''After Midnight'' (German: ''Ab Mitternacht'') is a 1938 French-German

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Carl Hoffmann Carl Hoffmann (9 June 1885, in Neisse – 13 July 1947) was a German cinematographer and film director. Selected filmography Cinematographer * '' The Vice'' (1915) * '' Dr. Hart's Diary'' (1917) * '' Wedding in the Eccentric Club'' (1917) * ''T ...

and starring Gina Falckenberg,

Peter Voß Peter Voß (29 June 1891 – 9 January 1979) was a German film actor. His acting career started in the late 1920s in the last years of the Silent film, silent film era and continued into the sound era until 1959. Partial filmography * ''Love an ...

and

René Deltgen Renatus Heinrich Deltgen (30 April 1909 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – 29 January 1979 in Cologne, West Germany) was a Luxembourgish stage and film actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who port ...

.Goble p.661 It was shot as a German-language version of the French film '' Nights of Princes'', produced as a co-production between the French subsidiary of

Tobis Film Tobis Film was a German film production and film distribution company. Founded in the late 1920s as a merger of several companies involved in the switch from silent film, silent to sound films, the organisation emerged as a leading German sound s ...

and the producer Joseph N. Ermolieff. Such

multiple-language version A multiple-language version film (often abbreviated to MLV) or foreign language version is a film, especially from the early talkie era, produced in several different languages for international markets. To offset the marketing restrictions of ma ...

s were common during the decade. Both films were based on the 1927 novel '' Nights of Princes'' by

Joseph Kessel Joseph Kessel (10 February 1898 – 23 July 1979), also known as "Jef", was a French journalist and novelist. He was a member of the Académie française and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Biography Kessel was born to a Jewish family in ...

. It was shot at the

Epinay Studios The Epinay Studios are film production studios located in Epinay in northern Paris. It was a complex with two distinct and separate structures. The earliest was built in 1902 by Eclair Film. A second studio was controlled by the French subsidiar ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Alexandre Lochakoff Alexandre Lochakoff was a Russian-born art director.Phillips p.39 After fleeing following the Russian Revolution in 1917 he settled in France where he worked designing film sets. Selected filmography * ''Heart of an Actress'' (1924) * ''That Scou ...

and

Vladimir Meingard Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology T ...

Synopsis

Helene performs in a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

run by White Russian exiles. When her husband, an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

she believed had died in the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, reappears she tries to assist him. However, this opens her to

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

by her dancing partner Fedor.

Cast

* Gina Falckenberg as Helene *

as Petroff *

as Fedor * Marina Shubert as Vera *

Alexander Engel Alexander Engel, birth name: Kurt Engel (4 June 1902 – 25 July 1968) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1932 and 1968. He was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Saarbrücken, West Germany. He chose the stag ...

as Wronski *

Hubert von Meyerinck Hubert "Hubsi" von Meyerinck (23 August 1896 – 13 May 1971) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1921 and 1970. Biography Meyerinck was born in Potsdam, Brandenburg, the son of Friedrich von Meyerinck (1858� ...

as Ricin *

Nicolas Koline Nicolas Koline (1878–1973) was a Russian stage and film actor. He established himself in Russia as a stage performer with the Moscow Art Theatre. He emigrated from Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 and came to France with La Chauve-Sou ...

as Schuwaloff *

Eva Tinschmann Eva Tinschmann (April 19, 1893 – August 10, 1978) was a German actress. She appeared in the 1937 Sherlock Holmes film '' The Grey Lady''.Pointer p.153 Selected filmography * '' The Final Chord'' (1936) * '' The Accusing Song'' (1936) * '' Scand ...

as Mme. Mesureux * Katja Bennefeld as Secretary * Hertha Windschild as Yvette

References

Bibliography

* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.

External links

* 1938 films 1938 drama films German drama films French drama films Films of Nazi Germany 1930s German-language films Films directed by Carl Hoffmann German multilingual films Films shot at Epinay Studios Tobis Film films Films set in Paris German black-and-white films French black-and-white films French multilingual films 1938 multilingual films Films based on French novels 1930s German films 1930s French films {{1930s-Germany-film-stub