Post by Salzmank on Mar 24, 2017 19:47:32 GMT
I've just finished watching James Whale's Remember Last Night? (1935), which I've been meaning to watch for some time (Whale's one of my favorite directors) but of which I could never find a copy. (Universal Vault has it for free right now on YouTube--I don't know how long it'll be there, so if you're interested, check it out soon!)
From the reviews I've read of it, it seems like a love-it-or-hate-it kind of film. While I frequently reject this simplistic of a dichotomy about any movie, it does seem that one can understand both reactions, even from fans of Whale's work! As for me, however, I found it very strong, on my second, if not first, tier of favorite Whale pictures.
In many ways, it's a wacky, funhouse version of The Thin Man, filtered through Whale's wild sensibilities: incredibly stylized and art deco, with Robert Young and Constance Cummings's Tony and Carlotta Milburn being mirror-universe counterparts of Nick and Nora Charles. The most widely repeated criticism is that the characters are unlikable, and that is true--in the beginning.
While the Milburns never become as charming as the Charleses (who could?), they do become more likable as the film progresses, and the repartee becomes more witty and clever. With that said, it's notable and apt that Whale and his writers choose not to replicate the Charleses (as was done in The Ex-Mrs. Bradford and Star of Midnight, both with William Powell essentially replaying Nick, albeit with a different "Nora," under a different name) but rather to offer a creative variation on their characters. Whale, by the way, doesn't hold back in his criticisms of the rich, with the party scene that opens the film showing them as vapid, self-centered, and moronic. (As noted, the Milburns do become more likable by the end.)
The mystery plot, just as in The Thin Man, isn't all that great, but it is somewhat clever, even if very far-fetched. In the end, it is not The Thin Man, which remains far superior, but it is a very enjoyable "anti-Thin Man." A few highlights to bear in mind: the hypnotism scene (recalling Whale's horror efforts) and Gustav von Seyffertitz's Mephistophelian performance in it, the wild, typically Whalesian direction, the direct take-offs of scenes from The Thin Man (i.e., Milburn's having the cop arrest his wife, cf. the business in which Nick sends Nora to Grant's Tomb in the first TM and locks her in a closet in the second, and Milburn's exploration of Bouclier's house, cf. Nick's exploration of Clyde Wynant's laboratory), and the hearty, hilarious performances from Edward Brophy and especially Arthur Treacher!
From the reviews I've read of it, it seems like a love-it-or-hate-it kind of film. While I frequently reject this simplistic of a dichotomy about any movie, it does seem that one can understand both reactions, even from fans of Whale's work! As for me, however, I found it very strong, on my second, if not first, tier of favorite Whale pictures.
In many ways, it's a wacky, funhouse version of The Thin Man, filtered through Whale's wild sensibilities: incredibly stylized and art deco, with Robert Young and Constance Cummings's Tony and Carlotta Milburn being mirror-universe counterparts of Nick and Nora Charles. The most widely repeated criticism is that the characters are unlikable, and that is true--in the beginning.
While the Milburns never become as charming as the Charleses (who could?), they do become more likable as the film progresses, and the repartee becomes more witty and clever. With that said, it's notable and apt that Whale and his writers choose not to replicate the Charleses (as was done in The Ex-Mrs. Bradford and Star of Midnight, both with William Powell essentially replaying Nick, albeit with a different "Nora," under a different name) but rather to offer a creative variation on their characters. Whale, by the way, doesn't hold back in his criticisms of the rich, with the party scene that opens the film showing them as vapid, self-centered, and moronic. (As noted, the Milburns do become more likable by the end.)
The mystery plot, just as in The Thin Man, isn't all that great, but it is somewhat clever, even if very far-fetched. In the end, it is not The Thin Man, which remains far superior, but it is a very enjoyable "anti-Thin Man." A few highlights to bear in mind: the hypnotism scene (recalling Whale's horror efforts) and Gustav von Seyffertitz's Mephistophelian performance in it, the wild, typically Whalesian direction, the direct take-offs of scenes from The Thin Man (i.e., Milburn's having the cop arrest his wife, cf. the business in which Nick sends Nora to Grant's Tomb in the first TM and locks her in a closet in the second, and Milburn's exploration of Bouclier's house, cf. Nick's exploration of Clyde Wynant's laboratory), and the hearty, hilarious performances from Edward Brophy and especially Arthur Treacher!