This is the Night (1932) Frank Tuttle

The night you watch this film, it will be the night for laughing.  Perhaps known more for being Cary Grant’s full feature film debut, it’s a delightful movie with witty dialogue and clever farce.  Adultery and suspicion of same are the themes that make up the plot, and they are lightly bandied about.

Grant is memorable but plays a supporting role to the other four main characters, the first of whom is Lili Damita. The French actress’ career was brief but she is superb in this role. Besides being beautiful, she puts in an effective performance, mastering two characters, and does comedy very well.

Charles Ruggles and Roland Young are incredibly funny and masters of comic timing.  Thelma Todd is visually stunning and owns the running gag, “Madam has lost her dress!” When the gag is being set up in the beginning of the film, it’s accompanied by a melody that’s frequently repeated, and a crowd chanting. It’s a bit of comic opera. Listen for that melody throughout the film, and also for the lovely “This is the Night”, composed by Sam Coslow and Ralph Rainger.

Irving Bacon is the last piece of this hectic puzzle and plays ‘Sparks,’ the chauffeur of Roland Young. He always happens to be present whenever Thelma Todd loses a piece of clothing. (Bacon’s roles were always small but he was a prolific character actor with hundred of movies to his credit.)

There are so many humorous scenes in this movie that it’s difficult to choose highlights. But nonetheless, watch for the few minutes when luggage is being loaded onto a train, and also for the drinking scene with Young and Ruggles. “This problem’s going to be very absorbing.” What are you going to absorb it with?” “Scotch, I think.”

Cinematography is very well done (Victor Milner) and noted director, Jean Negulesco, worked uncredited on the film as a technical director. 
 
There are several interesting back stories to mention. Lili Damita would later become better known as the first wife of Errol Flynn. And Thelma Todd died in 1935 at age 29 under mysterious circumstances, either accidental death or murder. The incident was never solved and rumors still abound about mob ties and her violent live-in boyfriend, director Roland West.

But murder, mayhem, and notoriety aside, this is an entertaining 80 minutes that will be well worth your time.

It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) Roy Del Ruth

This is a lesser known movie but very worth a watch. Some refer to it as a Christmas movie but it’s really not. It’s more a commentary on post-war society and on what being “rich” really means.

A hobo with an unexplained past figures out how to live in boarded up mansions of absentee wealthy people, gone for the season. He meets up with other unfortunates, who hook up with others, and the story takes off from there.

Victor Moore is the hobo star who is best known to me for his hilarious role in Swing Time (1936) as Pop Cardetti. Charles Ruggles is also a favorite and here he plays the second richest man in the world. These two had long-lasting careers beginning in silent movies and ending with a few appearances on television, and it’s great to see them together.

Filling out the cast are some soon-to-be TV stars, Don Defore (Ozzie and Harriet, Hazel) and Gale Storm (My Little Margie, the Gale Storm Show). And Alan Hale Jr, with over 200 TV and movie roles, became best known for playing Skipper on Gilligan’s Island.

Another notable performances is by actress Ann Harding. Most of her film roles were back in the 1930s, and she adds a beautiful and poignant presence as the ex-wife of Charles Ruggles. She also introduces us to “slumgullion.”

Look for character actors Edward Brophy as the local patrolman and Charles Lane as the recalcitrant landlord. Edward Gargan is the policeman in the park who is less than sympathetic to a supposed hobo (“If you need a place to stay, go to a flophouse. If you’re hungry, go to a soup kitchen”). I’m reminded of Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge.

There are two hilarious sequences in the movie, neither having much to do with the plot. The first is Abe Reynolds as the tailor. He did not make many films but his monologue here will make you laugh out loud. (Reynolds also played the tailor in the aforementioned Swing Time.) The second scene, although not as witty, involves a waiter in a restaurant trying to balance an uneven table, and some aggressive musicians.

The musical score uses George M. Cohan’s “Mary” when Ruggles interacts with his ex-wife Mary, Ann Harding. But the original score is by Edward Ward, who has more than one hundred credits as composer/musical director. There are many clever lines in the movie, and Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani were Oscar nominated for Best Writing.

DeFore: “Just because I’m in bed doesn’t mean I’ll take this lying down.”

Brophy: “That joint’s as empty as a sewing basket at a nudist camp.”

Brophy and Moore: “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s cousin.” “Oh, your family connections must be better than that.”   

The classic line is the last of the movie so listen for it. This film is an enjoyable lark and is sometimes compared to It’s a Wonderful Life, with the theme of what it really means to be rich running through both. But don’t be fooled. It’s not anywhere near that good.

“To be without friends is a serious form of poverty.”