Barrymore supports Colbert's lie that she is married to a Hungarian aristocrat. Colbert spends Barrymore's money to purchase a designer wardrobe and enjoy residence in a five-star hotel. But she certainly won't sleep with Ameche, Lederer, or Barrymore, or even kiss any of them, until she is married. Because the Production Code, you know.
Billy Wilder, three years before launching his career as a director, is co-screenwriter, along with Charles Brackett.
Midnight is a loose adaptation of the Cinderella story, with the setting set to modern day (1939) Paris. Cobert is Cinderella, of course, with Barrymore as fairy godmother despite his gender and station, and Don Ameche as Prince Charming despite his cabbie origins. I guess that makes Mary Astor somehow the wicked stepmother, and I will have to think harder to come up with a comparable for Francis Lederer.
her marriage instead to the fairy godmother.
How others will see it. Midnight was well received. It was not nominated for any Academy Awards, but 1939 was a banner year for great films, crowding out Midnight from the podium.
Today, the movie remains highly regarded. It was added to the prestigious National Film Registry in 2013, and appears in a couple of American Film Institute best-of lists.
At imdb.com, Midnight has a lofty user rating of 7.9 out of 10. The independent demographic of women over 45 grade it even higher, at 8.2. The user reviews sparkle with praise for all concerned.
How I felt about it. The first thing that must be noted is that Claudette Colbert was a fine actress, and comes off well. So does Don Ameche. The problems that this film has not due to their efforts.
The story is full of holes. Claudette Colbert does not have a man, goes to Monte Carlo by herself, and gambles away everything but the dress she is wearing. This is not the behavior of a reasonable person. Why does she decide to get a job as a nightclub singer, something she is unprepared for, when she would be far more likely to secure employment as a nightclub hostess.
I understand why Don Ameche has an interest in Colbert. She is a beautiful woman. True, the bird will likely fly, but the romance could be great fun while it lasts. Nonetheless, the lengths he goes to to secure her, getting into street fights and enlisting every cabbie in the city with a lottery reward, seems unlikely.
Colbert could never pull off in posh society the lie that she is married to an Hungarian aristocrat. But Barrymore seems to know immediately that she is a poser. In fact, Barrymore is superhuman in his ability to recognize Colbert for what she is, and is ludicrously extravagant and resourceful in supporting her pretense.
If his intention was identical to Ameche, his actions would make more sense. But, no, he just wants her to distract Francis Lederer, who has made him a cuckold, so that he can resume his loveless marriage with unlovable Mary Astor. We can surmise that Astor's character will soon encourage another aristocratic romeo to take Lederer's place.
The Production Code makes for curious plot turns. Colbert can't spend a night under the same roof as Ameche, even though her alternative is to sleep at the bus depot. But she can spend the night at Barrymore's house, and even become his platonic kept woman, as if spending enormous amounts of his money without repayment is morally laudable as long as she can merely keep drooling Lederer at arm's length.
It also seems unlikely that working class cabdriver Don Ameche can successfully pose as a Hungarian noble among wealthy society snobs who should be suspicious in any event of the new arrivals.
Monty Woolley is a horror of a judge whose rulings are capricious and arbitrary. It isn't clear why Colbert would want to marry mercurial cabdriver Ameche when Barrymore is gladly forking over the money for her to rub noses with the wealthy elite of Paris.
Wild-eyed John Barrymore gives a hammy comic performance, which enlivens what would otherwise be a routine Hollywood imitation of an Ernst Lubitsch comedy. His end of a phone call to Colbert is more amusing than it should be. Colbert is also a charmer. The cast is good, and the production values are high. But it is not really enough.