History Is Made at Night | Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur

History Is Made at Night | Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur | Wonderful Movie

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History Is Made at...

	History Is Made at Night Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur Warner Home Video, 1993 average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

"I've Never Been Happy Before"

Though it is almost forgotten today, History is Made at Night is one of the most beautiful and romantic films ever to grace a movie screen. Not made by one of the major studios and released through Mary Pickford's United Artists in 1937, this film has a fine screenplay from Gene Towne and Graham Baker, and some lovely words of dialog from Vincent Lawrence and David Hertz. A young and luminous Jean Arthur and the continental Charles Boyer utter those words in charming, funny and poignant fashion.

Like this film, director Frank Borzage is almost forgotten today, but through an impressive body of work that includes films such as Seventh Heaven and Three Comrades, lives on in the minds of true film buffs. History is Made at Night is a tender and romantic masterpiece. It easily makes my top ten list of the most romantic films of all time. It is a story of two people who try to cram a lifetime of memories into one night, and then one moment, when tragedy looms on the horizon in the form of an iceberg.

Jean Arthur is Irene Vail, the wife of a cold and unhappy shipping magnate who holds on to her too tight, his jealousy finally driving her to divorce. Colin Clive is her bitter and obsessed husband Bruce, who hatches a plan in Paris to catch her in a compromising position before the divorce decree can become final. But Bruce's plan goes awry and their history will never be the same.

Charles Boyer is Paul Dumond, headwaiter at Chateau Bleu, and Leo Carillo is his very funny chef pal Cesare. Paul is tucking in a drunk customer he has taken to the room next to Irene's in Paris, and overhears the commotion as Irene is set up for a scandal that will tie her to a loveless marriage forever. He steps in through the balcony and rescues her, charading as a jewel thief and wisking her away into the moonlight. It is one of the great scenes ever, in a film full of them.

They share a cab and drive around Paris, ending up at Chateau Bleu, Irene unaware Paul is the headwaiter there. Paul charms his pal Cesare into an after hours meal and he and Irene spend the night there falling in love. It is a long, extended scene full of charm and humor, with some sadness as well. Paul uses a hand puppet to get Irene to open up about her unhappiness and they dance the tango. Carillo is warm and funny as Paul's pal for life who watches and cooks while Paul and the silly American girl from Kansas who dances with naked feet find happiness. It is a happiness Irene has never known, and one she would give her soul for.

They agree to meet the next day when the happy Paul is planning on proposing. Irene doesn't show up, however, and Paul calls her, knowing if she is going back to a loveless marriage then something is wrong. Irene tells him she can never come back to him and he must never try to find her. What Paul does not know is her husband Bruce killed the man he hired to come into Irene's room, in an effort to frame him for murder.

The friendship of Paul and Cesare adds a charming humor to the story, as there is a running joke regarding salad dressing. Their repore is marvelous as they travel to the big apple in an effort to make Irene come to Paul rather than searching for her. The two come up with a scheme to make a place called Victor's in New York the "in" spot everyone comes to. Holding a special table for her, Irene finally comes, but it is with the abusive husband she does not love.

Irene is joyous but Paul not so much as he thinks she is laughing at him due to his lowly position. Their deep love quickly overcomes this misunderstanding and Irene leaves Bruce once more, planning to run off to Tahiti so she and Paul can truly be happy. But a dark cloud hangs over their dream as an innocent man is set to go on trial back in Paris. But Paul is not the kind of man who could let another take the blame or Irene would not love him so. They book passage back to France on Bruce's newest ocean liner, the S.S. Princess Irene.

As the two lovers head towards their destiny, her bitter husband Bruce fumes to discover the French papers are sympathetic to Irene's sacrifice and Paul's gallantry. When it becomes clear Paul will never be convicted for the crime, Bruce dangerously orders the captain to break the transatlantic record in a deep fog and cold water, bringing about a tragedy reminiscent of the Titanic's fate.

Many drown and all left aboard are presumed dead. There is a heartwrenching scene as Paul tries to get Irene on board the last lifeboat and she clings to him for the love she knows she can not live without. Bruce writes a confession for his crime now that he has nothing to live for and makes one last, violent gesture. But Paul and Irene are not dead yet, clinging to a staircase on deck and desparately trying to know everything they can about each other while they await their fate. They and a handful of survivors hold their breaths to see if the last bulkhead will hold, and keep the S.S. Princess Irene afloat long enough for a rescue.

There are some beautiful and poignant exchanges between Boyer and Arthur in a film that is sweet, funny and tender all at the same time, sometimes in the same moment. Perhaps no other director of his time could have pulled all the elements of this story together so well. Borzage was always looked to by his peers as the go-to guy for any story which required a tender and romantic touch other directors could not pull off.

Jean Arthur is wonderful as the woman clinging to a happiness she has never known and Boyer had one of his finest moments in American film portraying the affable and charming Paul. Borzage sets a very special mood for this touching story of a love that sails with no wind and a full moon. Not just a great romantic film, but one of the great films period, History is Made at Night is a forgotten film from a forgotten director, and both deserve to be remembered. All those who love romance will certainly never forget either once they see this most beautiful of films for the first time.

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Wonderful Movie

Upon knowing this movie featured Charles Boyer and, especially, Jean Arthur, I expected a light romantic comedy, but what I got was much more...

First of all, this is a powerful romantic film, directed by one of Hollywood's masters of Romance, Frank Borzage. Jean Arthur stars as Irene Veil, in a role different from the usual stuff we expect from her.... she portrays this character, sensitively, luminously, almost with an ethereal quality, but at the same time very humanly. She's simply terrific.

Charles Boyer, is great as Paul Dumond, a headwaiter who falls madly in love with her, and after watching him in this 1937 film, one understands why he became the continental lover per-se, the epitome of the romantic and sensitive hearthrob.

There's wonderful chemistry between the two leads, sadly they never worked together again.

The picture also features outstanding performances by Colin Clive (star of "Frankenstein" and "The Bride of Frankenstein"), who plays Bruce Veil, Arthur's megalomaniac husband, and Leo Carrillo, who impersonates wonderfully a Chef who's Boyer's best friend.

Apart from being a romantic film, this movie has very dramatic moments indeed, but at the same time has fine lightweit comic touches, here and there.

In all a great poetic & ultimately romantic melodrama, with comedy touches, featuring a very warm and credible love story, between two human beings, who meet by chance. Great!!!

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Magnificant movie.....a true classic!

Long suffering wife (brilliantly played by Jean Arthur) of abusive husband (brilliantly played by Colin Clive) meets an unexpected intruder (brilliantly played by Charles Boyer) kidnaps her and takes her out to dinner at his friends restaurant (brilliantly played by Leo Carillo) where they dance all night, fall madly in love, later face a murder rap together, and then almost die on what serves as the model for the Titanic. What.....you say you never heard of it before. You say you won't watch black and white movies. You say you won't watch a VHS tape only DVD's anymore. Hey movie goer.....it don't get any better than this. This film will transport you to another time and place and make you beg for more of the same. This film is a prime example of what the old Hollywood was capable of producing. It does what all great movies are supposed to do, and it does it as well as Gone with the wind, Wuthering heights, Camille, Dr Zhivago, and all the other greats! A true classic! If you can find it.....buy it at any price in any format you can find!

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Jean Arthur Shines

History is Made at Night is a fine romantic film with a good cast. Jean Arthur stars as Irene Vail, a faithful wife to a jealous husband. One night, her husband plans to frame her, attempting to prove she has cheated on him so that she cannot get a divorce from him. The plan fails when a good samaritan (Charles Boyer) walks in and foils the plan. He takes Irene away and the two fall madly in love with each other. When the jealous husband comes back to find his wife missing and his plans in disarray, he murders the man in on the frame-up in order to get his wife away from the mysterious kidnapper. Everything goes crazy from there, with the new couple desperately trying to be happy and the jealous man constantly ruining it all.

This is perhaps one of Arthur's best films. She shines like a true star here in all of her sweet glory. Boyer is an odd but wonderful choice as her lover, a sensitive but strong man.

The film ends with a scene almost identical to the tragic scenes of the Titanic. It provides some extra drama to a sweet story and a marvelous climax.

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A love story that suddenly turns to disaster

I've found "History Is Made At Night" an okay film, very well done for its time. But I was expecting much more of a disaster film, rather than a love story. But then the cover on the tape I purchased was different than the one shown. It was listed as an action/romance and the back cover told of a murder mystery aboard a large luxury liner as two lovers try to escape the insanely jealous husband of the woman, all on a ship headed for disaster... Boy was this wrong!

The film does centre around two lovers, a French headwaiter and the wife of a shipping magnate who want to run off together. But Bruce Veil, the shipping magnate murders his chauffeur and frames his wife's boyfriend, all of this taking place in Paris, not aboard the ocean liner. Plus there's no mystery at all! You 'see' the murder, so you know who killed the guy!

Then you throw in some love stuff, an annoying friend (a 'famous' chef) to the headwaiter, some pointless threats made by the shipping magnate against his wife, hoping she'll stay with him, and then a couple crossings of the Atlantic and that's pretty much the whole first two thirds of the movie.

Then there's the last part; the first two-thirds has been a love story on dry land (save the crossing of the ocean), but the last third of the film, it suddenly turns into a Titanic-like disaster film. The two lovers board the SS Princess Irene (named after Mr. Veil's wife) for its maiden voyage from New York to Paris. The two lovers stay in the presidential suite and the ship has run into heavy fog and ice packs.

Meanwhile, Mr. Viel has discovered that his wife and her boyfriend are aboard the ship and he demands that the ship be sailed at full steam so when it gets to Paris the boyfriend will be arrested for the murder. But then the ship hits an iceberg head on and begins to sink...

Overall, this was a fairly decent movie for its time, but this was just a love story disguised as a disaster film (unlike "San Francisco" which keeps its promise for disaster, and quite well. So if you read that this was a Titanic-like disaster film, be warned that this is, for the most part an on shore love story, with only the last half hour or twenty minutes having any disaster in it, and the don't expect a Titanic-like ending either, this one ends on a much happier note.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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