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Fresh and Exciting

A Major Disappointment

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Jean Arthur plays a woman married to an insanely jealous rich man (Colin Clive). He is very controlling and dangerous--and, not surprisingly, she leaves him and obtains a divorce. But Clive is not about to let her go and has her stalked by private detectives and plots to get her back. During this time, Arthur meets a very suave man (Charles Boyer) and they fall almost instantly in love. But, Clive isn't about to let her remarry and he murders a man and makes it appear as if his ex-wife's new love is responsible! To keep Boyer from going to jail, she agrees to return to Clive--even though she's miserable and he is just plain nuts...and rather evil. Is there any hope for the lovers? Will the truth ever come out? Now all this sounds like a murder mystery, and this is PART of the film but mostly it's a very stylish romance. The romantic portions of the film are its best--and despite the odd casting of the two as lovers, it does work very well. What doesn't work quite as well is the ending--which is almost like a replication of the Titanic disaster. But, despite the shortcomings, the overall picture is quite charming and well worth your time. Boyer was great in films like this and "Love Affair" and it didn't hurt that Clive played a wonderful slime-ball and Leo Carillo provided some good support. Well worth seeing.

Frank Borzage was Hollywood's great romantic and History is Made at Midnight is one of his very best films. The luminous chemistry between Charles Boyer and the incomparable Jean Arthur (in one of her very best roles) lights up the screen. Borzage's direction is always delicate, elegant and brings the film a mystical quality from luminous nighttime Paris to the fog swept decks of the SS Princess Irene. The plot is excellent and takes a truly unexpected turn in the final third but it's the character moments like Boyer and Arthur's first night in Paris or their reunion in New York that entrance and linger the most. This was Frankenstein's actor Colin Clive's penultimate film before his untimely death to alcoholism at the mere age of thirty-seven. Made only seven years after his screams of "It's alive!" sent shivers down the halls of cinema history, his role here is far cry from that energetic performance and he is perfect as the lonely, desperate and bitter husband of Jean Arthur as sad as that seems. A true masterpiece that has been criminally neglected and forgotten by the populous and by critics who really should know better.

The obsessive and jealous shipowner Bruce Vail (Colin Clive) does not accept the divorce his wife Irene Vail (Jean Arthur) achieved in London, and he hires his driver Michael Browsky (Ivan Lebedeff) to forge adultery with Irene in Paris to make the decree null. However, she is rescued by the headwaiter Paul Dumond (Charles Boyer), who punches Michael and locks Bruce and his private eyes in a locker, and they spend a wonderful night together in the restaurant Château Bleu, where Paul and his best friend Chef Cesare (Leo Carrillo) work, and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile, Bruce kills Michael and blackmails Irene, blaming Paul and forcing her to return with him to New York. But Paul does not give up on Irene, and moves to New York with Cesare trying to find her love. They meet each other, but things get complicated when an innocent is arrested accused of murdering the driver."History is Made at Night" is a dated melodrama, but extremely romantic. Jean Arthur and Charles Boyer show an amazing chemistry in this delightful romance. The friendship of Cesare and Paul is quite unbelievable in the present days, but gives the funniest moments in this film. Colin Clive performs an obsessive and totally insane villain, with his sick jealousy. But in the end, love wins for the pleasure of the romantic viewers. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A História Começou A Noite" ("The History Has Begun at Night")Note: On 05 March 2012 I saw this film again.

Fairly sharp mixture of comedy, romance and melodrama has an American woman in Paris falling for the charming head-waiter in a posh French restaurant; later, after returning to the States (and to her abusive husband), she chances to meet the dashing Frenchman again. Sparkling first-half is either enhanced or destroyed by heavy drama in the second-act, depending on your viewpoint. However the film affects you, the finale aboard a sinking cruise ship certainly boasts showmanship! I caught this in a romantic mood, so I enjoyed it; any other day of the week, I might've taken a glimpse and passed. *** from ****