Midnight (1934)

not as good as all the hype

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

I was in a Bogart mood last night, so I put in a film I've not watched in twenty-five years, at least. I recently bought "Midnight" (1934) (and the original title!) from Grapevine because it's the original release print and not the re-release under the title "Call It Murder" (1947), a print that has been circulating forever in the market. I'd never seen an original print. Trust me, original or re-release, this All Star Pictures produced/Universal Pictures release needs mouth to mouth resuscitation to be watched today. It's got a really superb cast, but they had to have made this one for the money alone. Why else would any of them - INCLUDING THE DIRECTOR!!!!!! - have allowed the credits to misspell their names?? The director, Chester Erskine, shows up nearly immediately as Chester Erskin; then the cast begins and Lynne Overman has his first name spelled without the final "e", too; next is Moffat Johnston as Moffat Johnson; and lastly the well-known character actor Henry O'Neill shows up missing the final "l" in his last name. I guess 'eetl' cost a tad too much to add... Anyway, the premise for this film is decent, but very, very depressing. In some ways, that's the point. A jury for a crime of passion gives the woman who committed the crime the death sentence instead of letting her off. We watch the clock (and all the events that happen with several characters) tick away until the midnight when the execution happens. The foreman of the jury, played by O. P. Heggie, claimed that it was murder because of a technicality based in a question he himself is allowed to ask the "guilty" woman, played by Helen Flint. A lot of people outside of the court don't agree after the verdict is read in court. We see all of this played out against the time to the execution. O. P. Heggie's daughter, and the first name in the cast, is played by Sidney Fox (an actress who is allowed to be called one because she was allowed to be called one - period). She falls - in the meantime - for small time hoodlum, Gar Boni, played by Humphrey Bogart. Others in this cast include Henry Hull (who plays a really sneaky newspaperman), Margaret Wycherly (she was Cagney's "Ma" in "White Heat" - and here she's actually a nice-looking older woman instead of the crone she so often played), Granville Bates, Cora Witherspoon, Katherine Wilson, and actor and future director Richard Whorf. The biggest problem with this film besides direction was a lack of creativity in producing it on film. It's definitely the kind of thing that belongs almost exclusively on stage - or a half-hour TV show during the 1950's, done live. The editing is non-existent. Time back and forth could have been done, rather than the stagnant linear movement forward which drags on and on and on. Thankfully, after a full 76 minutes, the program ends. By the way, Bogie himself has some razzmatazz in his voice, but even he's boring... Molasses that isn't sweet isn't sweet, people. Best thing in the picture is Lynne Overman. That's not surprising. He's always rich in character. Here he's a shiftless, no-good husband of Katherine Wilson who'd rather be rolling dice or the like. I know, who's Katherine Wilson? I don't know, either, so quit asking!

This film was originally called "Midnight." In a noir set that I have, it's titled "Call it Murder" and Humphrey Bogart is top-billed. Originally he was listed as 8th in the cast, as he really doesn't have that much to do. It's of interest because of his presence - he plays a criminal, but he's a young leading man here - but otherwise, there isn't much to recommend it.Why this is in a film noir set is beyond me. It's a melodrama (based on a play) that moves like an iceberg. The acting is stilted, as is the dialogue. The plot centers around a jury foreman (O.P. Heggie) whose jury has sent a young woman to the electric chair, and she is due to die that evening. People are begging him to stop the execution. This is my first problem. What can he do other than say there was a miscount? Anyway, he stands by his decision. When his own daughter (Sidney Fox) lands in the same predicament, claiming she killed her lover, Gar Boni (Bogart), one wonders how resolute he will be then. Pretty resolute. Ready to send her up the river, which I think is totally unrealistic behavior.All this doesn't add up to much, but it's always a treat to see Bogart, and especially interesting at such an early point in his magnificent career. He's quite good. In fact, he's the only one who doesn't have huge pauses between his sentences and speaks in a decent rhythm. The director really didn't pace this movie too well. It's early days for talkies, and many actors were still adjusting their technique from stage to film.An oldie, but unfortunately, not a goodie.

I have recently watched this film again. This time I realized that there is a lot in the movie besides just seeing Bogart in one of his early films. This movie makes a very strong statement about capital punishment. Equally as strong is its statement on who you know if you want to beat a rap. The whole movie takes place during a few hours before the scheduled execution of a woman who killed her lover who was going to leave her. Except for the beginning court scenes, and prison scenes, and a couple of scenes where Bogart is in a room somewhere, and when he and Sidney Fox are in his car, the movie takes place at the home of the jury foreman who found the woman guilty. A news reporter gets into the house with a radio and a surprise at the end so that the public can witness what it's like for that foreman as the scheduled execution time approaches. What you may think is a surprise ending really isn't the end at all. Keep watching for the twist involving the district attorney who has his eye on the governorship. This film, like Bogart and Huston's Beat The Devil, is in the public domain.

OK, it's one of Bogart's early ones. But he's hardly in it at all! He's just fine when he's there, but the rest of the movie is slow and boring and poorly shot. Not to mention the acting. Looks like a very low-grade B, which it most probably was. Don't bother.