''One Night at Susie's'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

drama film released by First National Pictures and directed by John Francis Dillon. The movie stars

Billie Dove Lillian Bohny (born Bertha Eugenie Bohny; May 14, 1903 – December 31, 1997), known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress. Early life and career Dove was born Bertha Eugenie Bohny in New York City in 1903 to Charles and Ber ...

and features Douglas Fairbanks Jr.,

Helen Ware Helen Ware ( Remer; October 15, 1877 – January 25, 1939) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Born to John August Remer and Elinor Maria (née Ware), Ware adopted her mother's maiden name as her professional name. She had ...

and

Tully Marshall Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...

Plot

Susie (

), who runs a house for gangsters, is raising Dick Rollins, the son ( Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) of a dead convict. Susie has raised Dick well, making sure that he was not influenced by her gangster friends. She even gets him a job as press agent. Dick falls in love with Mary, a chorus girl, (

). When he announces his engagement, Susie becomes infuriated, because she believes that a girl of her type will urge him on to a life of crime. Her premonitions come to fruition. Hayes ( John Loder), who is producing Mary's show, gives her an engagement party. Dick is called to work, however, and Mary attends the party alone. Hayes attempts to rape her, and she shoots him in self-defense. Despite Mary's protests, Dick confesses to the murder and is convicted for manslaughter. While he is in prison, he writes a play for Mary, who tries to find a producer for the play but is turned down everywhere. Knowing how much the play means to Dick, she makes a deal with David Drake ( Claude Fleming), who is willing to produce the play only if she submits to his sexual advances. The play is a success and makes Mary a star, which makes Dick happy when he hears the news. Houlihan (James Crane), who had made advances to Mary previously but had been rejected, goes to Susie and tells her everything concerning Mary's sordid affair. At first, when Susie confronts her, Mary denies everything., but she eventually confesses and Susie promises to keep the whole affair a secret. When Dick is finally released, the lovers are happily reunited.

Cast

as Mary * Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Dick *

as Susie *

as Buckeye Bill * James Crane as Houlihan * John Loder as Hayes * Claude Fleming as Drake * Dorothy Mathews as chorus girl

Preservation

The film survives intact and has been broadcast on television and cable. The film was transferred to 16mm film by

Associated Artists Productions Associated Artists Productions, Inc. (a.a.p.) later known as United Artists Associated was an American distributor of theatrical feature films and subjects for television. Associated Artists Productions was the copyright owner of the ''Popey ...

in the 1950s and shown on television. A 16mm copy is housed at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. The film is also preserved in the Library of Congress collection.

Home media

As of December 2015 ''One Night at Susie's'' has been available on the Warner Archive DVD label.Warner Archive website
Retrieved February 23, 2016

References

External links

* * * * {{John Francis Dillon 1930 films First National Pictures films Warner Bros. films Films directed by John Francis Dillon American black-and-white films American drama films 1930 drama films Films with screenplays by Kathryn Scola 1930s English-language films 1930s American films