Connecting the cinematic dots between Kristen and Doris
I feel safe in saying that virtually no one outside of those involved with the making of it, felt the world needed another Charlie’s Angels movie. Still, with an autumn slate that can count Terminator, Maleficent, Joker and The Addams Family sequels and reincarnations as highly-publicized releases, and with Sonic the Hedgehog and Dolittle on the horizon, this is just the movie landscape we live in.
Hopefully this version will manage to breathe some new life into the franchise which was drained of virtually all essence following a pair of grossly over-the-top screen adaptations in the early 00’s, whose only sole redeeming features were the movies’ subtle stance on gun violence and the presence of Demi Moore as a delicious villain in the second outing. But you’d have to venture back to the original series to in order to see why people keep returning to the idea of a trio of women hired to solve crimes by their unseen boss. Created by Aaron Spelling, Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, the show has become a landmark of classic television for it’s accessibility, energy and symbolism. Thinking about the long-lasting property the men created has prompted me to re-visit to another worthwhile title bearing Goff’s and Roberts’ names, in which another woman used her instincts in order to survive; the 1960 Doris Day thriller Midnight Lace.
American Kit (Day) is enjoying her role as the new wife of British businessman Anthony (Rex Harrison), while throwing herself into married life in London. One night while walking home following a concert, Kit hears an ominous voice in the foggy London night who proclaims he knows where she lives and that he intends to kill her. The incident leads Kit to live in a perpetual state of fear as strange occurrences keep happening around her and telephone calls featuring that same voice on the other end proclaim she will soon be dead.
As a genre entry, Midnight Lace fits nicely with many classic thrillers of the day thanks to its domestic trappings. Shades of past and future titles, including Sorry, Wrong Number and What Lies Beneath can be found here as the movie earns its place as a worthwhile thriller. The number of people in Kit’s life, some of whom want something from her and others which happen to turn up in her life just as this horrifying experience is taking place, means that Midnight Lace is never short on suspects. The post-war/pre-swinging London setting also helps tremendously. With it’s foggy nights and overall culture-heavy landscape adds a hint of alienation on Kit’s part as an American, making her feel more isolated as the threat of death gets closer. It becomes pretty obvious early on that every time the phone rings, Kit’s maniacal tormentor is almost always on the other end. But the movie compensates by skillfully inserting shock moments at just the right instances to keep the suspense up. Kit’s near miss with a double decker bus (courtesy of a shove from a hand in the crowd), a tense scene stuck in a dark elevator and her initial encounter with the madman who proclaims he can see Kit through the thick London fog, each bring about their own sense of dread and fright. Yet no element is more frightening than the voice itself. With a high nasal pitch, older tone and perfect British diction, the voice of Kit’s self-proclaimed killer is the very definition of eerie and manages to remain once the film has ended.
Like most of the afore-mentioned thrillers, Midnight Lace attempts to make its own comment on the institution of marriage amidst the shocks and chills. The movie shows the flip side of the honeymoon phase by giving Kit blinders where her marriage to Anthony is concerned. Every misstep her husband makes, every broken promise, every attempt to make it right is greeted by Kit’s loving smile which suggests Anthony can do no wrong; a notion he more or less senses. The blinders seem to be part of Kit’s attempt to shape the perfect life with Anthony, while being nothing but the ideal wife all the way through. Naturally, such perfectionism is impossible and the events in Midnight Lace illustrate this through the terror Kit experiences; a terror so real, she knows it will literally kill her. All of it speaks to the consuming nature of trying to hold onto the image of the perfect marriage and how it can very well drive one to insanity. It’s interesting to see an actress such as Day, who enjoyed plenty of screen roles playing the happy homemaker, take on a project in which she’s essentially exploring the alternative side of such an existence. Yet the idea of bringing to the screen someone so seemingly perfect and serene on the outside who finds herself plagued by fear that feels all too real, says more than most perhaps gave it credit for back in the day.
Midnight Lace is not short whatsoever on great character actors supporting Day and a very capable Harrison (who makes the best with the traditional busy, but concerned, husband role). Joining the pair are John Gavin as the handsome manager of a construction crew, Hermione Baddeley as a barmaid, Myrna Loy as Kit’s feisty aunt, John Williams as a chief of police and Roddy McDowell as the slimy son of Kit’s housekeeper. All bring color to the film and it’s fun to watch Day interact with each of them. But it’s Doris who remains the main draw of Midnight Lace from an acting standpoint, both then and now. The star’s screen persona was so natural and effortless that not even a thriller like this one could stifle it. Yet the dark territory she ventures into here is so incredibly remarkable, especially given how the actress bravely used the real-life trauma from her abusive first marriage as a way of illustrating Kit’s fear and terror. A key scene featuring the character convinced she’s only got moments to live sees Day writhing in agony in what is one of the most committed, raw and vulnerable moments she ever put to film.
Financially, Midnight Lace was another hit for the actress as audiences happily turned up to see Doris run for her life, continuing her standing as the world’s top female box-office draw. But critics were less pleased with the movie as a whole. Many who reviewed Midnight Lace felt that not only was it a retread of familiar territory, but that the project was a poor follow-up to Day’s recent Oscar-nominated turn in Pillow Talk. Awards acclaim did come the star’s way however as she was nominated for a Golden Globe and a small handful of other awards, falling short of a second Oscar nomination which she certainly deserved.
Midnight Lace doesn’t occupy the biggest of spaces in Day’s filmography, even where her dramatic efforts are concerned. Most admirers would be quick to cite The Man Who Knew Too Much as their top pick when thinking about Doris’s more serious turns. Still, this movie rarely fails at giving fans of the star, and of classic thrillers in general, everything they could want from such a venture. Some of the critics who reviewed Midnight Lace when it was first released had a fair point when they said the movie brought very little new to the table; and while it’s neither perfect nor original, it’s got enough of its own flavor to justify existing. In the end, the movie simply works; as both a Doris Day vehicle (not to mention her last dramatic outing) and a sterling example of those forgotten domestic thrillers which are always a joy to discover.
Midnight Lace is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.