Remember The Night — Remember The Night (Blu Ray)

Remember The Night is a thoroughly charming, often heart-warming, and wonderfully acted festive romantic comedy from the early 1940s. The film neatly side-steps the cliches often associated with the genre, for a generally entertaining and engaging picture. Here from Powerhouse films is a Blu-Ray feature HD print of the film, a commentary track, new and archive extras, an eighth-page book, and a poster.

Released in the year 1940 Remember the Night was directed and produced by Menominee, Michigan-born Mitchell Leisen. In total, he had forty-two feature lengths to his name- taking in the likes of romantic comedy fantasy Death Takes A Holiday (1934), onto historic drama Kitty (1945), noir melodrama No Man Of Here Own (1950), musical Tonight We Sign (1953), and Las Vegas cabaret doc Spree (1967).

After the credits, we see a woman going into a New York Jewellers, where she swipes away a jewel sparkling watch. Before trying to sell it at a pawn shop just down the road- the owner feels something amiss, and the female crook is caught. Next, we fast forward to the women’s court case- we find out her name is Lee Leander (Barbara Stanwyck)- and she has many other convictions to her name. Her lawyer has made up a fanciful and rather amusing defence regarding his client being hypnotised during the robbery. Prosecuting her is the brill creamed John Sargent (Fred MacMurray)- who asks for the case to be moved until after the Christmas break, so she can be assessed by a court doctor.  Lee is less than happy about this, and doesn’t want to spend Christmas in the slammer. Feeling guilty John pays the bail for her to get out, with the bailsman delivering Lee by mistake to the lawyer's apartment. He agrees to take her out for a festive meal- then let her find a place in town to stay…but as they are eating they find out that they grew up a few towns apart, and as John is heading home for the festive season, he agrees to give Lee a lift, so she can spend time with her mother.

The pair set off on their car journey, and along the way they get lost, land up going through a farmer's fence, and sleep the night in his field, before being route marched by the landowner to the local judge- the pair escape due to a match falling in a bin. And here is where I’ll finish my plot rundown, as it will rather spoil the rest/ key parts of the film.

Both Stanwyck and MacMurray are marvellous in their lead roles- really selling two people thrown together, and as the romance develops it’s done in a believable and not too sappy manner. The supporting cast is all well picked too- with memorable roles coming from Beulah Bondi as Fred’s mother, and Sterling Holloway as the bumbling Willie for comic relief. The film runs at the one hour and thirty-four minutes mark, and throughout it remains engaging and largely believable- yes as expected we get festive season touches due to the time of the year the films set, but these never become too clawing or overbearing. All in all, Remember The Night stands as one of the great Hollywood romantic comedies and will be even enjoyed by those who are normally cynical of the genre- as it is so well acted & is (largely) feasible/believable.

Going onto the extras on this region B blu ray, and we get a clean and bold black and white print. Moving onto the extras, we get a commentary from film historian Adrian Martin- this is a wonderful well researched and observed track. He begins by discussing the elegant credits, and the director's/producer's written name which highlighted how well he was thought of during the release of the film. He talks about the first time he saw the film thirty-two years ago, and how impactful it was and still is now. He chats about how Preston Sturges script was rather cut down and snipped by director Leisen, and how this works wonderfully. He talks about the film's skilful switch in tone and genres, and the wonderfully expressive performance by Stanwyck during the early court scene. He points out both lead's ability to play both drama and humour very well.  He discusses Sturges screenplay, and themes that appear in much of his work- with one of the key ones being crossed wires. He talks about the use of hats in film, and how the actors use them to great effect. Later on, he discusses one of the main switches in tone, and how love & mutual understanding is key to the film's make-up.  He discusses the recurring themes in the director's work, and how he as a gay man approaches the romantic comedy genre.  He points out scenes where public and personal emotions are wonderfully highlighted by both the actors and the director, and much more- an excellent track, which brought the film more to life for me. Otherwise, on the extras on the disc we have the following new things- You May Laugh, You May Weep (25.24) which finds author and programmer Geoff Andrew talking about the film to hand, and how the screenwriter and director impacted its making, as well as touching on each career. Outsider Status (25.33) finds critic Pamela Hutchinson charting the life/ career of Barbara Stanwyck- starting from her troubled early family life in Brooklyn, moving on to her working in the chorus line before taking the step into the film acting. She discusses key films, as well as her two marriages- a most informative/ interesting featurette. On the archive side of things, we get the following Lux Radio Theatre: ‘Remember the Night’ (55.00): a 1940 radio adaptation which finds Fred MacMurray and Stanwyck reprising their roles from the film. Lux Radio Theatre: ‘Remember the Night’ (54.00): second radio adaptation from 1942, pairing MacMurray with Jean Arthur. Hollywood Victory Caravan (20.00): short 1945 promotional film starring Stanwyck and many other Hollywood names, including Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, and Alan Ladd. Original theatrical trailer, and Image gallery featuring promotional and publicity material.

The finished edition of the films features an eighty-page book with a new essay by Rick Burin, archival interviews with cast and crew, articles on the careers of director Mitchell Leisen and screenwriter Preston Sturges, an overview of contemporary critical responses, writing on Hollywood Victory Caravan, and full film credits. As well as a poster topping off the release.

 

The folks at Powerhouse have done a great job on this reissue- with a crisp and clean HD scan of the film, and a good selection of new & archive extras.  In finishing a prime example of a well-acted, evenly paced, and entertaining romantic comedy- out just in time for the festive season.