Remember the Night (1940)

Wonderful Movie

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

What's not to love, a shoplifter goes on christmas break with the prosecutor who's trying to put her in jail, sounds like a pile of laughs, right? While they had terrific chemistry in Double Indemnity, in this film Fred Macmurray and Barbara Stanwyck are both pretty awkward and their timing is off. Scenes that should be laugh-out-loud hilarious are played for drama, and it just doesn't work. For example, the scene in the pasture as they're surrounded by cows could have been mined for a million laughs, but the director just lets it sit there, one among many wasted opportunities for real entertainment. The one moment of high drama that works, however, is when she goes back home to see her mother...where the audience expects a tearful reunion, the opposite happens, as mom proceeds to tear her a new one. It's a heart-wrenching scene, one that we can read on Stanwyck's marvelously expressive face. By the end of the film, after having spent the week with John's family, her character has learned some lessons about taking responsibility for her actions and finds some redemption.I found myself wishing that the pace of the film were a little faster, that the natural animosity between the characters had been more pronounced in the style of all mismatched buddy films, but this one is a romance trying to be a comedy, and not the other way around. In short, the film doesn't know what it wants to be, even the movie poster on IMDB is confusing: is it a comedy or a romance? Make up your mind.

This movie was released in 1940. Therefore, within the first quarter hour, we all know how it will progress and how it will end. We all hope that it doesn't end that way, but we are all one hundred per cent certain that there is no way it could end any other way. Paramount is a big studio with a lot of money invested in this movie and we all know that the 1940 censor would not allow the movie to end any other way -- much as we would like that to happen in this particular case. We all hope a miracle will occur, but it doesn't happen. And that of course is a big failure, but we all know in our hearts that the 1940 Hollywood censor does not believe in miracles. A shame, I agree! If the movie was re-made today, it would end differently, but I guess there's no chance in the world that a remake would even be considered, let alone that it will happen.The acting in this doomed scenario is great. If some of the scenes don't bring tears to your eyes, then fine players like Fred MacMurray and Barnara Stanwyck have labored in vain. In fact all the cast has been well-chosen. The direction is smooth, the story believable (in fact too believable), production values are A-1, and the players magnificent. MacMurray never gave a better performance than this one, and Barbara Stanwyck is, as usual, right on top of the game. No-one else but Barbara could have played this role with such power and conviction. The support payers are all believable too. In fact, at least three or four of them are maybe just a mite too believable! You want to shake them and make them aware that love conquers all!

I was disappointed by "Remember the Night". Not that it is bad film – on the contrary, it is a good film. It is just that I was expecting a great film of the same quality as "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street. Compared to these films, "Remember the Night" just does not have the quality of the story, the acting, the performances, the direction and the overall quality compare to the better known films of its era.For me, there are 11 classic Christmas films that I try, as best as I can, to find time to watch during every Christmas season. Generally, I think people use the phrase "classic Christmas films" to mean the best films of the genre made in the 1940s and 1950s. In my list of the top 11, I also insert three more "recent" films. They are, in order:1. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) 2. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989) 3. A Christmas Carol (1951) 4. The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) 5. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) 6. The Bishop's Wife (1947) 7. The Homecoming, A Christmas Story (TV, 1971) 8. The Holy and the Ivy (1952) 9. Holiday Inn (1942) 10. Home Alone (1990) 11. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)I feel that "Remember the Night" falls into a second tier of classic Christmas films that include the following. The films in this list, I like to watch but not every Christmas and only after I have exhausted the list above:• All Mine to Give (1957) • Blossoms in the Dust (1941) • Bush Christmas (1947) • Holiday Affair (1949) • I'll be Seeing You (1944) • It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947) • The Miracle of the Bells (1948) • We're no Angels (1955)Overall, I like to divide Christmas into 4 sub-genres as follows: Golden Oldies (made before 1960), "Modern" dramas (made after 1969), Comedies (made after 1969) and Animated. My top films in each sub-genre are:Golden Oldies: as aboveModern Dramas (made after to 1969) 1. The Homecoming, A Christmas Story (TV, 1971) 2. Joyeux Noel (a. k. a. Merry Christmas) (2005) 3. Silent Night" (TV, 2002) 4. The Christmas Shoes (TV, 2002) 5. The Gathering (TV, 1977)Modern Comedies (made after to 1969) 1. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989) 2. Home Alone (1990) 3. The Santa Clause (1994) 4. Home Alone, Lost in New York (1992) 5. The Santa Clause 2 (2002) 6. Christmas with the Kranks (2004) 7. Love Actually (2003) 8. A Christmas Story (1983) 9. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2002) 10. Elf (2003)Animated 1. The following tie for first: • Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV, 1964) • A Charlie Brown Christmas (TV, 1965) • Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (TV, 1966) • Frosty the Snowman (TV, 1969) • Mickey's Christmas Carol (TV, 1983) 6. The Polar Express (2004) 7. Walt Disney/Donald Duck Christmas (a. k. a. A Disney Christmas Gift) (TV, 1982) 8. A Garfield Christmas Special (TV, 1987) 9. The Wish that Changed Christmas (TV, 1991) 10. The Little Drummer Boy (TV, 1968)

Four years before they were murder (in "Double Indemnity") and five years before she learned how to flip pancakes (in "Christmas in Connecticut"), Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck were dynamic in this Mitchell Leissen comedy/drama that will leave you merry but weary from crying. It's just before the holidays in New York City, and shoplifter Barbara Stanwyck is caught trying to hawk a bracelet she just stole from another jewelers. D.A. Fred MacMurray is raring to get out of town for the holidays, but must first prosecute her case. He is not happy, yet he won't be happy if he leaves her behind bars over Christmas. So what does he do? He takes her home with him, of course! It's not that simple, but MacMurray does agree to drop her off in Ohio to see her mother who is not welcoming at all. But being a "Hoosier" (from Indiana), MacMurray does agree to host her for the holidays along with his widowed mother (Beulah Bondi), spinster aunt (Elizabeth Patterson) and sweet farmhand (Sterling Holloway). They are more than happy to have her, sure a romance is brewing. For a small town girl gone wrong like Stanwyck, this is heaven. And slowly but surely, the two fall in love, even though she's sure to get jail time when they get back to Manhattan.One of three Christmas movies made by the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck ("Meet John Doe" is the other), "Remember the Night" is an almost forgotten gem which has been rediscovered by film connoisseurs and is now considered a classic (not just another old movie). At the heart of its story is the message of what Christmas really is about-giving of oneself, not just to family, but to strangers as well. Once MacMurray realizes this, he finds that the reward is magic. There are so many wonderful moments in this timeless film that the best way to learn about them isn't to read reviews, but to watch the film. This cynical world of ours may find films like this overly sentimental, but it is sentiment which keeps us sane over the holidays. For me, the highlight is MacMurray's family and Stanwyck singing "A Perfect Day", as well as some sweet scenes between Stanwyck and Patterson, and later Stanwyck and Bondi, the later almost bittersweet. Georgia Caine is darkly cold as Stanwyck's mother who takes great pains to remind Stanwyck (in front of MacMurray) what a rotten child she was. Leissen took great care to make the ending a bit more realistic than it could have been. The mixture of comedy and pathos makes for great viewing of one of the best emotional screenplays (by the brilliant Preston Sturges) ever put on celluloid.