Midnight 1939

 

“There is Paramount Paris and metro Paris and of course the real Paris. Paramount's is the most Parisian of all.” Ernst Lubitsch

“I've been to Paris, France, and I've been to Paris, Paramount. Paris Paramount is better.”-Ernst Lubitsch

Another fairy tale screw ball comedy from the golden age and indeed golden year of Hollywood. This one has a screenplay by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett with direction by Mitchell Leisen. It opens on a rainy night in Paris as a train pulls in from Monte Carlo and sleeping on it is a well dressed but down on her luck showgirl Claudette Colbert. Claudette has just escaped from Monte Carlo with only the shimmering gold lame Irene gown on her back and no money or luggage. She lost her dough in the casinos and her luggage wound up hocked in a pawn shop I guess to get train fare.

Heavy rain coming down, Claudette is woken up and is on her own when Don Ameche handsome smooth and gentle playing a Hungarian taxi driver asks her if she needs a lift. Well of course she needs a lift and it kinda turns out to be the lift of her life. Thinking that Don is putting the make on her, and could that be so bad Claudette? She escapes his cab and finds herself by mistake at a posh high society party run by a bored Hedda Hopper, yes that Hedda Hopper where Claudette gives her pawn ticket to the guard to get in from the rain.

Chaos of a gentle and funny kind takes place here and it doesn't let up until “the end” flashes across the screen painted on court house doors. Colbert is so smooth and silky like that golden gown she wears in the early part of the film, and is her usual wonderful self. Supposedly she gave everyone problems with her famous only being filmed on her left side of her face, but who cares she was great from every side.

Coming to her rescue at the party is her fairy godfather played with glee and relish by John Barrymore whose screen wife is played perfectly by Mary Astor and who when very young was a secret lover of his one of her many life time scandals. Mary is carrying on with Francis Lederer.and to get even with them Barrymore comes up with a perfectly ludicrous but delicious plan to spoil it for Mary and Francis by making Claudette play up to Francis and steal him away from Mary.

Fairy godfather Barrymore gets her a suite at the Ritz, lots of clothes and lots money to take part in this charade and makes sure that Claudette shows up at their mansion in Versailles for a blow out party where the guests do the conga while have conversations at the same time. Meanwhile Don and his taxi pals are looking high and low for Claudette and of course he locates her at the mansion where he drives up in his taxi and in a tux and crashes the bash claiming he is Claudette's husband a Hungarian baron. It goes uphill from here including a laugh out loud buffet breakfast scene where Claudette tries to convince Mary and the others that Don is quite mad and is from a long line of madness.

“ When I married, I didn't realize that in the Czerny family there was a streak of... shall we say, eccentricity? And yet, I had warning. Why else should his grandfather have sent me, as an engagement present, one roller skate - covered with Thousand Island dressing?”

The rest of the cast includes Elaine Barrie as the bitchy high fashion milliner who was married to Barrymore at the time and Rex O' Malley one of Hollywood's best fey actors who did a few movies mainly for George Cukor, but here he kinda plays it straight and very well indeed as a pal of Astor's. The screenplay is fast loose and very funny with many memorable lines and moments in time. Leisen directed with a smooth hand and had quite the career including art director and costume designer before directing such hits as “Hold Back The Dawn”, “Easy Living”, “Remember The Night” and “To Each His Own”. A known and “notorious” gay and bi man who was married while carrying on with men, he had to put up with the raging homophobia of the day including from several of his screenwriters including Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and Preston Sturges who disguised their prejudices behind not liking how he was directing their scripts. Rubbish. It doesn't get any better than this. One of the best films of 1939.