Review of History Is Made at Night (1937) by Eric H — 14 Sep 2014

Frank Borzage was Hollywood's great romantic and History is Made at Midnight is one of his very best films. The luminous chemistry between Charles Boyer and the incomparable Jean Arthur (in one of her very best roles) lights up the screen.

Borzage's direction is always delicate, elegant and brings the film a mystical quality from luminous nighttime Paris to the fog swept decks of the SS Princess Irene. The plot is excellent and takes a truly unexpected turn in the final third but it's the character moments like Boyer and Arthur's first night in Paris or their reunion in New York that entrance and linger the most.

This was Frankenstein's actor Colin Clive's penultimate film before his untimely death to alcoholism at the mere age of thirty-seven. Made only seven years after his screams of "It's alive!" sent shivers down the halls of cinema history, his role here is far cry from that energetic performance and he is perfect as the lonely, desperate and bitter husband of Jean Arthur as sad as that seems.

A true masterpiece that has been criminally neglected and forgotten by the populous and by critics who really should know better.