For reasons unknown, it seems that director Mitchell Leisen has never found himself considered amongst the greats of the screwball comedy genre. Despite his impressive consistency, Leisen is often forgotten in comparison to directors like Ernst Lubitsch, Frank Capra or Howard Hawks, perhaps because he never quite made an outright classic—a film still widely beloved and remembered today. He never had his Ninotchka or his Bringing Up Baby, but Leisen's 1939 film Midnight comes close to the same joyous thrills and wily, unpredictable gags.

This devious spin on the classic Cinderella story is written by the inimitable Billy Wilder alongside Charles Brackett in one of their numerous collaborative projects. It follows working-class American Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert) as she arrives in Paris with her sights set on earning a better life for herself. After failing to find a job despite her best efforts, she makes a desperate move – she walks into a party containing a slew of royalty and some of Paris's richest elite… and then quickly decides to pose as a Baroness herself. Aiming to marry into money, as she has seen so many do successfully in America before her, she attempts to infiltrate the upper class in order to become a part of it. But, of course, they won't let her in easily.

Like many screwball comedies, what begins as a simple tale soon becomes a tangled ball of deception, class clashing and a gradual build towards total comedic chaos. What works beautifully in Midnight is how Wilder and Brackett's witty script is played by its fantastic cast, how brilliantly they can orchestrate the chaos of Leisen's narrative. For an impressive, daring script that pairs the high-class adventures of your standard screwball comedy with stickier, seedier con-man qualities, the ensemble cast maintains calm control and elevates the characters to an extreme, satirical degree.

Starring Claudette Colbert, a charismatic and vivacious Don Ameche, John Barrymore (in an especially fun performance), Mary Astor, and Francis Lederer, Midnight is an energetic comedy crammed with twists, turns and intelligent gags. Wilder and Brackett evidently delight in finding creative ways to toy with audience expectations, subverting the romantic comedy throughout as well as its situational sequences. Very well shot by veteran cinematographer Charles Lang (of Some Like It Hot, The Big Heat, Charade and many others), the film has a visual beauty too, particularly in its first act set throughout a rainy Parisian night.

The most prevalent joy of Midnight is seeing its leading trio – Colbert, Ameche and Barrymore – constantly have to find quick-witted ways to outsmart those who are becoming suspicious of their various grand schemes. In particular, Colbert's Eve is consistently pushed towards quick thinking in order to survive; her words are almost never to be trusted but always spoken with complete conviction. In a high society where everybody appears to be playing a part in upholding bizarre social standards (mainly in order to get what they want rather than out of any kind of respect or supposed manners), Eve's lies and deceptions feel more honest than most of the characters she is surrounded by.

This scorchingly witty and charming screwball comedy may have some pacing issues typical of the genre, but it is tightly produced, its script is fiery and its performances are top-notch. Seeing the screwball comedy just slightly tinged with Wilder and Brackett's caustic social commentary makes for a wonderful experience, one met by the film's intelligence.

Blu-ray Special Edition Features

Podcast