That was an excellent one.

Best movie ever!

The first must-see film of the year.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

With such a winning cast, who can go wrong with Don Ameche, Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore and Mary Astor, the brilliant Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett penning the script and a talented director, it was hard not to highly anticipate 'Midnight' with such a love for classic film. 'Midnight' turned out to be one of those films that met those expectations and even exceeded them, that cannot be said for many film viewings recently. Of all my recent viewings, and actually in a long way, 'Midnight' is easily up there in the top 5 of the most rewarding. It is a real shame that it is so overlooked today and it has nothing to do with quality, it's a fantastic film. To me, what struck me as the reason was timing, with it being released in the year that saw the releases of two of the biggest and most highly acclaimed films ever 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Gone with the Wind' (two of my favourites as well). 'Midnight' is not quite on their level or scale, but although fondly remembered here it is deserving of more attention.It is beautifully made for starters, especially in the sumptuous costumes and photography that is so easy on the eyes. 'Midnight' is directed with a real eye for atmosphere and visual detail and with an ability to keep the story moving along. The music is never intrusive or too syrupy.A contender for the best asset of 'Midnight' is the script. The script here is brilliant in classic Wilder and Brackett fashion, sparkling and sizzling at every turn effortlessly and the best parts are truly hilarious. The story is filled with charm and sophistication, it is also stylish, impossible to dislike and never hard to follow.Cannot fault the cast either. Don Ameche oozes with charm and likeability in one of his best roles (to me at least), Claudette Colbert is luminous and with great comic timing and John Barrymore was never funnier and gives one of his best later performances. Mary Astor, Rex O'Malley and Hedda Hopper give classy support.Overall, a wonderful film deserving of more praise. 10/10 Bethany Cox

***SPOILERS*** 1930's screwball comedy involving a case of mistaken identity in out of luck and broke American showgirl Eva Peabody,Claudette Colbert, getting stranded in Paris after blowing her entire life savings in Monoco and hooking up with an Hungarian Taxi driver played by handsome Irish/Italian American actor Don Ameche! In fact the very next film that he'd star in would be the one that Ameche would become most identified with where he played Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell in the movie aptly named "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell".Looking for a place to stay and a bed to sleep in Eva runs into Paris taxi driver Tibor Czerny, Don Ameche, who after taking her for a ride, free of charge, and trying to find Eva a job is left out in the rain as she runs out on him and ends up at the party attended by the wealthy and well connected Flamarion's of Versailles. Slipping in unnoticed and without an invitation Eva is rescued by George Flamarion, John Barrymore, when he slips 10,000 francs in her pocketbook to keep Eva from being run out of the party in not having the money she lost playing bridge.George wants to break up his wife Helene's, Mary Astor, affair with Paris gigolo Jacques Picol, Francis Lederer, and sees in Jacques by him not being able to keep his eyes off her Eva being the other woman that would break up his relationship with Helene! It's later when Eva uses the name of Hungarian Baroness Czerny, the name she took from cab driver Tibor, as a front that George rents out a room, or suite, at the ritzy Ritz Hotel in her name to keep the sham, in Eve being of royal blood, going!It's when the stood up Tibor who, after all he did for her, Eve walked out on tracks her down, with the help of his fellow Paris taxi drivers, at the Flammarion château in Versailles that sparks really start to fly in all directions. Outraged in being made a fool of Tibor crashes a party given at the château in Eve's honor by claiming to be her husband the Barron Tibor Von Czerny of Budapest! One of the oldest and continuous royal blood-lines in all of Europe!Great fun to watch with John Barrymore who was reported to be almost dead drunk during the filming of the movie steal every scene he's in even going so far as mimicking the Czerny's three year old doughter back in Budapest who's reportedly bedridden suffering from the measles. As for Eve she gets Tibor off balance in telling everyone at the party that he's slightly insane and has a habit of trying to be a member of the great unwashed masses,like a taxi driver of trash collector, because of the guilt he feels in being a member of the upper crust of society!****SPOILERS**** The final nail in the coffin of Eve con job is when in a fit of ager she attempts to divorce her husband the Barron, really taxi driver Tibor Czerny, who was secretly paid by Geroge to go through with it! Just when both Eva and Tibor were about to agree in getting a divorced they realized that they were in love with each other and in fact not even married thus making a divorce impossible! This had the presiding judge, Monty Woolley, in this whole wacky affair almost swallow his false teeth after both Tibor and Eva agreeing not to divorce each other tell him that their now going down to the Paris city hall to get themselves a marriage license!

With Don Ameche borrowed from 20th Century Fox and John Barrymore finished with his contract at MGM, the two of them teamed with Claudette Colbert to make Midnight where Colbert plays a chorus girl stranded in Paris. When Don Ameche finds her and takes her in, she's wearing a newspaper for a hat.She could have all her basic needs met with Ameche who's head over heels for her, but Claudette wants more out of life. Enter John Barrymore who would like to have her masquerade as a baroness, to ward off another goldigger of the male kind in Francis Lederer who has been sniffing around Mary Astor who is Barrymore's wife.Colbert pulls it off beautifully, maybe she'll meet a really rich candidate for a husband. Lederer is sniffing all right to Astor's jealousy, but Ameche is on the scent too. He's going to find that woman who came and went out of his life so quickly. And Barrymore, the sly rogue, is presiding over it all like an indulgent grandpa.When you have a director like Mitchell Leisen and such skilled players in comedy as Ameche and Colbert in the lead, the result can't be anything else, but pure entertainment. Barrymore is also grand in the last part he would have in an A budget film.Down in the supporting cast take careful note of Monty Woolley as a judge, a man well versed in the divorce laws of France and who brooks no nonsense in his court. Best scene in the film is Ameche with the help of several Parisian cab drivers getting the hotel maitre'd to tell where Colbert left for. That has to be seen, no description will do.Unfortunately Midnight is not the kind of screen comedy made any more, so see it when broadcast.

This 1939 version of "Midnight" does not seem to be related to any of the other "Midnights" made in 1917, 1934, 1982, 1989, 2006. Claudette Colbert is the dolled up Eve Peabody, broke and looking for work in the rain. Along comes ever-so-friendly cab driver Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche), who goes out of this way to drive her around and help her find work. Also in here are John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Hedda Hopper, and Monty Woolley, all biggies in Hollywood. Note the cast list, which includes William Hopper, Hedda's son, as a party guest. Also Joyce Mathews, who was married to Milton Berle (twice !) In usual Billy Wilder style, there are elements of a chase, some moments of serious plot, and a whole lot of silly pratfalls that mostly end in good luck. When Eve sneaks into an evening party, pretending to be someone else, she meets up with Georges Flammarion (Barrymore) , who has a scheme going of his own, and he needs Eve's assistance. Rumor has it Barbara Stanwyck was originally going to star in this, and there are definitely similarities to Lady Eve, which would be released two years after Midnight by Preston Sturgess. Midnight also has a similar plot to The Bride Wore Red from 1937, where Joan Crawford sneaks into a weekend getaway with the uppercrust, but one of her own "friends" wants to save her before its too late. In our story, we keep flashing over to the cabbie Czerny (Ameche) who is still trying to track down Eve.... Who will she end up with, and will she be exposed as the fraud she is ? Fun, fast script, and it keeps the viewer enthralled. Colbert plays Eve just innocent enough to make us want her to succeed, even though she is doing some underhanded things. Fun to watch!