Night and Day (1932) User Reviews

Jack's the Blagger

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 17 February 2007]

This was the film that made Jack (and wife Cicely) famous, studio boss Michael Balcon although initially convinced it would be a flop gave him a three year star contract on its success. Later Jack light-heartedly blamed Fred Astaire for his eclipse but ultimately of course his range was shown to be very limited, what kept the pair of them near the top was their sheer vivacity - gaiety if you like - and love of performing in front of the public.

The script would have us believe police commissioner's son surreptitiously joins the force as lowly constable to carve out a career in crime-busting to make his dad proud. Along the way he falls in love with a dubious character's girlfriend, and strikes up a friendship with a frenzied female café owning fellow crime buster. The bizarre room search is a gem and the bits at Madame Tussard's memorable but the hit scene at the time was the chaos caused by the ladder across the (Gainsborough-built) road and the lugubrious gentleman offering advice to Jack on point duty. When the filming was complete HMV records pestered Jack to record The Flies Crawled Up The Window (at the beginning of the film) but as he was off to Monte Carlo with Cicely he demurred. They persevered and surprised him on the beach there - he eventually recorded it for them in his hotel in his swimming trunks.

Overall for devotees like me, a dated but extremely enjoyable piece of once-popular nonsense. Sadly also ideal for clever people studying how poor simple British working class minds worked in such primitive barbarous times. On the other hand if you don't like old (non-geologically speaking) non-heavy films such as this but sat through the 70 minutes anyway you probably have too much time on your hands.

Creaky fun

[robin-414 · 22 November 2005]

Chisel-chinned Jack Hulbert starred in a number of comedy adventures, in which he invariably played the same kind of unlikely, gangling hero. This is one of those in which his real-life wife, Cicely Courtneidge co-starred, but although Jack made an odd-looking leading man, Cicely would have made an even odder-looking heroine, so she played up the comedy, while a younger actress was wheeled in for Jack to win. This is 1932, and it is British, and it is creaky, but it's entertaining for all that. I saw it more than ten years ago, and I have to say that one scene remains burned in my memory. Jack and Cicely have to search a room, and for some reason, they turn the procedure into an eccentric dance. I played this part of the tape to some friends of mine who were unfamiliar with these actors, and this realm of films, and it got a huge laugh. I was pleased to see, some years later, that that sequence was on a video loop, and was being played all day long at the Museum Of the Moving Image in London. The film is itself a museum piece, because it's more curious than funny most of the time, especially as the medium of film doesn't really seem to have captured the essence of whatever made Cicely Courtneidge such a national treasure, although she's jolly enough. I remember the photography being rather good, and although it creaks, some of the timing is spot on. This film is eccentric fun, and while there is a sense of theatrical performers being constrained by the cameras, it's ultimately uplifting, and worth keeping an eye out for, even if just for that room-searching scene.

Diverting entertainment!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 4 March 2018]

Producer: Michael Balcon. A Gainsborough Picture, filmed at Islington and Welwyn Garden Studios. Not copyrighted in the U.S.A. Copyright (in Berne Convention countries only) 1932 by Gainsborough Pictures (1928) Ltd. New York opening at the Seventh Avenue Roxy: 28 May 1933. U.S. release through Gaumont-British: May 1933. U.K. release through W. & F. Film Service: 17 October 1932. 89 minutes. Re-issued in 1940 in the U.K. through International Film Renters with new abbreviated credit titles and minus Hulbert's dance number on the pavement outside the Berkeley Restaurant. For some reason (sheer carelessness?) this cut is the print preserved in Britain's National Film Archive and broadcast on British national TV in 2007. U.S. release title: NIGHT AND DAY.

SYNOPSIS: Scapegrace son wants to follow his father's footsteps in the police force.

COMMENT: With its chase climax at Madame Tussaud's and its comedy and dancing highjinks from Jack Hulbert, this is an engaging and reasonably amusing trifle. True, Courtneidge fans are going to be a bit disappointed. Although she figures prominently in the Tussaud shenanigans, Courtneidge has so little to do, one gets the impression her role was added to the script as an afterthought. On the other hand, Hulbert has a little too much to say, although it is difficult to cut his wordy dialogue without damaging continuity. Peter Gawthorne, the perennial commissioner of police, also makes a much larger than completely welcome contribution. On the other hand, Winifred Shotter is an utterly charming little heroine. Lister is okay as the chief villain, though he is a stock lounge lizard with no individuality.

Forde's direction of the comedy chases, which was highly praised at the time, now seems a little too obvious, even primitive. But Hulbert's song-and-dance with Miss Shotter is such a little gem of melodic ingenuity and dexterity, one can only regret the loss of his other dance routine. It's a mercy I.F.R. didn't cut that well-known novelty song "The Flies Crawled Up the Window" as well. Though not one of Jack Hulbert's best, Jack's the Boy -- even in this cut-about form, still offers most diverting entertainment.