Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea in Preston Sturges's "The Palm Beach Story"

The Palm Beach Story (1942) is an American screwball comedy written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, and Rudy Vallee. The cinematography is by Victor Milner, and the music is by Victor Young.

Tom Jeffers (McCrea) is an inventor going through a rough patch with his wife, Gerry (Colbert). Used to living an upper-class life in New York City, their current financial situation (not good) isn't helping the relationship.

Gerry, still in love with her husband, develops a plan that seems to make no sense to anyone but her. Will her plan throw her marriage into greater peril or save it?

Preston Sturges (1898 - 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. Sturges was one of the first film directors to direct his own screenplays, opening up the door for Billy Wilder and Joseph L. Mankiewicz to do the same. Sturges was a successful playwright and Hollywood screenwriter, and script doctor. As a writer-director, Sturges had an amazing output of films in a period of five years, all considered classics today. These films include The Great McGinty (1940), Christmas in July (1940), The Lady Eve (1941), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944). After leaving Paramount Pictures in a dispute with upper management, Sturges's career declined, and he never produced anything close to the quality of his earlier successes. In spite of this decline, Sturges is considered one of the greatest talents to come out of Hollywood.

Claudette Colbert (1903 -1996) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Ellie Andrews in Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934). For her role in that film, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was nominated two other times in that category. Colbert got her start in the theater, where she played a variety of ingenue roles. In 1928, she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures, where she quickly made a succession of movies. Her breakout role came in 1932 in The Sign of the Cross (1932) starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton. In 1934, she made three films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: Imitation of Life, Cleopatra, and the eventual winner, It Happened One Night. No one had been able to match that record. Other popular films include I Met Him in Paris (1937), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Midnight (1939), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Since You Went Away (1944), and The Egg and I (1947).

Joel McCrea (1905 – 1990) was an American movie star who appeared in over 100 films. During his almost-five-decade career, McCrea worked with some of the top directors in Hollywood, including Alfred Hitchcock (Foreign Correspondent 1940), Preston Sturges (Sullivan’s Travels 1941, The Palm Beach Story 1942), and George Stevens (The More the Merrier 1943). McCrea worked opposite some of the top leading actresses of the day, including Miriam Hopkins, Irene Dunne, Veronica Lake, Claudette Colbert, and Barbara Stanwyck, with whom he made six films. He was the first actor to play Dr. Kildare in the film Internes Can’t Take Money (1937), co-starring Stanwyck. McCrea married actress Frances Dee in 1933. The two were married until McCrea died in 1990.

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The Palm Beach Story trivia

• Carole Lombard was scheduled to star alongside McCrea but was replaced by Colbert when Lombard was killed in a plane crash in 1942.
• Preston Sturges makes a cameo appearance carrying Colbert's luggage after departing Rudy Vallee's yacht.
• The studio didn't want Rudy Vallee to be cast in the role of J.D. Hackesacker III but Sturges persisted and got his way.
• The $700 that the Wienie King gives Gerry would be worth over $10,000 today.
• The Palm Beach Story was the fifth film writer-director Preston Sturges made in two years!

Why watch this film?

• The Palm Beach Story is considered one of the best screwball comedies ever made. 
• Preston Sturges is one of the true geniuses of Hollywood's classical period which makes watching his films practically mandatory.
• It's an opportunity to see Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert at the peak of their powers and appeal.
• The supporting cast includes Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee, and the members of The Preston Sturges Stock Company.
• Few people could write sophisticated comedy like Preston Sturges, and The Palm Beach Story is just one example of the director's talent.

Discussion questions

1. Gender Roles and Expectations: How does the film challenge or reinforce traditional gender roles of the 1940s? Consider the characters of Gerry and Tom and their respective approaches to money, marriage, and independence.
2. Money vs. Love: The central conflict in the film revolves around money. Does the movie ultimately suggest that money is a necessary evil for a successful marriage, or is it a corrosive force that undermines genuine affection?
3. Screwball Comedy Elements: Identify and analyze the classic elements of screwball comedy present in "The Palm Beach Story." How do these elements, such as fast-paced dialogue, zany situations, and mistaken identities, serve the film's satirical commentary on class and relationships?
4. Symbolism of the Ale & Quail Club: The Ale & Quail Club and its chaotic journey on the train are a significant part of the film's humor. What might this group symbolize? What is their function within the narrative, and how do they reflect the film's broader themes?
5. Frankness and Modernity: For a film made in 1942, "The Palm Beach Story" is remarkably frank about divorce, remarriage, and a woman's desire for financial security. How does this film's treatment of these topics compare to other films of the era, and in what ways does it feel surprisingly modern?

Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton star in William Wyler’s production of “Dodsworth”

Dodsworth (1936) is an American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, and David Niven. The screenplay by Sidney Howard is based on the stage adaptation of the 1929 novel by Sinclair Lewis. Houston starred in the stage version and recreated his role on film.

The film centers on the marriage of retired auto magnate Samuel Dodsworth (Huston) and his wife Fran (Chatterton). While on a trip to Europe, the couple discovers they want different things. On the RMS Queen Mary, Sam meets divorcee Edith Cortright (Astor). Edith and Sam hit it off but their relationship is one of friendship. As Sam and Fran arrive in Europe, their marriage is strained, partly due to Fran’s dissatisfaction with what she considers their dull social life. Fran decides to stay in Europe while Sam returns to America.

While in America, Sam is confronted with the “gossip” about Fran and playboy Arnold Iselin (Lukas). Same returns to Europe to see if he and Fran have a future together.

 

William Wyler (1902 - 1981) was an American (born in Mulhouse, Alsace, then part of Germany) film director and producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Direction three times: Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959). Wyler was nominated 12 times for Best Director, an Academy Awards history record. Wyler started working in the movie business during the silent era, eventually making a name for himself as a director in the early 1930s. He would go on to direct Wuthering Heights (1939), The Westerner (1940), and The Little Foxes (1941). Actress Bette Davis received three Oscar nominations under Wyler’s direction, winning her second Oscar for her performance in Jezebel (1938). Other popular films directed by Wyler include The Heiress (1949), Roman Holiday (1954), Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Big Country (1958), and Funny Girl 1968).

Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan which includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he debuted in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.

Ruth Chatterton (1892 – 1961) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was also an aviator and novelist. She was one of the few female pilots in the 1930s and was a close friend of Amelia Earhart. Chatterton started her film career in 1929 and established herself as a major movie star with her role in Madame X. For her work in that film, she received her first Best Actress Academy Award nomination. In 1930, Chatterton was voted as the second favorite star of the year behind Norma Shearer, in a poll of West Coast film exhibitors. Chatterton’s film career was at its height during the mid-1930s. By the end of the decade, she basically retired from film. She continued to work on the stage and was an early performer on television in the late 1940s.

Paul Lukas (1894 – 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film Watch on the Rhine (1943), reprising the role he created on Broadway stage. Before coming to American, Lukas had a successful stage and movie career in Europe. Some of the movies Lukas starred in include Little Women (1933), Ladies in Love (1936), The Lady Vanishes (1938), The Ghost Breakers (1940), Berlin Express (1948), and Fun in Acapulco (1963) with Elvis Presley.

Mary Astor (1906 – 1987) was an American actress. She won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in The Great Lie (1941) but is perhaps best remembered for her performance as Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941) opposite Humphrey Bogart. Astor was a silent film star—she starred in over 40 silent films—in her teens but when talkies arrived, her voice was considered too masculine. After a successful stage performance, film roles started coming her way. A divorce and child custody scandal involving Astor and playwright George S. Kaufman almost destroyed her career. During the 1940s, Astor, under contract to M-G-M, specialized in character roles. Other film roles include Red Dust (1932), The Kennel Murder Case (1933), The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Midnight (1939), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Little Women (1949), and Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).

David Niven (1910 - 1983) was a British actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Separate Tables (1958). Niven’s film career started in the 1930s with small roles in films like Mutiny on the Bounty  (1935). He soon signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and his career took off. He had a supporting role in Wuthering Heights (1939). The film was a major success and increased his profile as an actor. He next co-starred with Ginger Rogers in Bachelor Mother (1939), another big hit. He played a safe-cracker in Raffles (1939) co-starring Olivia de Havilland. Niven worked constantly in film throughout the next four decades. Other films he starred in include Enchantment (1948), Soldiers Three (1951), Around the World in 80 Days (1956). Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1960), and The Pink Panther (1963).

 

Walter Huston and Mary Astor

Dodsworth trivia

• During the filming, Mary Astor was involved in a very public child custody case. Ruth Chatterton was a character witness for Astor.
• David Niven didn’t like working with William Wyler. He acknowledged that Wyler could be “kind, fun, and cozy” off set, but when he sat in that director’s chair he became a bit of a tyrant.
• Mary Astor said that Edith Cortright was her favorite film role.
• William Wyler, Ruth Chatterton, and Walter Huston fought over Chatterton’s performance. Chatterton felt that she should be portrayed as a villainess; Wyler and Huston thought she should be portrayed more sympathetically.

 

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube.

 

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Ruth Chatterton and Walter Huston

Discussion questions

1. Ruth Chatterton thought that there should be little sympathy for Fran. Did you think she deserved any?
2. Do you think the marriage conflict between Fran and Sam was realistic?
3. Do you think that Sam and Fran were ever in love with each other?
4. What did you think of the performances of Huston, Chatterton, and Astor?
5. Where you surprised by the film’s ending or did you expect it? Do you think Sam and Edith will eventually get married? Sam is still married to Fran at the film’s end.

William Powell is Philo Vance in "The Kennel Murder Case"

The Kennel Murder Case (1933) is an American pre-Code murder-mystery film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring William Powell and Mary Astor. Powell plays detective Philo Vance, a sophisticated sleuth, one year before he would play another sophisticated sleuth in The Thin Man. The supporting cast includes, Eugene Pallette, Ralph Morgan, Etienne Girardot, and Helen Vinson.

Philo Vance’s dog is entered into the Long Island Kennel Club’s dog show comes up short—he doesn’t make it to the finals. This disappoints fellow competitor Archer Coe (Robert Barrat) who was hoping to celebrate a victory over Vance. The next day, Coe is found dead, locked inside his bedroom.

What or who killed Coe? Was it suicide or murder? Philo Vance is determined to find out.

The Kennel Murder Case trivia

• Asta, the dog in The Thin Man series has an uncredited role as a terrier in a cage in the Kennel Club scene.
• This was Powell’s last time playing Philo Vance. He would move from Warner Bros. to M-G-M the next year.
• Philo Vance movies were made at Paramount, Warner Bros., and M-G-M.
• The watch the movie on YouTube, click the link below.

 

To join the discussion on May 15, 2023, 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

To watch the movie on YouTube, click on the link below.

Discussion questions

1. Do you see any similarities between Powell’s characterization of Philo Vance and Nick Charles?
2. Any differences between Philo Vance and Nick Charles?
3. What did you think of Mary Astor’s characterization?
4. Do you think Powell an Astor had good screen chemistry?
5. Is murder-mystery the best way to describe this film? Would you categorize it another way?
6. Did you have a favorite character actor?

Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea in Preston Sturges's "The Palm Beach Story"

The Palm Beach Story (1942) is an American screwball comedy written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, and Rudy Vallee. The cinematography is by Victor Milner and the music is by Victor Young.

Tom Jeffers (McCrea) is an inventor going through a rough patch with his wife Gerry (Colbert). Used to living an upper-class life in New York City, their current financial situation (not good) isn't helping the relationship.

Gerry, still in love with her husband comes up with a plan that seems to make no sense to anyone but Gerry. Will her plan throw her marriage into greater peril or save it?

Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert

Preston Sturges (1898 - 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. Sturges was one of the first film directors to direct his own screenplays, opening up the door for Billy Wilder and Joseph L. Mankiewicz to do the same. Sturges was a successful playwright and Hollywood screenwriter and script doctor. As a writer-director, Sturges had an amazing output of films in a period of five years, all considered classics today. These films include The Great McGinty (1940), Christmas in July (1940), The Lady Eve (1941), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944). After leaving Paramount Pictures in a dispute with upper management, Sturges's career declined and he never produced anything close to the quality of his earlier successes. In spite of this decline, Sturges is considered one of the greatest talents to come out of Hollywood.

Claudette Colbert (1903 -1996) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Ellie Andrews in Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934). For her role in that film, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was nominated two other times in that category. Colbert got her start in the theater where she played a variety of ingenue roles. In 1928, she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures where she quickly made a succession of movies. Her breakout role came in 1932 in The Sign of the Cross (1932) starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton. In 1934, she made three films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: Imitation of Life, Cleopatra, and the eventual winner, It Happened One Night. No one had been able to match that record. Other popular films include I Met Him in Paris (1937), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Midnight (1939), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Since You Went Away (1944), and The Egg and I (1947).

Joel McCrea (1905 – 1990) was an American movie star who appeared in over 100 films. During his almost-five-decades career, McCrea worked with some of the top directors in Hollywood including Alfred Hitchcock (Foreign Correspondent 1940), Preston Sturges (Sullivan’s Travels 1941, The Palm Beach Story 1942), and George Stevens (The More the Merrier 1943). McCrea worked opposite some of the top leading actresses of the day including Miriam Hopkins, Irene Dunne, Veronica Lake, Claudette Colbert, and Barbara Stanwyck with whom he made six films. He was the first actor to play Dr. Kildare in the film Internes Can’t Take Money (1937) costarring Stanwyck. McCrea married actress Frances Dee in 1933. The two were married until McCrea’s death in 1990.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on March 28, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to the discussion on Zoom.

The Palm Beach Story trivia

• Carole Lombard was scheduled to star alongside McCrea but was replaced by Colbert when Lombard was killed in a plane crash in 1942.
• Preston Sturges makes a cameo appearance carrying Colbert's luggage after departing Rudy Vallee's yacht.
• The studio didn't want Rudy Vallee to be cast in the role of J.D. Hackesacker III but Sturges persisted and got his way.
• The $700 that the Wienie King gives Gerry would be worth over $10,000 today.
• The Palm Beach Story was the fifth film writer-director Preston Sturges made in two years!

"The Ale and Quail Club" with Claudette Colbert

Why watch this film?

• The Palm Beach Story is considered one of the best screwball comedies ever made. 
• Preston Sturges is one of the true geniuses of Hollywood's classical period which makes watching his films practically mandatory.
• It's an opportunity to see Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert at the peak of their powers and appeal.
• The supporting cast includes Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee and the members of The Preston Sturges Stock Company.
• Few people could write sophisticated comedy like Preston Sturges and The Palm Beach Story is just one example of the director's talent.

Discussion questions

1. Do you think the director had a message about marriage and relationships buried beneath the comedy?
2. What did you think of the comedic talents of Colbert and McCrea and Astor and Vallee?
3. Was there any wisdom in Gerry's plan to help her husband succeed?
4. Did you have a favorite actor or character actor?
5. Was there anything that surprised you?
6. Was the ending satisfying, confusing, brilliant?

Chicago Film Club field trip: “The Maltese Falcon” February 21 at ShowPlace ICON at Roosevelt Road

Where: ShowPlace ICON, 150W Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL 60605
When: February 21, 2015
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Hosted by Stephen Reginald
Run Time: 2 hours (approximate)

Ticketing: Tickets are available by clicking here. If online ticketing is not available for your location, you can purchase your tickets by visiting the box office at your local participating cinema or check back often as updates are being made daily.

Special Fathom Feature: Think like a detective with specially produced commentary from Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz that celebrates the 75th anniversary of this iconic film.

A gallery of high-living lowlifes will stop at nothing to get their sweaty hands on a jewel-encrusted falcon. Detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) wants to find out why – and who’ll take the fall for his partner’s murder. An all-star cast including Sydney Greenstreet, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and Elisha Cook Jr. joins Bogart in this crackling mystery masterwork, written for the screen from Dashiell Hammett’s novel and directed by John Huston. Nominated for three Academy Awards® including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Greenstreet) and Best Screenplay (Huston), this classic film catapulted Bogart to stardom and launched Huston’s directorial career, all with a bird and a bang!

1941 (14th) Nominations: Actor in a Supporting Role – Sydney Greenstreet (“Kaspar Gutman”); Outstanding Motion Picture – Warner Bros.; Writing (Screenplay) – John Huston

If you come, you’ll get a stinkn’ badge to wear!

Great films of 1939: Screening of “Midnight” January 16 at Daystar Center

Great films of 1939: Midnight
Where: The Venue 1550 at the Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street, Chicago, IL
When: January 16, 2016
Time: 6:45 p.m.
Hosted by Stephen Reginald

A rainy night in Paris
Midnight is a delightful romantic screwball comedy starring Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche. Colbert plays Eve Peabody, a down-on-her-luck showgirl stuck in Paris on a miserable rainy night. Ameche plays Tibor Czerny, a Hungarian cab driver, working in The City of Light, who takes pity on her. Pity turns to attraction, for both Tibor and Eve, but Eve is set on the finer things in life.

Pawn ticket to paradise
After Tibor has driven Eve to all the cabarets in Paris helping her find work as a blues singer, Eve slips out of Tibor’s cab while he’s getting gas. Dressed in a beautiful evening gown—the only garment she owns after losing all her money in Monte Carlo—Eve wanders into a society party to get out of the rain, using a pawn ticket as her invitation. Eve relaxes into a comfortable chair while she listens to the party’s entertainment: an overweight soprano and a very serious pianist. Stephanie (Hedda Hopper), the party host, is alerted to the fact that someone entered the party with a pawn ticket. While interrupting the pianist, she asks if anyone in the room is or knows a Eve Peabody. As Colbert sinks into her chair, she is rescued from discovery.

From bridge game to high society
Before you know it, Eve is playing bridge with rich society swells Helen Flammarion (Mary Astor), Jacques Picot (Francis Lederer), and Marcel Renaud (Rex O’Malley). When Eve asks him why he picked her to be his partner, Marcel responds, “You looked charming, you looked bored, and you looked as though you wouldn’t trump your partner’s ace.” Eve introduces herself as Madame Czerny from Hungary and Jacques is smitten with her. His current lover, Helen, is enjoying the card game less and less. In the background is George Flammarion, Helen’s husband who knows his wife is having an affair with Picot, but is still in love with her.

from left to right: Mary Astor, Don Ameche, Rex O'Malley, Francis Lederer, Claudette Colbert, and John Barrymore

The further along Eve’s deception goes, the more complicated it gets, especially when Tibor shows up at the Flammarion’s estate unannounced during a high society party. Will Tibor give Eve away or will he help keep her secret?

Midnight, a clever twist on the Cinderella tale, is a delightful romp with a brilliantly witty script by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. It’s directed with a classy polish by Mitchell Leisen, a director who isn’t as well known today as he should be.

A popular commercial and critical success Midnight garnered this praise on April 6, 1939 from New York Times reviewer Frank S. Nugent:

“The ice went out of the river at the Paramount [theater] yesterday, and Spring came laughing in with “Midnight,” one of the liveliest, gayest, wittiest and naughtiest comedies of a long hard season. Its direction, by Mitchell Leisen, is strikingly reminiscent of that of the old Lubitsch… Pictures like “Midnight” should strike more often.”

We couldn’t agree more!

Have some Joe and Enjoy the Show!

Before the movie, grab a cup of coffee from Overflow Coffee Bar, located within the Daystar Center. You can bring food and beverages into the auditorium; we even have small tables set up next to some of the seats. General Admission: $5 Students and Senior Citizens: $3.

Join the Chicago Film club; join the discussion

Twice a month we screen classic films and have a brief discussion afterward. For more information, including how to join (it’s free), click here. The Venue 1550 is easily accessible by the CTA. Please visit Transit Chicago for more information on transportation options.

Stephen Reginald is a freelance writer and editor. He has worked at various positions within the publishing industry for over 25 years. Most recently he was executive editor for McGraw-Hill’s The Learning Group Division. A long-time amateur student of film, Reginald hosts “Chicago Film Club,” a monthly movie event held in the South Loop, for the past two years. Reginald has also taught several adult education film classes at Facets Film School, Chicago.

Daystar Center located at 1550 S. State St. works through a grassroots network of collaborations and partnerships with individuals and other nonprofit organizations. Through this web, they’re able to provide educational, cultural, and civic activities that enrich and empower their clients, guests, and community members. To learn more about classes and events offered at the Daystar Center, please visit their Web site.

Every Cinderella has Her "Midnight"

Midnight, directed by Mitchell Leisen, with a script by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, and released by Paramount Pictures, is one of the great movies of 1939. It stars Claudette Colbert as a down-on-her-luck American showgirl in Paris and Don Ameche as a Hungarian cabdriver. Colbert offers to pay Ameche double his fare if he agrees to drive her around looking for work as a blues singer. After making the rounds of dozens of Paris nightspots, Colbert gives up and decides to go back to the train station to spend the night.

A smitten Ameche buys her dinner and offers her his apartment to rest in while he drives his cab all night. Although tempted, Colbert doesn't take Ameche up on his offer. Dressed in a glamorous evening gown (the only clothes she has, of course), Colbert escapes into the night. While walking by a Parisian mansion, Colbert is mistaken for a party guest and gains entrance to a society event using a pawn ticket as her invitation. The scam works and Colbert successfully mixes with the upper classes. To keep her scam going, Colbert impersonates a Hungarian countess, aided and abetted by the aristocratic John Barrymore.

Barrymore's wife, Mary Astor, thinks she's in love with playboy and champagne heir Francis Lederer. To help win his wife back, Barrymore enlist the help of the "countess." The plan is for Colbert to get Lederer to fall in love with her, keeping him out of Astor's arms.

The action really heats up at Barrymore and Astor's country mansion. Will Colbert's cover as a countess be exposed by a jealous Ameche? Will Barrymore be able to reconcile with Astor? The answers to all these questions explodes during one of the strangest breakfast meals in film history. The pace picks up  and the stories and aliases that Colbert and Barrymore cook up become wilder and more complicated...and more and more hilarious.

At this stage in his career, Barrymore refused to memorize scripts, so he read his lines from cue cards. It's impossible to tell that he's reading his lines and he steals every scene he's in. Colbert is in top form, her comic timing impeccable. Ameche, no slouch in the comedy department, holds his own as the lovesick cabbie. Astor and Lederer are also perfect in their respective roles.

Midnight is one of Leisen's best directorial efforts. The complicated mistaken identities, double entendres are classic Wilder. A screwball comedy with elegance and charm, Midnight deserves its place as one of the great films of 1939.