LADY FOR A NIGHT
US, 1941, 87 minutes, Black and white.
Joan Blondell, John Wayne, Ray Middleton, Philip Merivale, Blanche Yurka, Edith Barrett, Leonid Kinskey, Montagu Love.
Directed by Leigh Jason.
Lady for a Night is one of John Wayne's many vehicles in the early '40s. However, he received second billing to Joan Blondell in the title role. This is an entertaining serious comedy from Republic. It is set in Memphis and has comments to make on Southern society - so popular after Jezebel and Gone With the Wind. There is contrast between the lively saloon and gambling people with the decayed aristocracy of the South in their rotting mansions. Joan Blondell is natural as the gambling boat queen and John Wayne as the dashing gambler hero. There is excellent support especially from Blanche Yurka and Edith Barrett as the two aunts in the decaying mansion. A blend of comedy, action, melodrama.
1. An entertaining John Wayne- Joan Blondell vehicle? music, comedy, melodrama? Period soap opera?
2. Black and white photography, atmosphere of the South, the gambling saloons and the song and dance routines, the wealthy mansion and the genteel way of life, courtroom sequences? Musical score and songs and choreography?
3. The blend of John Wayne action with Joan Blondell music and comedy? The overtones of Deep South decaying aristocracy? A satisfying blend?
4. Jenny and her role in Memphis? Her owning the gambling boat, her being nominated Queen of the Carnival Ball and her realisation that it was a farce, rigged by Jack Morgan? Her reaction against him? Her encounter with Alan Alderson and his debts? Her plan for marrying him and going to his estate? The marriage, the clashes with Alan's father, with Aunt Julia - and her sinister behaviour? Aunt Katherine and her support - yet her madness? The persecution in the mansion, the boredom? The plots to isolate Jenny? The plans for the ball - and the invitations being countermanded? Jack Morgan using his power over everybody in Memphis to force them to go to the ball? Its success? Julia's attempt to poison Jenny and Alan's death? The court case? The seeming evidence against Jenny? Aunt Katherine lying and then breaking down? Jenny rescued from prison and the happy ending? An eventful life for heroine Joan Blondell?
5. John Wayne as Jack Morgan, dashing, gambler, man about town, rigging the Carnival Queenship for Jenny, her reaction against him, his attitude towards her after marriage, the visits and the grounds for suspicions and accusations, his trying to dent her determination, his forcing everybody to go to the ball? The court case? The happy ending? Typical John Wayne hero?
6. The presentation of the gambling saloon, the musical number and the routines? The impact of Jenny's getting the Can Can for the ball - the repercussions on the men, the women, on Memphis society and their reaction - from polite applause to shock? The film as musical comedy?
7. The contrast with the mansion? The Alderson family? The father and his hold over Alan? Alan and his gambling and deceit, weakness? Marrying Jenny? His love for her? The sinister Aunt Julia and her manoeuvres against Jenny - from countermanding the ball invitations to poisoning? Aunt Katherine and her madness? The revelation about her beau and the broken off engagement, Julia's sinister behaviour? The court case and the melodramatics, Katherine's breaking down?
8. The perennial appeal of audiences watching decaying families and mansions? The comment on the Old South?
9. The successful ingredients for popular period soap opera Americana?
