Synopsis
You'll have the time of your LIFE at MIDNIGHT!
An unemployed showgirl poses as Hungarian royalty to infiltrate Parisian society.
Midnight
Cast
Claudette Colbert Don Ameche John Barrymore Francis Lederer Mary Astor Elaine Barrie Hedda Hopper Rex O'Malley Monty Woolley Armand Kaliz Eugene Borden Paul Bryar Jack Chefe André Cheron Eddie Conrad Gino Corrado Gennaro Curci Billy Daniels Leander De Cordova Joe De Stefani Carlos De Valdez Elspeth Dudgeon William Eddritt Bess Flowers Arno Frey Robert Graves Sam Harris William Hopper Max Lucke Show All…
Director
Producer
Writers
Original Writers
Editor
Cinematography
Assistant Director
Additional Directing
Executive Producer
Art Direction
Set Decoration
Special Effects
Visual Effects
Composer
Sound
Costume Design
Studio
Country
Primary Language
Spoken Languages
Alternative Titles
Medianoche, La signora di mezzanotte, La Baronne de minuit, Enthüllung um Mitternacht, A férj közbeszól, 午夜, Meia-Noite, 미드나이트, Midnat, Midnatt
Genres
Themes
Releases by Date
Premiere
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USANR
Chicago, Illinois
Theatrical
24 Mar 1939
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USA
29 Mar 1950
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Italy
Releases by Country
Italy
29 Mar 1950
- Theatrical
USA
17 Mar 1939
- PremiereNR Chicago, Illinois
24 Mar 1939
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
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“Midnight” presents the mannered airs of a Lubitsch comedy, but has something... nastier under its façade.
It’s no surprise then, to see Billy Wilder’s name listed in the screenplay credits.
Director Mitchell Leisen’s film about a gold digging American showgirl in Paris is a tale of con vs con vs The Great Con. The last one, being the highly lampoon-able charade that is the possession of excess wealth.
Where Lubitsch always seemed to endow even his cads with a sentimental heart, there is no such mercy from Wilder. Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche are locked in a duel to the lowest denominator.
In asking ‘will they or won’t they’ of the two scammers, the urge for them to pair off…
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you know something? i have a crazy idea he may ask me to divorce my husband.
and marry him? you don’t know jacques picot.
and you don’t know eve peabody. ㅤ𐙚 ⊹˚.୨୧ ugh i wanna live in this movie so badly! just imagine traveling to paris with nothing but a small bag and getting to experience everything eve did, i know i would’ve loved it ♡
the outfits in this movie were absolutely stunning! i’ve to admit that i adore small hats and puffy sleeves, which is why i’m completely obsessed with 1930’s fashion.
this is so comfort film material for me! i couldn't stop laughing, especially during the telephone scene! eve was such an amazing female protagonist, i absolutely loved her ♡ and i totally understand tibor cause i would also instantly fall in love with her too, and do whatever it takes to marry her, or not divorce her i suppose haha.
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As the 1930s came to a close, the screwball comedy was still around and going strong. Midnight feels like the perfect transitional film from the screwballs of the 1930s and their preoccupation with exorbitant wealth (My Man Godfrey, If You Could Only Cook) and screwballs of the 1940s, which kept a class-conscious interest (and penchant for sending up the uber-rich) but branched out to feature, for example, anxieties of war (To Be or Not To Be, Hail the Conquering Hero). Again, the throughline is the focus on the ridiculousness of the rich. This focus is highly present in Midnight, which centers on a gold digging American in Paris, Eve Peabody, looking for a wealthy husband so she can enjoy economic…
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Best Wilder/Brackett script of 1939. Perfectly cast with Barrymore on his near ham best. Leisen directs everything with such a playful delight with all the multiple con games played.
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What an absolute riot Midnight is. The "dada" scene with John Barrymore is surely one of the most comical screwball moments I've witnessed. I never expected I'd ever see Claudette Colbert in a finer screwball comedy than It Happened One Night, but Midnight is, at the very least, right up there with it.
I'll simply add to the chorus of voices that thinks this is an overlooked classic deserving of more attention. Apparently, Midnight hasn't been the most well-circulated film, so that's probably why it's taken me so long to see it. What a shame, because I can't wait to return to it.
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My first experience a few years ago with Midnight was so wonderful, it somehow has been placed in that special tier of films you can go back to without question when you want an evening of complete enjoyment. Thus was the calling the other night when we were choosing a movie. We wanted something short and marvelous. My wife and I have been navigating some classic screwballs recently with some success, and some failures. Here, we wanted a sure success.
My first impression on this rewatch is that Midnight simply shouldn’t work. Claudette Colbert’s Eve Peabody is outed as a golddigger in the opening scene. She doesn’t really appear to have a heart of gold under her gold lamé. Don…
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claudette colbert and don ameche are just the loveliest pair!!!! john barrymore pretending to be a toddler making kissy noises over the phone to his “papa” ameche is simply batshit!!!! claudette’s wardrobe is stunning!!!! i loved this sooooo much!!!!!
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"Don't forget every Cinderella has her midnight."
Out of work and penniless performer Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert) finds herself stuck in Paris. Since she's not one to feel sorry for herself, she immediately starts scheming to turn the tables and make her fortune. Along the way she meets Tibor (Don Ameche), a cab driver who falls for her and Georges (John Barrymore), a wealthy man who agrees to be her benefactor if she participates in a scheme to lure away his wife's lover. The stage is set for shenanigans when she pretends to be a duchess using Tibor's last name and he infiltrates high society to try and win her heart.
I had no idea this was shot by Charles…
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Mitchell Leisen delivers proof you could make a perfectly good screwball without having everyone run around yelling for 90 minutes.
Hats off to screenwriters Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder for penning such a ridiculous story and making it work. It helps that there are so many gems coming of the mouths of all six main characters (except for poor Francis Lederer, there mainly as a plot advancer and for others to bounce their great lines off of).
Also making the hogwash storyline go over easier is the quality of that cast. Colbert and Ameche are excellent as a pair of "normal" people - one a Parisian cabbie, the other a penniless American showgirl - who get mixed up with a…
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"My dear, you know, it's amazing how little one has to explain to a man in love."
"Mmhmm. And when he stops being in love?"
"Well, that's when the alimony'll begin!"Always the dream: to be a vision as intoxicating as American showgirl/golddigger Claudette Colbert posing as a baroness in Irene-designed gowns, wooed across Paris by her equally cute choices of temperamental Hungarian taxi driver Don Ameche and debonair French magnate Francis Lederer. I'd rate the overall atmosphere as far more elegant than substantial (though the direction by Mitchell Leisen and screenplay/dialogue by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder do their utmost, I suppose) and Ameche and Colbert don't spend nearly enough time together for a romance (let alone his immediate…
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Listen not much gives A Cinderella Story (2004) a run for its money but this does. We are John Barrymore stans first and people second.
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