THE NIGHT IS YOUNG (1935)

Fluffy musical comedies about romantic antics among European royalty and aristocracy were all the rage in the early 30s, with Ernst Lubitsch's operetta-like films such as THE LOVE PARADE and ONE HOUR WITH YOU considered the standard to beat. The genre isn't my favorite, but this film, which the critics love to hate, is not bad until its almost startling genre-breaking ending. Archduke Ramon Novarro is in love with Countess Rosalind Russell, but picks lowly ballerina Evelyn Laye as a "decoy" mistress to be put up in quarters at the palace, so he can dally with Russell without the Duke's knowledge. The ballerina already has a boyfriend, a rather sullen pianist (Donald Cook), and when she realizes that Navarro isn't in love with her, she rebels. Of course, this causes Novarro to actually fall in love with her.  He agrees to pay for a production of a ballet that Cook has written, which allows a guilt-free break-up between Cook and Laye and things so smoothly for a time. When Novarro tells the Duke (Henry Stephenson) that he wants to give up his title to marry Laye, the Duke convinces him that it is his duty to family and state to remain a royal, so, in a reversal of the usual operetta ending, he leaves Laye, with a last song and a kiss.

 

This was Novarro's last MGM film and the last big-studio work he would do for ten years. Many critics think he's miscast, but he certainly looks the part, and though his smile turns into a grimace on occasion (perhaps he was thinking sadly about the end of his MGM contract), he's more than adequate for the role. Laye, a British performer, never made it big in Hollywood, and this was her last film for thirty years, but again she's absolutely fine here. The good supporting cast includes Una Merkel as a friend of Laye's and Charles Butterworth as Merkel's steady date—he drives a horse cart and has an amusing song he sings as an ode to his horse, Mitzi. The delightful Edward Everett Horton does his usual reliable wet-blanket sidekick part, earning him the nickname Doodlesack from Merkel. The songs, by Romberg and Hammerstein, are OK, the most memorable being "When I Grow Too Old to Dream." The real problem is the whole thing needed a fluffier, friskier directorial touch.  Certainly a better film than its critical rep would suggest. Pictured are Horton and Novarro. [TCM]