Remember the Night seems to possess the ingredients that should make the film a classic: 1) two classic Golden Age movie stars, Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, 2) a quick-witted and touching screenplay by iconic writer/director Preston Sturges, and 3) a classic Christmas setting for classic Yuletide romance. And yet the movie still lingers in obscurity.
MacMurray plays Jack Sargent, a morally upright New York City assistant district attorney. He is assigned to prosecute Lee Lander (Stanwyck), a world-weary shoplifter, just a few days before Christmas. Feeling guilty that she’ll spend the holidays in the hoosegow, Jack bails her out, and they embark on a roadtrip to his family’s cozy farm in Indiana. Lee is welcomed warmly and generously by his family, and she experiences what a loving home and family are truly like for the first time in her life.
As Jack and Lee fall in love, they both know that once the holidays end, they must return to the city and to the courthouse. Will Jack jeopardize his hard-earned career by throwing the case just so she can go free? And will Lee, softened by his unconditional kindness toward her, allow him to?
Stanwyck exquisitely portrays the now-hackneyed stereotype of the hardened dame with a heart of marshmallow. Though she remains best remembered for her film noir femme fatales, Stanwyck carved out a nice little niche for playing lighthearted Christmas movies. MacMurray is the perfectly right type for the naive and honest D.A., whose pure goodwill toward Stanwyck comes with no strings attached. The part had to be played by an actor, like McMurray, who was bland and sexually unthreatening; the audience never feels he’s taking this woman home for any lascivious reasons.
Movie buffs will know that Stanwyck and MacMurray portrayed a very different “romantic couple” in Billy Wilder’s seminal film noir, Double Indemnity. That more renowned (and better-known) collaboration was their fourth and final onscreen coupling. Remember the Night was the first.
But a movie doesn’t run on big stars alone. Some absolutely splendid character actors help to create the film’s amiable and welcoming mood. Beulah Bondi plays MacMurray’s affectionate and fair-minded mother. She’s most loved for her role as another mother (James Stewart’s) in another Christmas classic: It’s a Wonderful Life. Elizabeth Patterson plays MacMurray’s spinster aunt. Patterson is best remembered by many as Lucy Ricardo’s upstairs neighbor on I Love Lucy.
Playing MacMurray’s lovable hayseed buddy is Sterling Holloway. You won’t know his face. You might recognize his name. The second he opens his mouth, you’ll realize you’re greeting an old childhood friend. Not only did Holloway voice Kaa in Disney’s The Jungle Book and the stork in Dumbo, he was the original voice of Winnie-the-Pooh.
Remember the Night became a crossroads for writer Preston Sturges. He was so pissed off by the cuts and deviations made to his screenplay (for this film and others that he wrote) that he became determined to maintain control of his work in the future. He succeeded, becoming one of the most acclaimed writer/directors in Hollywood, heralded for his screwball comedies like The Palm Beach Story, Sullivan’s Travels, and The Lady Eve (starring Stanwyck).
His screenplay is a masterstroke blending of screwball zaniness with poignant drama. This is a compassionate story with genuine moral and emotional stakes; it’s witty and heartwarming without being smug or sappy, and simply spun without being simplistic.
Despite annual showings on TCM, the movie still remains a forgotten gem. But once you’ve seen Remember the Night, you are unlikely to forget it.
-T.Z.
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