Rent Midnight (1939)

3.9 of 5 from 85 ratings
1h 39min
Rent Midnight Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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Synopsis:
Written by Academy Award winners Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, 'Midnight' has been hailed as 'just about the best comedy ever caught by the camera from the Golden Age of Hollywood!' Academy Award winners Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and John Barrymore simply light up the screen. The fun begins when a penniless showgirl (Colbert) impersonates a Hungarian Countess and, with the help of an aristocrat (Barrymore), quickly adapts herself to her new lifestyle. But can she stop herself from falling in love with yet another poor man (Ameche)?
Actors:
, , , , , Elaine Barrie, , , ,
Directors:
Producers:
Arthur Hornblow Jr.
Writers:
Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Edwin Justus Mayer, Franz Schulz
Studio:
OEG
Genres:
Classics, Comedy, Romance
Collections:
10 Films to Watch if You Like: The Bishop's Wife, The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Billy Wilder, Top 10 Films By Year, Top 10 Films of 1939
BBFC:
Release Date:
18/08/2014
Run Time:
99 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Subtitles:
None
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W

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Reviews (1) of Midnight

Classic Colbert . - Midnight review by Steve

Spoiler Alert
Updated 09/02/2022

 For my money, Claudette Colbert is the greatest female comedy actor in films. Midnight is mainly a vehicle for her comic élan, and flair for suggesting a little more than she says. She's an American showgirl in who arrives in Paris in the rain wearing just a fabulous gold evening dress but with no luggage or money.

She is picked up by Don Ameche, a taxi driver of limited means,  but soon enough is pretending to be the wife of a Hungarian aristocrat... for complicated reasons....  It's the Cinderella story. The charade will end at midnight. Will she be uncovered as penniless gold-digger by a high society superbitch played by Mary Astor?    

The film is a glorious dream of screwball fantasy. There is superb script by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett full of wit and innuendo. The director Mitchell Leisen proves a reliable substitute for Ernst Lubitsch. But everything is elevated by this cast, with John Barrymore very much at home in this kind of continental farce.

There are depths. Colbert starts off as a mercenary, but inevitably she must settle for something other than wealth and title. The charade must end.  She must settle for love, but the film is very clear that for the poor, love is usually not enough. One of the best comedies of the decade.

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