''The Midnight Girl'' is a 1925 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Wilfred Noy Wilfred Noy (born Wilfred Noy Blumberg, 24 December 1883 – 29 March 1948) was an English film director, actor, screenwriter and producer of the silent era. Noy was the maternal uncle of Leslie Howard.Eforgan, Estel. Leslie Howard: The Los ...

and starring

Lila Lee Lila Lee (born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel; July 25, 1905 – November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras. Early life The daughter of Augusta Fredericka Appe ...

and featuring

Béla Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic Dracula (1931 English-lan ...

.Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Midnight Girl''
at silentera.com

Plot

Lugosi plays, according to an

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

, "Nicholas Harmon, the immensely wealthy patron of music" who "loved his weaknesses — and his favorite weakness was Nina," his mistress, an opera singer whose voice is faltering. His stepson Don, an orchestra conductor, rejects the attentions of a society girl. Don becomes estranged from his stepfather in an argument, and leaves to succeed on his own. He helps the career of Anna, a newly arrived singer from Russia who becomes a nightclub star, the "Midnight Girl". Harmon sees her perform, and is entranced. He invites her to his apartment, where his attempts to seduce her become forceful. Anna fires at gun at him, but hits instead Nina, who has been hiding behind a curtain. Harmon realizes how much he loves Nina, and cradles her in his arms. At the end of the story, Don has married Anna, who is now a leading opera singer, and Harmon has married Nina.

Cast

Production

The film was adapted from a story by

Garrett Fort Garrett Elsden Fort (June 5 1990 – October 26 1945) was an American short story writer, playwright, and Hollywood screenwriter. He is mostly known for his connections with 1930s horror films, with film historian Gary Don Rhodes describing hi ...

, who would later co-write the screenplay for Lugosi's ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

''. It was filmed in early 1925 at the

Astoria Studios The Kaufman Astoria Studios is a film studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens. The studio was constructed for Famous Players-Lasky in 1920, since it was close to Manhattan's Broadway theater district. The p ...

, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York. In 1926, opera singer

Nina Morgana Nina Morgana (November 15, 1891 – July 8, 1986) was an American soprano, a protégée of Enrico Caruso, who sang with the Metropolitan Opera for fifteen seasons, from 1920 to 1935. She was of Italian descent. Early life Nina Morgana was born ...

sued

Chadwick Pictures Chadwick Pictures was an American film production and distribution company active during the silent and early sound eras. It was originally established in New York by Isaac E. Chadwick (1884 – 1952) in 1920 to release films, but from 1924 als ...

over ''The Midnight Girl'', claiming that the opera singer character in named "Nina" is portrayed as "debauched" and "passe", and thus was damaging to Morgana's reputation."Nina Morgana Avers Film Hurt Name; Seeks $25,000"
''Daily News'' (January 25, 1926): 6. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

Preservation

A print of the film survives.

References

External links