midnight

the year: 1939

the genre: comedy


the cast: Claudette Colbert (Eve Peabody); Don Ameche (Tibor Czweny); Mary Astor (Helene Flammarion); John Barrymore (Georges Flammarion); Monty Woolery (the judge)


the plot: Showgirl Eve, stranded in Paris, befriends taxi driver Tibor Czerny, then gives him the slip to crash a party. There she meets Helene Flammarion and her gigolo Picot, who's attracted to Eve. Helene's husband Georges enlists Eve's aid in taking Picot away from his wife. It works well... at first. Meanwhile, lovestruck Tibor searches for Eve. But then he learns where she is and that she's calling herself Baroness Czerny.


don't miss: the divorce proceedings. Wait for it...THERE it is.


listen for: "I landed a lord, almost." "Almost?" "Well, the family came between us. His mother came to my hotel and offered me a bribe." "You threw her out, I hope!" "How could I, with my hands full of money?"


did you know: when Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett turned in their script, the studio liked it, but felt it needed some work. So the studio sent the script to two writers for edits: Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett--the studio sent them their own script to rewrite without knowing it. Wilder and Brackett simply retyped their original script and the studio loved the "rewrites" so much, they produced it with no further "changes".


extra bonus points: if you know why Mary Astor proved a bit of a problem during filming.


also listen for: "Now, Helene, don't let's hush this up and don't let's wait until tomorrow. Go on, let's have a lovely scandal!"


you can watch the movie in parts starting here.


my favorite scene: