Midnight

Right out of the gate Midnight aspires to be more than it actually is. It begins with the trial of Ethel Saxton (Helen Flint), a woman accused of killing her lover. The jury foreman, Edward Weldon (O. P. Heggie), asks a question of the defendant that ultimately results in a guilty verdict and the death penalty. Sitting in the audience is Stella Weldon (Sidney Fox), Edward’s impressionable daughter, and Gar Boni (Humphrey Bogart), a gangster and Stella’s boyfriend. Stella is distraught by the verdict and upset with her father’s role in it, making her feelings on the subject very clear.

This setup is intriguing but the film fails to deliver on anything it sets up in this trial. The remainder of the film plays out mostly in the Weldon household the night of the execution where Stella struggles with her feelings about the outcome and Edward struggles with his part in it. Gar pops in from time to time as he prepares to leave town on a job that promises to keep him away from Stella for several months and Stella becomes more and more convinced that he’s actually stepping out with another woman instead. Also we are treated to friends of the family showing up for moral support and an unscrupulous journalist who was involved in bribing Weldon’s son-in-law. 

Everything in this film plays out stylistically like a one room play with the brief exception of the opening trial. It is wordy and low on any real energy. This makes the whole affair stiff and dry, devoid of any real drama. While the final moments offer some intriguing thoughts on crimes of passion as opposed to cold blooded murder, it is ultimately unsatisfying in how these messages are displayed, setting up the comparison awkwardly and obviously. The stage play that this film is based on was not particularly successful and the film follows suit coming across as preachy and melodramatic.

Sidney Fox is expected to carry this film almost entirely on her shoulders. But Sidney struggles to garner any real sympathy in what would be one of her final roles. She was already struggling with the depression that would ultimately cause her to take her own life about a decade later and it shows on screen. She is often unsure of herself, stuttering and shaky rather than being confident in her acting. This could have been channeled to better effect by a more skilled director than Chester Erskine who, at this point in his career was still young and had only a few years of experience, mainly in silent films. 

Bogart fairs a little better but his role is underwritten leaving him little to work with. His is the same type of hood that was all he was really being offered at this point in his career. It’s serviceable and he adds a level of charm that many other actors lacked but it’s mostly wasted in a poorly written character there only to set up the moral dilemma of the final act.

Ultimately Midnight cannot hold the interest of its intended audience, a problem that plagued the stage play, too. This makes for a disappointing film overall. It starts out with an intriguing set-up, then flounders around for most of its remaining time under a mountain of repetitive dialogue and uninspired, poorly set-up situations. In the end, while it is a short film, it cannot support its running time leaving us bored and ready to be done with it. It would have worked better as an hour long episode of television where the drama could be broken up with commercials more exciting than the film itself. As it is, it’s too dry and tedious to be worth more than a cursory glance. 

Release Date: March 7, 1934

Running Time: 76 minutes

Starring: Sidney Fox, Henry Hull, Margaret Wycherly and Humphrey Bogart

Directed By: Chester Erskine