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Why so much hype?

To me, this movie is perfection.

the audience applauded

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Only good things to say about this charmer with a fine pedigree, an Original from Preston Sturges (with a nod to one of his earlier screenplays, Easy Living, via the title song, performed here in a nightclub), helming from Mitchell Liesen and emoting from a cast led by Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. It's good to see two fine supporting actresses Beulah Bondi and Elizabeth Patterson get so much screen time in the central portion. We - or at least I - tend to associate Mitchell Liesen with sophisticated comedies with sumptuous set dressings so this takes him out of that comfort zone yet he still turns in a deft job. Okay, it's sentimental and hoky but none the worse for that. Well worth your time.

Prosecuting attorney Fred MacMurray arranges bail for shoplifter Barbara Stanwyck, then takes her home to meet his family at Christmas. Along the way they fall in love. This is a real gem. It pairs MacMurray and Stanwyck together for the first time. They would, of course, appear together again a few years later in a certain little movie called Double Indemnity. Perhaps you've heard of it. Both stars are in top form here. Backing them up is a fine supporting cast that includes Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson, and Sterling Holloway. A charming Christmas romantic comedy with a great script from Preston Sturges. It's a wonderful blend of the sentimental and the cynical. Despite some complaints I've read, I found the ending to be appropriate and gutsy for a romantic comedy. My favorite scene is probably the one early on where Stanwyck's lawyer (Willard Robertson) appeals to the jury. "Hypnotism!" Classic Sturges. Give this one a shot and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. It's a terrific Christmas film but also sure to please most romantic comedy fans.

Like Christmas EVE (1947) that I watched the day before, this is a vintage Yuletide Hollywood film that should be better known in view of the talents involved; however, unlike the later film – which, given its undeserving *½ rating on Leonard Maltin's Film Guide, I was not expecting much from and was somewhat pleasantly surprised by the outcome – this turned out to be something of a disappointment. Not that it is in any way bad but, having a stylish director like Leisen, a peerless screenwriter like Preston Sturges and the sure-fire teaming of Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, it should have been a comedy classic. Rather tellingly, it seems to me, the film proved Sturges' last screenplay assignment before embarking on his meteoric directorial career that redefined the screwball genre; needless to say, the two leads would subsequently be iconically reteamed in Billy Wilder's seminal noir, DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) and twice more thereafter in the following decade which I am not familiar with.Anyway, the narrative revolves around an attractive chronic shoplifter (Stanwyck) who gets away with an expensive bracelet from one shop but is apprehended when trying to pawn it in another; MacMurray is the prosecuting D.A. who, after suffering through the would-be heart-rending histrionics of her has-been thespian attorney, secures a recess until after the festive season but gets a change of heart upon watching Stanwyck make her way to spending Christmas in police custody. Therefore he arranges to pay her $5,000 bail but the bondsman misconstrues his interest and dumps her on his doorstep – to the bemusement of MacMurray's "dumb" colored butler! Given the situation and the time of year, he takes her out to a dinner dance (where he embarrassingly comes face-to-face with the presiding judge) but, upon discovering that they both hail from Indiana and that she had not been home for the holidays in years, they are soon en route together to their old hometown. Unfortunately, since MacMurray only makes this trek once a year, they get lost and spend the night in a farm and wake up surrounded by a herd of cows and their irate owner who, once again misinterpreting the situation, rides them off to the Justice of the Peace at gunpoint. Thankfully, Stanwyck's quick wits – that had seen her slid out of many a jam with the law in the past – come to their rescue as she almost sets the latter's office on fire.So far, so humorous...even if it never quite reaches the zany heights of Leisen's earlier classics EASY LIVING (1937; from another Sturges script) and MIDNIGHT (1939; from a Billy Wilder-Charles Brackett screenplay). However, when the couple hit Indiana, the laughs mostly subside and are unfortunately supplanted by grim domestic melodrama (Stanwyck's confrontation with her unforgiving mother who has since remarried) and corny sentimentality (MacMurray's family includes concerned mother Beulah Bondi and future Sturges stalwart Sterling Holloway as an annoying simpleton of a farmhand). The expected local color (for those who like this sort of thing) comes courtesy of home-made sweet cooking, a philanthropic bazaar, a barnyard New Year's Eve dance and a series of individual piano renditions/sing-a-longs by the two stars and Holloway. The return trip to New York takes them to a romantic stroll along Niagara Falls (to avoid meeting up again with the proprietor of the arsoned "Justice of the Peace" office) but, as they reach the Court in the same taxicab, each decides to "throw" the case in favor of the other party…but since Stanwyck admits her guilt (following MacMurray's overzealous grilling intended to win the defendant the jury's sympathy), there is little else for them to do except for a concluding teary-eyed reconciliation in the court's elevator in which they swear each other eternal love. For the record, this was MacMurray's fourth of 9 films he made with director Leisen and he was also the nominal star of one of the most notorious of all Christmas movies, THE MIRACLE OF THE BELLS (1948; co-starring Frank Sinatra as a priest)!

I have a soft spot for late '30's and '40's films. 65 to 80 years of nights (remembered and unremembered) have passed since these films were made - 72 years and counting for this one. The actresses and actors - some born just after the Civil War, others so impossibly young then that it's hard to believe they would be over 100 now - and the America itself shown in this cinematic B&W snapshot all continue to fascinate.A film like "Remember the Night" will thus grab me at the get go with a marvelously attractive Barbara Stanwyck to set the hook and a great ensemble cast to keep my interest when the story itself is less than compelling. I won't recap the plot - you can get that many times elsewhere in these reviews. What I will do is promise you that if you will give this movie even half your attention you will be rewarded. I can also promise you that if you view this with anyone under the age of 20 you will have to explain the middle American reality that underpins the entire movie and gives it its power and its poignancy. It's not just a good Christmas movie (though it is that), it is a good movie set around Christmas time.Also, a big thank you to THIS-TV for showing this classic as I would never have seen it otherwise. I encourage any of you reading this who lives in a larger TV market and doesn't have cable (20% of households still don't) to check an internet source (I use TV Guide.com) in your area and see if THIS-TV or Antenna-TV are available on some broadcast sub-channel in your market. The digital conversion 2 years ago has had one benefit - these sub-channels (THIS-TV is 2.2 in Denver, AntennaTV is 31.2) which are now providing all households with a TV with a digital tuner to see a lot of classic movies which we haven't been able to see anywhere for many, many years. In the case of a movie like "Remember the Night" which only recently became available on DVD (in October 2010) this may be your most economical way to see it. These new sub-channel networks are especially good at showing movies from the '30's through the '50's which seem to have dropped off the cable TV map as well. (Note to cable TV subscribers: buy a cheap antenna and use your set's digital tuner. You can see these stations too!) Check them out and enjoy this movie and others like it.