"Midnight" may be the best of the great 30's screwball comedies, and we're talking about "Libeled Lady", "The Awful Truth", "Bringing Up Baby", "Nothing Sacred", "Ninotchka", and "Holiday", among others.
What makes it so extraordinarily great? The movie simply doesn't touch ground throughout the proceedings - a bit like a faster-paced Lubitsch concoction. This is much to talk about, but in particular, the Wilder-Brackett script is loaded with so many memorable jabs and rejoinders that one is grateful for the opportunity to rewind the action to relish them. The pacing is just exactly right, with its many high points, particularly at the point of introduction and re-introduction of characters in various states of array or disarray.
With Colbert, Ameche, Lederer, and Astor, it's hard to point to stand-outs, but Barrymore's performance is worth more for what he does not say than for his lines (which he supposedly had to read from cue cards) - his mute reactions of curiosity, skepticism, abashment, and astonishment are priceless. The appearance of Monty Woolley near the end of the film couldn't come at a better time, nor could the end of the film itself!
If you like films of this type from this period, this is a must - 10/10.
What makes it so extraordinarily great? The movie simply doesn't touch ground throughout the proceedings - a bit like a faster-paced Lubitsch concoction. This is much to talk about, but in particular, the Wilder-Brackett script is loaded with so many memorable jabs and rejoinders that one is grateful for the opportunity to rewind the action to relish them. The pacing is just exactly right, with its many high points, particularly at the point of introduction and re-introduction of characters in various states of array or disarray.
With Colbert, Ameche, Lederer, and Astor, it's hard to point to stand-outs, but Barrymore's performance is worth more for what he does not say than for his lines (which he supposedly had to read from cue cards) - his mute reactions of curiosity, skepticism, abashment, and astonishment are priceless. The appearance of Monty Woolley near the end of the film couldn't come at a better time, nor could the end of the film itself!
If you like films of this type from this period, this is a must - 10/10.