Colbert and Ameche share steamy chemistry in this screwball romp from Mitchell Leisen
Screwball comedy Midnight is one of the earliest classic films I remember seeing as a kid, randomly finding it on cable TV. The 1939 film matches Claudette Colbert’s wary American chorus girl with Don Ameche’s Hungarian cabbie, with many zany antics in between. Although co-written by Billy Wilder (The Apartment) and frequent collaborator Charles Brackett, Mitchell Leisen’s hilarious Midnight hasn’t always received the recognition it deserves. Through the special features on this recent Criterion release, I learned that the queerness of the filmmaker was likely a factor in his work not being celebrated as much as others.
Coming off the success of his Easy Living (1937) a couple years previous, Midnight’s producers gifted Leisen a large budget for this powerhouse cast to play in. Besides Colbert and Ameche, the comedy’s supporting cast includes such names as Mary Astor (Meet Me in St. Louis), John Barrymore, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, and cameos from the likes of Monty Wooley (The Man Who Came to Dinner). In the 1969 interview with Leisen included in the Criterion Blu-ray, the director admits he mainly cast Barrymore’s wife at the time, Elaine Barrie, so she could help keep an eye on the actor on set (due to his alcoholism). Thus, her supporting character appears in multiple group scenes.
For those unfamiliar with this comedy, the action follows Eve Peabody (Colbert) who barely escapes a failed gambling run in Monte Carlo with the gown on her back. Cab driver Tibor (Ameche) is charmed after picking her up at the Paris train station. Through hours together spent looking for her next gig, they fall for each other. However! Eve wants more from life and hoofs it when she starts feeling a certain way, ending up at a fancy invite-only society party where Barrymore’s Flammarion quickly discovers she doesn’t belong. However! He comes up with an idea to have her impersonate a Hungarian baroness (after she’s already claimed Tibor’s last name) to tempt away the young man (Francis Lederer) who has been sleeping with Madame Flammarion (Mary Astor). Hilarity ensues.
Midnight is as risque as production code would allow. Although Eve basically admits to being a gold-digger, the script doesn’t judge her for it (and neither does the audience). Our first glimpse of Astor’s married character and her paramour is in a clinch. Besides the outstanding cast, the large budget went towards grand sets and fantastic costuming (Leisen was a costume designer earlier in his filmmaking journey). In the Leisen interview on the Criterion release, he talks about Astor being pregnant during filming, so it’s fun to keep an eye on the many ways they try to camouflage that through set design and costuming.
The screenplay for Midnight is a hoot. Even though I hadn’t seen it in decades, I still remembered the fake phone call Barrymore’s character makes to Eve, which ends up with Tibor on the line as Flammarion badly impersonates a little girl. Leisen’s film, while steeped in a bit of screwball fantasy, is also based in the real world where cabbies fall in love with failed nightclub singers. Eve isn’t punished for wanting a better position in life, and during her charade, she comes to realize what is more important to her.
While Midnight and Leisen’s other works may have been skipped in discussions about canonical classics, thankfully this Criterion package can help bring the film to those who might have missed it. Leisen’s open bisexuality was a dreadful reason for Paramount to drop him later in his career; now we can celebrate such a talent, and have classics like this and Easy Living to celebrate his vision and humor.
The Midnight Criterion Blu-ray includes a lovely 4K restoration, along with:
- audio clips from a 1969 interview with director Leisen, who speaks frankly about working with Preston Sturges (Easy Living) and Billy Wilder, Colbert’s refusal to have the right side of her face in shots, Barrymore’s relieving himself behind bushes in the courtyard set, and how Colbert’s real-life common law marriage impacted the last sequence.
- an informative audio commentary from critic Michael Koresky, who delves into Leisen’s impact, legacy, and sexuality, the filmmaker’s “pragmatic naturalism” and his “attention to spectacle,” among other things.
- a 1940 adaptation of the film for radio
