clanciai This is one of Frank Borzage's greatest films, in its amazing mixture of comedy and drama, tragedy and passion and, like in all his films, the redemption by destiny.Charles Boyer is, as always, the perfect lover and both supreme and totally convincing as such, while Jean Arthur with her husky voice, trying to get away from the jealous clutches of her cruel husband, is the right girl to fall in his arms, and it happens in such a way (by destiny), that she can but laugh out her husband, who by his intrigues planned the opposite and accidentally opened her real love life.There are many aspects to this film, and the art of cooking plays an important part with Leo Carrillo more important as the chef than the multimillionaire Colin Clive, the mortally jealous husband, who will stop at nothing to get his wife back and thereby only causes derailments.At the same time it's a great catastrophe film, both Hindenburg and Titanic are reminded of, but you'll never guess what really happens.Charles Boyer was definitely one of the greatest lovers in film history, if not the greatest, more convincing as such than even Rudolf Valentino, and you can always rely on his acting. He made some of the greatest of all love films, like "Love Affair" with Irene Dunne (remade many times) and "All This and Heaven Too" with Bette Davis, and this one of Frank Borzage's should not be overlooked in the context, Jean Arthur once more being the right girl in the right place. Their scene at Victor's is one of the great moments of truth in the annals of romantic films.

MissSimonetta It is hard to pinpoint this film's genre: it is at once a romance, a melodrama, a screwball comedy, and at the end a disaster movie. On paper it looks like an unholy mess, but in reality this is one of the most charming love stories of 1930s cinema.Irene (Jean Arthur) seeks to divorce her possessive husband (Colin Clive). He's extremely sore about it, so he tries to pin an adultery charge on his wife by having the chauffeur sexually assault her in her hotel room while he and some witnesses conveniently burst in to "expose" them. While the plan is in motion, a waiter named Paul (Charles Boyer) hears Irene's cries from the room next door. He climbs into her window and masquerades as a jewel thief. He proceeds to "kidnap" Irene and things get INSANE from there on out.Though the screwball nature of the plot could have turned the movie into a farce, the relationship between Arthur and Boyer is genuinely tender and sweet. Though the term "soul mates" is overused when people discuss romantic films, these two truly seem to fit the criteria! Clive gorges upon the scenery as Arthur's villainous spouse. A shame his life and career were to be cut short the year this film was released.All in all, History is Made at Night (1937) is like an ice cream sundae with all the trimmings. It's too delicious to resist!

MartinHafer Jean Arthur plays a woman married to an insanely jealous rich man (Colin Clive). He is very controlling and dangerous--and, not surprisingly, she leaves him and obtains a divorce. But Clive is not about to let her go and has her stalked by private detectives and plots to get her back. During this time, Arthur meets a very suave man (Charles Boyer) and they fall almost instantly in love. But, Clive isn't about to let her remarry and he murders a man and makes it appear as if his ex-wife's new love is responsible! To keep Boyer from going to jail, she agrees to return to Clive--even though she's miserable and he is just plain nuts...and rather evil. Is there any hope for the lovers? Will the truth ever come out? Now all this sounds like a murder mystery, and this is PART of the film but mostly it's a very stylish romance. The romantic portions of the film are its best--and despite the odd casting of the two as lovers, it does work very well. What doesn't work quite as well is the ending--which is almost like a replication of the Titanic disaster. But, despite the shortcomings, the overall picture is quite charming and well worth your time. Boyer was great in films like this and "Love Affair" and it didn't hurt that Clive played a wonderful slime-ball and Leo Carillo provided some good support. Well worth seeing.

theowinthrop I saw this for the first time in 1986 when it was on television. It's romance, and the superb acting of Clive, Boyer, and Arthur (abetted by Carillo and Lebedev), and the speed of events in it captivated me. And then came that "Titanic" - style ending, when the ship is nearly sunk on an iceberg was wonderful. The film just swept me into it. I rarely have found an undiscovered film that did that to me.Colin Clive died prematurely of pneumonia in 1937, only a few months after this film was made. Remembered today for Victor Frankenstein in two films, he was more than simply the man who shouted "IT'S ALIVE!!". The two films that show his real acting ability that are still shown are his performances in this film and CHRISTOPHER STRONG (as the romantic lead opposite the young Kate Hepburn). JOURNEY'S END would be a welcome addition to this list, but I have never even seen it listed on cable (and I wonder if the film still exists). But his insanely jealous and vicious Bruce Vail must stand for all of his acting abilities until JOURNEY'S END reappears. Fortunately it is sufficient. Clive never is shown in a favorable manner in the movie. He is constantly watching Arthur's every move, and he constantly torments her. But this is how he treats everyone in his path. Ivan Lebedev was supposed to be a willing tool for a scheme to blackmail Arthur into returning to Clive. Lebedev is knocked out by Boyer, and looks dead when Boyer leaves with Arthur. Clive comes onto the scene, and sees that Lebedev is more valuable as a corpse than as a living servant - he kills him to have a weapon against Arthur and Boyer. Similarly, he is willing to sink his flagship on it's maiden voyage, killing hundreds of innocent people, to kill Arthur and Boyer. His suicide at the film's end really does not ameliorate his actions - in fact one wonders if he kills himself out of shame or because he believes his wife is dead (like a typical domestic violence wife killer). At the same time, had he not killed himself, Clive knew what he would have faced - he had screamed an order at the Captain of the ship by radio to continue sailing at top speed into the icepack, despite the Captain's misgivings. This was heard by his Board of Directors. As they sit glued to the radio, hearing the probable news of the ship's sinking, they keep glaring at Clive. Had the boat sunk, and he not committed suicide, they would have testified against him at his trial for mass murder.He would have been probably hanged.The name of his character is Bruce Vail, and one wonders why this shipping owner is named "Bruce". His ordering of his largest flagship, on it's maiden voyage, to sail at top speed into waters full of ice, may be based on another Bruce, who also died in 1937. That was J. Bruce Ismay (more properly "Joseph Bruce Ismay"), the former Chairman of the White Star Line, who was a survivor of the sinking, in 1912, of R.M.S. Titanic. Ismay ordered Captain Smith to sail the new ship at top speed to try to capture the Atlantic Blue Riband (a momentary victory had it been successful - the Titanic was not built for speed, like her Cunard rivals Lusitania and Mauritania). He may have kept some of the ice messages Smith was to get from the Captain (most Titanic experts don't believe this, but the public did). But worst of all, unlike Astor, Strauss, Guggenheim, Widener, Butt, Millett, Stead, and the other celebrities on the ship, Ismay entered a lifeboat, and tried to keep his obvious survival from becoming glaringly public. It did not work, and he was (despite generous attempts at whitewashing him by Lord Mersey) pilloried by the public as a coward. He was forced out of all his business directorships, and the chairmanship of the shipping line his father founded. And he lived in exile at an estate at Connemara in Ireland. It really did not help. Children would follow him even there yelling "Coward, coward!" He was destroyed by the disaster that destroyed his flagship.I believe that the shadow of Mr. Ismay is used to coat the character of Mr. Vail, possibly unfairly but probably based on the popular view of Ismay. Bruce Ismay died of diabetics in 1937. Unlike Bruce Vail he did not have to blow his brains out.