Friday, December 17, 2010

Remember the Night (1940) a Preston Sturges Xmas classic!!

Remember the Night (1940) / Paramount Pictures
Directed By: Mitchell Leisen
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, and Elizabeth Patterson

~ This is a true overlooked Christmas classic written by one of my favs of Hollywood classics by writer Preston Sturges that is worth watching.  ~

Tagline: "BARBARA and FRED in 1940's first great love affair ...!"

Quotes:
"That gag's so old its got whiskers!" &
"One of these days one of you boys is going to start one of these scenes differently and one of us girls is going to drop dead from surprise."


Stanwyck & MacMurray Info:
Set in the 1940's this classic film pairs our couple of Stanwyck & MacMurray fpr the first time on film. The pair would star in four films in total being "“Double Indemnity,” “The Moonlighter” (1953) and “There’s Always Tomorrow “(1956).  We love this couple and it showed with this first pairing on screen. Both later in 1940 reprised the roles for a live radio broadcast.


Plot:
Stanwyck plays Lee Leander whom prior to Christmas decides to shoplift a lovely bracelet from a department store. Lee is caught by the New York City department store and is prosecuted though by the NY District Attorney assigned to the case being John Sargent (MacMurray) decides to let her go over the Chrsitmas holiday on bail. John decides to take bring Lee to her hometown in Indiana since he too is from that state. It has been a long time since Lee has visited her small town and her mother so this will be a welcomed visit and an interesting trip on the road with the D.A. John. Unfortunately, when Lee arrives to her monther's home the visit does not go so well since her monther does not forgive her from actions done years prior and wants nothing to do with her. Lee is crushed and can not stay at home so John is very kind and brings Lee back to his mother's home. When arriving they both get a very warm reception from both John's mother (Beulah Bondi) and aunt Aunt Emma (Elizabeth Patterson).  Over the course of the holiday time the love between John and Lee is evident and they too see it but have a difficult time since knowing what looms when they get back to NYC. This is a true classic for the holidays worth seeing!!!
 




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