Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Michael Morrison Capital punishment is questioned, indirectly, by "Midnight," as is whether "the law" is or even can be applied equally. Or should be."Midnight" is a stage play, and director tricks tried to make it into a motion picture, not entirely successfully.Director Chester Erskine, billed here as Erskin, used a lot of gimmicky camera angles, including mirror shots and fast cuts, and actually intruded on the drama of the situations.This is not "a Humphrey Bogart movie." Bogey plays a pivotal but lesser character -- and in my opinion gives one of his best performances. He was not stiff or stilted and his speech was clear. All in all, an excellent performance.Who really is the star? Lovely Sidney Fox becomes the center of attention late in the film, but O.P. Heggie is the focus earlier.He plays the father of her character, and father-in-law of the character played by that excellent Lynne Overman, here Lynn. His character brings into the bosom of the family a character, a breed of person in 2016 and 2017 generally reviled, and deservedly: a reporter.Startling to me was Henry Hull, who plays that reporter and who apparently did not age well, because here he is young and good looking, and I didn't even recognize him at first. Henry Hull became simply better and better as his career ran on, and he was usually just outstanding.In "Midnight" most of the characters are fairly equal. Each has important lines and actions.But even more important than the people is what they say and what they are dealing with: Heggie's character was foreman of a jury that found the defendant guilty, and she is sentenced to death.Whether she does die, whether she should have been found guilty, whether she should have even been sentenced to the chair are all considered. And thus the movie, despite its datedness, is still timely.There are several versions at YouTube. I have watched only one so don't know if one is better than another, but I do recommend you try to watch "Midnight." Remember it's a set piece. There are no car chases, no beheadings, no explosions, just a serious drama, beautifully performed.

kidboots Obviously any Broadway play was good enough to turn into a movie in the early thirties - even a flop!!! It was also obvious that when the film was first released Henry Hull, O.P. Heggie and Sidney Fox were the stars. In my copy Humphrey Bogart is given star status, even though his role is just a supporting one. Who was Sidney Fox?? Sidney Fox was a petite brunette who in her first film "Bad Sister" (1931) was predicted to be the "sister" who was going places - Bette Davis played the "good" sister. (Humphrey Bogart also had a role in that movie as well). Unfortunately she didn't and only made 14 films. She had just married Charles Beahan and "Midnight" was supposed to be her "comeback" film but she only made two more and her last, "Down to Their Last Yacht" (1934), was supposed to be one of the worst musicals ever made."Midnight" is the story of a righteous juror whose moral high ground comes back to haunt him. Edward Weldon (O.P. Heggie) is the head juror at the trial of Ethel Saxon (Helen Flint) and a question he asks - "did you take the money before or after you killed him" - seals her fate.On the night of her execution, Weldon, who has been pilloried in the press for his unbending attitude, is determined to stay home - so he doesn't have to face the waiting newspapermen at his door. His son-in-law Joe (Lynne Overman) has made a bargain with a reporter who wants to take a photo of Weldon's face at midnight - the time Saxon is to be executed. Meanwhile, Stella (Sidney Fox) has met Gar Boni (Humphrey Bogart) at the trial and has been having an affair with him. Gar means the world to Stella, but to Gar, Stella is just a pleasant diversion - he is about to leave town and he doesn't intend to take her with him. Stella, who has seemed jumpy all through the movie, comes home confessing she has killed Gar. The reporter, Nolan, (Henry Hull) is the voice of conscience and reason throughout the film. The movie seems to sit on the fence as far as opinions about capital punishment go. I like one reviewer's opinion that it moves like an iceberg - I completely agree. The film ends quite tidily, with no question mark against anyone's values.Margaret Wycherley, one of Hollywood's greatest character actresses (she played James Cagney's mother in "White Heat" (1949)) didn't have much to do as Weldon's wife.

classicsoncall It was somewhat comical to see the full screen opening credit given Humphrey Bogart in this re-release version from Guaranteed Pictures. One of the mainstays of the public domain bargain bin, "Call It Murder" provides an early look at the future star in a limited role, which in retrospect could have been played by virtually anyone.Bogey's character is a minor hood named Gar Boni, caught in a predicament that requires him to leave town after getting involved with the daughter of a jury foreman. We don't find out much about his circumstances but they must be grim, an accomplice responds to Gar's penchant for baseball by asking - "Hey kid, they got any bulletproof grandstands out there?" Throughout the trial, Stella Weldon (Sidney Fox) finds herself at odds with her father's role; he was able to steer the jury to find Ethel Saxon (Helen Flint) guilty of murder by virtue of pre-meditation. The entire film is used to explore Weldon's (O.P. Heggie) resolve with the verdict in the face of public disapproval and mounting controversy over Saxon's execution. It provides the set up for his own daughter's circumstances when she pulls the trigger on Gar, a case of the jilted lover lashing out. Did she have time to think about what she would do, or was it an instinctive crime of passion?Overall, the film could have used better pacing, there were moments that seemed to drag incessantly. I was intrigued though by an interesting use of camera angles in a scene where Gar's departure from Stella is reflected in a mirror at the bottom of the staircase in the Weldon home. The picture might also have gotten more mileage out of the device of cutting between scenes of Weldon's conscience bound pacing with that of the doomed Saxon in her prison cell. The idea was a good one but was buried too quickly to make the point it could have.In it's way, the movie is a viable pre-cursor to the noir films of the following decade, it's dark and brooding, with the female lead encountering desperation as her payoff, whether or not D.A. Plunkett (Moffat Johnston) succeeds in digging her out of a mess. Her father meanwhile is left to wrestle his own conscience over the quandary of whether justice for one ought to be the basis of justice for all. An interesting moral dilemma as well as a legal one, the story works to confound us all if faced with the same situation.

sacca79 Film instructors should use this movie as an example of what not to do. The acting and the directing are simply awful. The filming itself is actually kind of interesting, with some dramatic use of lighting. But with a plodding plot, incredibly long reaction (or lack of reaction) shots, and truly bad acting, this is one to watch with silly friends in a silly mood. It's too bad, too, because the basic story line is somewhat compelling.Bogart only has a minor role, but turns in the best performance of the lot. We bought the video for about two bucks, and we're not sorry. We kept it. It's just too funny not to.