Midnight (1934) *1/2

 Release Date: March 7, 1934

Running time: 76 minutes

Cast: Sidney Fox, Henry Hull, Margaret Wycherley, Humphrey Bogart

Directed by: Chester Erskine

Right out of the gate Midnight aspires to be more than it actually is. It begins with the trial of Ethel Saxton (Helen Flint), a woman accused of killing her lover. The jury foreman, Edward Weldon (O. P. Heggie), asks a question of the defendant that ultimately results in a guilty verdict and the death penalty. Sitting in the audience is Stella Weldon (Sidney Fox), Edward’s impressionable daughter, and Gar Boni (Humphrey Bogart), a gangster and Stella’s boyfriend. Stella is distraught by the verdict and upset with her father’s role in it. 

This setup is intriguing but the film fails to deliver on anything it sets up in this trial. The remainder of the film plays out mostly in the Weldon household the night of the execution where Stella struggles with her feelings about the outcome and Edward struggles with his part in it. Gar pops in from time to time as he prepares to leave town on a job that promises to keep him away from Stella for several months and Stella becomes more and more convinced that he’s actually stepping out with another woman instead. Also we are treated to friends of the family showing up for moral support and an unscrupulous journalist who was involved in bribing Weldon’s son-in-law. 

Everything in this film plays out stylistically like a one room play with the brief exception of the opening trial. It is wordy and low on any real energy. While the final moments offer some intriguing thoughts on crimes of passion as opposed to cold blooded murder, it is ultimately unsatisfying in how these messages are displayed. The stage play that this film is based on was not particularly successful and the film follows suit coming across as preachy and melodramatic.

Sidney Fox is expected to carry this film almost entirely on her shoulders. But Sidney struggles to garner any real sympathy in what would be one of her final roles. She was already struggling with the depression that would ultimately cause her to take her own life about a decade later and it shows on screen. She is often unsure of herself, stuttering and shaky rather than being confident in her acting. Bogart fairs a little better but his role is underwritten leaving him little to work with. 

Ultimately Midnight cannot hold the interest of its intended audience, a problem that plagued the stage play, too. This makes for a disappointing film overall. It starts out with an intriguing set-up, then flounders around for most of it’s remaining time under a mountain of repetitive dialogue and uninspired situations. First time director Chester Erskine can’t find a way to turn a dry screenplay into an interesting film. In the end, while it is short, it cannot support its running time leaving us bored and ready to be done with it.