arrest, can easily see that there is much more to define her than a penchant for thievery.

It helps, of course, that Stanwyck's character is played by Stanwyck, an actress who I've never known to disappoint (although I still have so many more of her movies to get around to). It also helps that MacMurray is putting in yet another of those winning turns that he delivered for a good few decades, making him easy to root for even when he might not have been consistently in the right. Beulah Bondi and Elizabeth Patterson are a delight as two members of Sargent's family (his mother and aunt, respectively), Georgia Caine plays a much-less-delightful mother to our female lead, and Willard Robertson, Sterling Holloway, and Charles Waldron all get at least one good moment. It's also worth mentioning the small role for Fred 'Snowflake' Toones, a character actor who may be involved a couple of scenes that disappointingly play to the prevailing attitude of the era, but who deserves to be namechecked nonetheless. (it's the writing/direction that disappoints there, not his performance)

It doesn't overdo the Christmas feeling, but you get it emanating from the screen at key points, making it easy to see why people may choose to keep this one in annual rotation. It delivers familiar good feeling with a satisfyingly unfamiliar sprinkling of realism . . . 1940s cinematic realism, which is still miles away from actual realism though. Determined not to let things turn into a fairytale, nor the characters to transform into a princess or prince, Remember The Night is a great example of how to give audiences what they want without letting them feel as if they have just been served a bland final product from the end of a standardised factory line. 

This may not have the constant snowfall and bell-ringing of other Christmas movie classics from this era, but that just gives you all the more reason to revisit it. I know that I'll be trying to make this a new December tradition in my house.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: The Palm Beach Story (1942)

This classic screwball comedy from writer-director Preston Sturges starts with a wedding before going on to show that it's not always a "happily ever after" for some. Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea are the central couple, Gerry and Tom Jeffers, and times are hard. They're behind on the rent payments, Tom cannot sell his latest idea (an invention that essentially allows for a city centre airport), and it seems to have been a while since the two of them could just let their hair down and enjoy themselves. That changes, temporarily, when a series of events leads to Gerry being given a bundle of money by the generous, and very rich, Mr. McKeewie (Victor Potel). After one big night out, Gerry makes up her mind to divorce her husband and sacrifice their time together for a greater good, hoping to find him the money he needs to raise for his big idea. She meets the very rich J. D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee), which could solve all of their problems, but Tom pursues her, unsurprisingly unhappy with her plan.

Perhaps Sturges wanted to give himself a bit of a break after delivering the wonderful Sullivan's Travels the previous year, or perhaps he just liked the plot he came up with this time around, but there's no denying that this is a light, almost carefree, picture. It's also a strange one, when compared to the aforementioned film, in that every big problem here is solved by someone coming along at the right time with a large pile of money at their disposal.

McCrea and Colbert are both good enough in the main roles, with Colbert especially fitting as the loving and well-intentioned woman who comes up with a quite bonkers plan that somehow starts to fall into place. Vallee is a lot of fun as the super-rich gentleman who becomes smitten with Colbert, and Mary Astor is a ball of energy and machine-gun line delivery in the role of The Princess Centimillia, the sister of Hackensacker III. Potel only has a couple of scenes, but is a lot of fun as the old man with hearing problems and a big streak of philanthropy running through his nature.

The script is generally well put together, the direction is solid, and the cast seem to be having fun, but it's impossible to hold this one in the same high regard as other screwball comedies from this era, mainly because of how it relies on the same plot contrivance again and again, the provision of lots of money. Look, screwball comedies almost always use one or contrivances to either set the plot in motion, keep it going, or place the characters where they are needed, so I know complaining about it seems like missing the point of these films, but this just feels a little too . . . lazy, compared to the better examples. It would be okay if it happened once, perhaps even twice, but three times is a step too far.

I'd still recommend this, especially to those who have enjoyed other Sturges movies. It may not be one of his very best, but it's still very good. And it still has some scenes that hold up as real treats (all of them involving Colbert, showing how gifted she is with comedy). Just don't have it too high up on your list of prioritised viewings.

7/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can get it here.

Mubi Monday: Sullivan's Travels (1941)

To the memory of those who made us laugh: the motley mountebanks, the clowns, the buffoons, in all times and in all nations, whose efforts have lightened our burden a little, this picture is affectionately dedicated.

 Although age may have wearied it slightly, and there's a worrying air of somone rich going on a "poverty safari" during the earlier scenes, Sullivan's Travels soon starts to live up to its reputation, mixing in some sharp barbs with plenty of gentle humour and some surprisingly affecting moments of drama.

Written and directed by Preston Sturges, this is the tale of a successful director (John L. Sullivan, played by Joel McCrea) who wants to move away from the comedy films that have made his reputation. He wants to do more relevant, serious, fare but his bosses try to dissuade him from that idea, explaining that he can't deliver those kinds of movies because he doesn't really know anything about the hardships of life. Sullivan agrees, and then decides that he will try to experience poverty and hardship

Although the cast includes the likes of Robert Warwick, William Demarest, and Franklin Pangborn, and there's a great turn from Jan Buckingham as the unaffectionate wife (in name only) of the main character, Sullivan's Travels is really based around the performances of McCrea, desperate to go as far as he needs to in order to experience "authentic" hardship, and Veronica Lake, playing a woman he meets who is initially unable to comprehend the situation that Sullivan has created for himself.

Sturges clearly has a lot of fun with the central idea, a premise that allows him to take viewers to some soaring highs and then some real lows, and the film is a perfect mix throughout of sheer entertainment and one clear message. The pacing is perfect, especially during the gradual transition from the lighter moments to the more serious scenes, and almost every single one of the supporting players gets at least one chance to shine.

Yet another classic movie that quickly reveals to you, the viewer, why so many hold it in such high regard, and a very influential (this would be the perfect time to mention the Coen brothers, who took the title "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" from this) and surprisingly resonant experience to this day, Sullivan's Travels is one to mark of your list ASAP, whether you're a casual film fan or a more obsessive cinephile. You won't be disappointed.

9/10

The blu ray can be bought here.
Americans can get it here.