''Star of Midnight'' is a 1935 American

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film directed by Stephen Roberts.

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Cha ...

was loaned out to

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

from

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

to star with

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

Plot

New York lawyer and playboy Clay "Dal" Dalzell (

) is asked by old friend Tim Winthrop (

Leslie Fenton Leslie Fenton (12 March 1902 – 25 March 1978) was an English actor and film director. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1923 and 1945. Early life Fenton was born on 12 March 1902 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. He emigrated to ...

) to locate his girlfriend Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in Chicago a year ago. Winthrop cannot stop thinking about her and believes she is in New York. Along with Donna Mantin (

), who has romantic designs on him, "Dal" attends a hit stage show called "Midnight" that stars a masked actress, Mary Smith (

Bess Flowers Bess Flowers (November 23, 1898 – July 28, 1984) was an American actress best known for her work as an extra in hundreds of films. She was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in more than 350 feature films and numerous ...

), who vanishes in mid-performance when Winthrop recognizes her and blurts out the name Alice. Gossip columnist Tommy Tennant (

Russell Hopton Harry Russell Hopton (February 18, 1900 – April 7, 1945) was an American film actor and director. Biography Hopton was born in New York City, New York. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945, often playing streetwise characters f ...

) claims to have discovered a vital clue to the mystery, but before he can reveal it, he is shot in Dal's suite. Dal is the main suspect, but Inspector Doremus (

J. Farrell MacDonald John Farrell MacDonald (June 6, 1875 – August 2, 1952) was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed fort ...

) does not believe him to be guilty, and gives the resourceful lawyer the freedom to investigate on his own. Dal negotiates with gangster Kinland to retrieve letters embarrassing to Donna. When he gets them (using a bit of blackmail), he is annoyed to discover that they actually belong to a friend of Donna's. Dal is visited by an old flame, Jerry (

Vivien Oakland Vivien Oakland (born Vivian Ruth Andersen; May 20, 1895 – August 1, 1958), was an American actress best known for her work in comedies in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, most notably with the Hal Roach Studios. Oakland appeared in 157 film ...

), now wed to a lawyer named Classon (

Ralph Morgan Raphael Kuhner Wuppermann (July 6, 1883 – June 11, 1956), known professionally as Ralph Morgan, was a Hollywood stage and film character actor, and the older brother of Frank Morgan. Early life Morgan was born in New York City, the eig ...

). Classon, it turns out, is also searching for Alice; she can provide an alibi for his client, convicted of a murder in Chicago. Dal sets up a trap in a Greenwich Village apartment, pretending to have located the missing Mary there and notifying each of the suspects that she is leaving there to meet him at his suite. He reasons that those who are innocent will go to his suite, while the murderer heads to the apartment to silence Mary. The killer indeed turns up, in disguise, putting Dal and Donna in grave danger. Fortunately, Dal and Inspector Doremus are able to subdue the culprit. It is Robert Classon. It turns out that Jerry had carried on affairs, first with the Chicago murder victim, then with his accused killer. Robert Classon killed one of his wife's lovers and tried to frame the other. To achieve the latter, he also needed to silence Alice, unaware that she had fled to avoid testifying. She hated the convicted man for ruining her father. With everything wrapped up, Dal finally gives in and marries Donna.

Cast

as Clay "Dal" Dalzell *

as Donna Mantin * Paul Kelly as Jim Kinland *

Gene Lockhart Edwin Eugene Lockhart (July 18, 1891 – March 31, 1957)"Gene Lockhart"
''The ...

as Horace Swayne, Dal's butler *

as Robert Classon *

as Tim Winthrop *

as Police Inspector Doremus *

as Tommy Tennant *

as Jerry Classon *

Robert Emmett O'Connor Robert Emmett O'Connor (March 18, 1885 – September 4, 1962) was an Irish-American actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1919 and 1950. He is probably best remembered as the warmhearted bootlegger Paddy Ryan in '' The Public En ...

as Police Sergeant Clearey *

as Mary Smith (uncredited) *

George Chandler George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985) was an American actor who starred in over 140 feature films, usually in smaller supporting roles, and he is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the televi ...

as Theatre Usher that Swayne brings up to Dal's apartment (uncredited)

Reception

In his ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' review, Andre Sennwald called it a "sleek, witty and engaging entertainment". Noting the similarities to the previous year's ''

The Thin Man ''The Thin Man'' (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of ''Redbook''. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main cha ...

'' (also starring Powell as a debonaire detective), however, Sennwald concluded "it is never quite as satisfying as its illustrious predecessor." Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'',

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

also drew comparisons between the film's craftsmanship and that of ''The Thin Man'' (as well as ''

The Trunk Mystery ''One New York Night'' (also released as ''The Trunk Mystery'') is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Jack Conway and written by Frank Davis. The film stars Franchot Tone, Una Merkel, Conrad Nagel, Harvey Stephens, Steffi Duna and Charles ...

''), describing ''Star of Midnight'' as "a light, quick, sophisticated comedy ... all suavity and amusement, pistol-shots and cocktails". The film was popular and earned RKO a profit of $265,000.

Home media

''Star of Midnight'' has been released on VHS as part of the RKO Collection and on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in Italy (region 2) as ''La Maschera Di Mezzanotte'', with Italian and English soundtracks.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Star Of Midnight 1935 films 1930s mystery films American mystery films American black-and-white films Films directed by Stephen Roberts RKO Pictures films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films