TheLittleSongbird With such a winning cast, who can go wrong with Don Ameche, Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore and Mary Astor, the brilliant Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett penning the script and a talented director, it was hard not to highly anticipate 'Midnight' with such a love for classic film. 'Midnight' turned out to be one of those films that met those expectations and even exceeded them, that cannot be said for many film viewings recently. Of all my recent viewings, and actually in a long way, 'Midnight' is easily up there in the top 5 of the most rewarding. It is a real shame that it is so overlooked today and it has nothing to do with quality, it's a fantastic film. To me, what struck me as the reason was timing, with it being released in the year that saw the releases of two of the biggest and most highly acclaimed films ever 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Gone with the Wind' (two of my favourites as well). 'Midnight' is not quite on their level or scale, but although fondly remembered here it is deserving of more attention.It is beautifully made for starters, especially in the sumptuous costumes and photography that is so easy on the eyes. 'Midnight' is directed with a real eye for atmosphere and visual detail and with an ability to keep the story moving along. The music is never intrusive or too syrupy.A contender for the best asset of 'Midnight' is the script. The script here is brilliant in classic Wilder and Brackett fashion, sparkling and sizzling at every turn effortlessly and the best parts are truly hilarious. The story is filled with charm and sophistication, it is also stylish, impossible to dislike and never hard to follow.Cannot fault the cast either. Don Ameche oozes with charm and likeability in one of his best roles (to me at least), Claudette Colbert is luminous and with great comic timing and John Barrymore was never funnier and gives one of his best later performances. Mary Astor, Rex O'Malley and Hedda Hopper give classy support.Overall, a wonderful film deserving of more praise. 10/10 Bethany Cox

gavin6942 A chorus girl (Claudette Colbert), stranded in Paris, is "set up" by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man.According to a Turner Classic Movies introduction by Robert Osborne, the role that eventually went to Claudette Colbert was originally slated for Barbara Stanwyck but scheduling problems prevented her from taking it. Osborne also stated Wilder was unhappy with script changes made by director Leisen, giving him motivation to become a director himself so he would have more creative control.Although I much prefer Stanwyck over Colbert, she does a fine job in this film and I suppose it would be hard to imagine it any other way. She does have something of an innocence about her. It is interesting to hear that this was the film that pushed Wilder from being a writer to a director. His writing is very good, but I daresay his directing is even better and really catapulted comedy to new heights.

bkoganbing With Don Ameche borrowed from 20th Century Fox and John Barrymore finished with his contract at MGM, the two of them teamed with Claudette Colbert to make Midnight where Colbert plays a chorus girl stranded in Paris. When Don Ameche finds her and takes her in, she's wearing a newspaper for a hat.She could have all her basic needs met with Ameche who's head over heels for her, but Claudette wants more out of life. Enter John Barrymore who would like to have her masquerade as a baroness, to ward off another goldigger of the male kind in Francis Lederer who has been sniffing around Mary Astor who is Barrymore's wife.Colbert pulls it off beautifully, maybe she'll meet a really rich candidate for a husband. Lederer is sniffing all right to Astor's jealousy, but Ameche is on the scent too. He's going to find that woman who came and went out of his life so quickly. And Barrymore, the sly rogue, is presiding over it all like an indulgent grandpa.When you have a director like Mitchell Leisen and such skilled players in comedy as Ameche and Colbert in the lead, the result can't be anything else, but pure entertainment. Barrymore is also grand in the last part he would have in an A budget film.Down in the supporting cast take careful note of Monty Woolley as a judge, a man well versed in the divorce laws of France and who brooks no nonsense in his court. Best scene in the film is Ameche with the help of several Parisian cab drivers getting the hotel maitre'd to tell where Colbert left for. That has to be seen, no description will do.Unfortunately Midnight is not the kind of screen comedy made any more, so see it when broadcast.

n_r_koch Totally charming-- a Cinderella farce that's one of the forgotten peaks of '30s comedy. It's so well-paced that you never feel like you're waiting for the next scene, and it's over fast. It's written like a Continental farce, with familiar high and low and pretend social types, but it has the distinctively sour Brackett-Wilder tone-- plus the in-jokes typical of '30s comedies (Colbert has no French, jokes about her nose, etc.) The actors, even Ameche (a block of wood in the Fox musicals but effective here) all seem unusally relaxed. Maybe it's because they have such good lines to read. It's all high artifice with every line turned and polished; it never touches the ground. Colbert is the American showgirl who floats into Paris high life on a cloud of lies and luck. She gets ensnared in a plot made up by a man (Barrymore) whose wife (Astor) is cheating (with Lederer). Meanwhile, an honest cabbie (Ameche) who's fallen for her turns up and complicates everything. Ameche and Colbert, totally different types, look magnetic in their scenes together-- but maybe it's because she keeps staring at him with those beautiful eyes. What makes it funny is that it's all entirely plausible. Remade in 1945 and 2008, but if you like '30s comedy don't miss this one.