Here are 10 things you should know about Franklin Pangborn, born 133 years ago today. One of the busiest—and most memorable—character actors of the 1930s and ’40s, he’s one of our favorites.
Tag: Preston Sturges
10 Things You Should Know About Porter Hall
Here are 10 things you should know about Porter Hall, born 133 years ago today. He was one of the more prolific character actors of the 1930s and ’40s.
10 Things You Should Know About Raymond Walburn
Here are 10 things you should know about Raymond Walburn, born 134 years ago today. He enjoyed success on Broadway before becoming an in-demand character actor in Hollywood.
10 Things You Should Know About Rudy Vallée
Here are 10 things you should know about Rudy Vallée, born 120 years ago today. One of the earliest teen idols, he went on to enjoy success as a recording artist, in radio, movies and TV, and on Broadway.
We’re featuring Vallée’s music all day today on Cladrite Radio, so why not tune in now?
Remember to Watch ‘Remember the Night’
If you think you’ve seen every classic Christmas picture (and most of them one too many times, at that), you’ll be pleasantly surprised, we hope, to learn of one that’s flown under the radar of many a classic movie buff.
Remember the Night (1940) was the last movie Preston Sturges wrote before moving into the director’s chair with The Great McGinty (1940). Mitchell Leisen directs here, and though Sturges was said to have been disappointed with Leisen’s efforts, it’s hard to imagine why. It’s a terrific picture, one that should be every bit the holiday favorite that pictures such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, The Shop Around the Corner, and others have become.
Remember the Night features Fred MacMurray as an ambitious assistant D.A. in NYC who finds himself with shoplifter Barbara Stanwyck on his hands because he has asked for a delay in her trial, so as to avoid the jury feeling any holiday-inspired sympathy for her.
It soon comes out that both the D.A. and the dame are Hoosiers, so she accompanies him on a road trip to visit their respective families. Stanwyck’s brief visit with her mother doesn’t go so well, though, so she sticks with MacMurray, whereupon romance and laughs ensue.
Remember the Night is plenty sentimental enough to qualify as a holiday classic, but like It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s got a dark side, too, delivered with gimlet-eyed bite. Apart from a brief appearance by regrettably stereotypical Black valet character, played by Fred Toones, who does his best with what he’s given, it’s well night perfect.
This post was first published in slightly different form on December 6, 2013.