Movies You Might Have Missed: Mitchell Leisen's Remember the Night

In 1944, Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck co-starred in Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, a film noir generally regarded as the high point for the genre. One of four films featuring both actors, the first had an entirely different tone and ought to be considered one of the great romantic comedies. Remember the Night (1940) was the last Preston Sturges script shot by another director and it’s nothing short of a masterpiece.

Sturges was irritated by the fact that director Mitchell Leisen shortened his script both before and during filming, but the result is a blistering pace and the kind of economy most films would undoubtedly benefit from.

We open with Stanwyck’s Lee Leander being arrested for stealing a bracelet from a New York City department store. MacMurray’s assistant district attorney is assigned to prosecute the shoplifter and has the trial postponed on a technicality since he is concerned the holiday spirit will lead to a lenient jury. Realising Lee will spend Christmas in prison and feeling a pang of conscience, he agrees to drive her home for the holiday season after learning they are both Indiana natives.

The premise is that simple. A respectable, conscientious lawyer and a jaded, cynical career criminal are forced to learn from and about each other as they fall hopelessly in love over a few winter days. The Second World War was raging at the time of the picture’s release and there is a powerful message about the redemptive power of tolerance and the importance of second chances in a cruel, unforgiving world. More importantly, 77 years on, it’s still funny.

Remember the Night was completed eight days ahead of schedule and $50,000 under budget, facts Leisen attributed to the imperious Stanwyck, saying: “She never blew one line through the whole picture. She set that kind of pace and everybody worked harder, trying to outdo her.” Somewhat sensibly, he shifted the focus of the script from MacMurray’s character to Stanwyck’s and was rewarded with a performance of such subtlety, depth and nuance that it’s impossible not to be moved by a line as simple as, “Gee, you’re sweet.”

The film deftly blends humour and sentimentality while functioning as a courtroom drama, road movie and romantic comedy. The leads are perfectly cast and the pathos always feels earned resulting in a denouement that is astonishing moving. Frank Capra fans will find plenty to enjoy in a rare “opposite attracts” romance that never feels mawkish as will anyone with a beating heart.