groovlife
I'm not a romantic at heart-but this movies pulls the romance from every scene so beautifully that I found myself really feeling romantic while watching it!!! Boyer and Arthur are well cast as star crossed lovers. She has an abusive and controlling husband who'll do anything to keep her from getting a divorce,including setting up a fake tryst with the chauffeur to keep her from getting it. This starts the interesting plot that sweeps you right along as we find Arthur being rescued from the nefarious plot by the handsome and romantic Boyer. In the process of rescuing her he puts himself in a position where he and Arthur's character can be thwarted in their attempts to be together. Arthurs' characters' husband uses the rescue which involves Boyer's character hitting the chauffeur to commit a heinous act whereby he can bribe Irene his wife (Arthur) into staying with him and cause Paul (Boyer) to be put in a situation where he's in danger of being charged with a horrible crime he didn't commit. Don't want to give too much away but suffice it to say that the two lovers manage to get together in America after running away from Paris where Paul lives. But Paul wants to confront his this unjust accusation set up by Irene's husband (effectively played by Colin Clive) so they set off to return to Paris. They board a ship that hits an iceberg as it races back to Paris (Clive maneuvers this too). This leads to one of the most thrilling scenes in the movie, where we find a Titanic like sinking that is well translated to the screen. This movie has humor, romance, suspense and beautiful people (Boyer and Arthur) What more could a romantic at heart want???
d-letta
I can't understand why this film isn't more recognized as a superior example of romantic movie-making. The cast is perfect, the cinematography (with one small exception of back projection that was jarring) is excellent, and the direction superb. Throw in a wonderful evocation of Paris (as good as Midnight), a great score and an incredibly moving final ten minutes and you have perfection. Everything comes together in perfect balance, much like Casablanca, and sadly so few other romantic films. I once asked a new acquaintance what his favorite film (he was eighteen at the time). When he responded History is Made at Night, I threw my arms around him and told him he'd won a place in my heart. Three cheers for History is Made at Night, a film that deserves rediscovery.
theowinthrop
I saw this for the first time in 1986 when it was on television. It's romance, and the superb acting of Clive, Boyer, and Arthur (abetted by Carillo and Lebedev), and the speed of events in it captivated me. And then came that "Titanic" - style ending, when the ship is nearly sunk on an iceberg was wonderful. The film just swept me into it. I rarely have found an undiscovered film that did that to me.Colin Clive died prematurely of pneumonia in 1937, only a few months after this film was made. Remembered today for Victor Frankenstein in two films, he was more than simply the man who shouted "IT'S ALIVE!!". The two films that show his real acting ability that are still shown are his performances in this film and CHRISTOPHER STRONG (as the romantic lead opposite the young Kate Hepburn). JOURNEY'S END would be a welcome addition to this list, but I have never even seen it listed on cable (and I wonder if the film still exists). But his insanely jealous and vicious Bruce Vail must stand for all of his acting abilities until JOURNEY'S END reappears. Fortunately it is sufficient. Clive never is shown in a favorable manner in the movie. He is constantly watching Arthur's every move, and he constantly torments her. But this is how he treats everyone in his path. Ivan Lebedev was supposed to be a willing tool for a scheme to blackmail Arthur into returning to Clive. Lebedev is knocked out by Boyer, and looks dead when Boyer leaves with Arthur. Clive comes onto the scene, and sees that Lebedev is more valuable as a corpse than as a living servant - he kills him to have a weapon against Arthur and Boyer. Similarly, he is willing to sink his flagship on it's maiden voyage, killing hundreds of innocent people, to kill Arthur and Boyer. His suicide at the film's end really does not ameliorate his actions - in fact one wonders if he kills himself out of shame or because he believes his wife is dead (like a typical domestic violence wife killer). At the same time, had he not killed himself, Clive knew what he would have faced - he had screamed an order at the Captain of the ship by radio to continue sailing at top speed into the icepack, despite the Captain's misgivings. This was heard by his Board of Directors. As they sit glued to the radio, hearing the probable news of the ship's sinking, they keep glaring at Clive. Had the boat sunk, and he not committed suicide, they would have testified against him at his trial for mass murder.He would have been probably hanged.The name of his character is Bruce Vail, and one wonders why this shipping owner is named "Bruce". His ordering of his largest flagship, on it's maiden voyage, to sail at top speed into waters full of ice, may be based on another Bruce, who also died in 1937. That was J. Bruce Ismay (more properly "Joseph Bruce Ismay"), the former Chairman of the White Star Line, who was a survivor of the sinking, in 1912, of R.M.S. Titanic. Ismay ordered Captain Smith to sail the new ship at top speed to try to capture the Atlantic Blue Riband (a momentary victory had it been successful - the Titanic was not built for speed, like her Cunard rivals Lusitania and Mauritania). He may have kept some of the ice messages Smith was to get from the Captain (most Titanic experts don't believe this, but the public did). But worst of all, unlike Astor, Strauss, Guggenheim, Widener, Butt, Millett, Stead, and the other celebrities on the ship, Ismay entered a lifeboat, and tried to keep his obvious survival from becoming glaringly public. It did not work, and he was (despite generous attempts at whitewashing him by Lord Mersey) pilloried by the public as a coward. He was forced out of all his business directorships, and the chairmanship of the shipping line his father founded. And he lived in exile at an estate at Connemara in Ireland. It really did not help. Children would follow him even there yelling "Coward, coward!" He was destroyed by the disaster that destroyed his flagship.I believe that the shadow of Mr. Ismay is used to coat the character of Mr. Vail, possibly unfairly but probably based on the popular view of Ismay. Bruce Ismay died of diabetics in 1937. Unlike Bruce Vail he did not have to blow his brains out.
Barry Grey
When I wash up on that proverbial desert island with little more than a generator, a VCR (or DVD player) and a TV, I want "History is Made at Night" among the 10 films in my possession.Someone -- film critic Myron Meisel, I think -- once described this as the most romantic film ever shot in the English language, and I completely agree.The plot turns on some of the creakiest story points ever conceived. But no matter, because the leads are so appealing, the look of the film so overwhelmingly romantic (Borzage at his best) and the score is so warm and appropriate, that "HIMAN" is just irresistible.
