FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Scarlet
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
LeonLouisRicci
In the Pre-Code Era MGM at Least Tried Once in a While to be Socially Relevant and Concerned. In This One the Studio Ventured Into WB Territory with a Rather Nasty Story About a Corrupt Judicial System at the Bottom Level, the Night Court.A Good Cast Makes the Most of this Heavy Melodrama About a Married Couple with an Infant being Sucked Into This Cesspool of Corruption Only Because of Proximity. What Goes On Here is Not Pretty to Look At. Some Pre-Code Situations are Exploited to Explain the Frame-Up with Prostitution On Display Throughout This Rather Ugly Picture of Depression Era Folks Being Railroaded by the System and the Authorities. The Odds are Overwhelming and Only Determination and Some Luck Can Get Them Out of It.Aside from the Heavy Drinkers and Undraped Females the Film Contains Some Brutal Beatings and Truly Evil Characters. At One Point Judge Walter Huston Says..."Get me some Bad Boys, some Really Bad Boys!". Some of the Story is Gut-Wrenching when it Concerns the Happy Couple's Baby. The Movie is Not Easy Entertainment and Tries Mightily to Make a Statement About Some Social Concerns at the Time. The Ending May be a Tidy Wrap-Up but it is a Welcome Relief and Although Just a Fictional Placebo, that's About All a Movie Can Offer.
kidboots
When Phillips Holmes was given a solid script ("The Criminal Code", "An American Tragedy" etc) he gave his all and produced inspired performances but when the film was mediocre he couldn't rise above it. After some solid performances for Paramount, MGM must have thought he fit their "handsome leading man" bill perfectly but after securing top billing for "Night Court" the studio quickly lost interest and in "Dinner at Eight"(1933) he had only a few lines as Madge Evan's fiancé. His co-star was Anita Page, an actress who was also getting the cold shoulder from MGM. She had sparkled in the silent "Our Dancing Daughters", critics saying she stole the film from Joan Crawford, but talkies revealed a voice that guaranteed she would never play any high society types. No matter, she gave a fantastic showing as the gangster's moll who responds to John Gilbert's decency in "Gentleman's Fate" and mopped the floor with the other female lead, insipid Leila Hyams. But the writing was on the wall and "Night Court" was one of her last films. A pity because she had the making of a terrific young character actress.Based on a play by former press whizkid Mark Hellinger, Walter Huston was in his element amid the corruption and crime of civic government playing Judge Moffatt who is not averse to a bit of bribery and kickback. To the people that frequent his night court he is just but "one of them", but if anyone gets in his way he is ruthless. As Mike and Mary Thomas find out. Moffatt's mistress Lil is hidden away in a less up market part of the town but when neighbour Mary accidentally happens to see Moffatt's hefty bank balance, he puts in motion a series of circumstances which see Mary jailed for prostitution and vagrancy. Anita Page comes into her own, first as the happy, contented wife and mother, then as a frightened victim of a crime she is innocent of. Her scenes from the prison when she realizes that authorities have taken away her baby are heart rending. The story then focuses on husband Mike, a young cabbie trying to do his best for his wife and beloved child. Holmes has one of his better parts as his character goes through all the emotions, first amazement and disbelief, finding the courage to take on Moffatt and all his crooked cronies, then realizing that the ball is in his court when Moffatt is willing to do anything to get himself an alibi when righteous Judge Osgood (Lewis Stone) is found murdered.Mary Carlisle, a 1932 Wampas Baby Star, was getting a career kick start - even though she had what really amounted to a bit part of only a few lines (as Osgood's daughter who comes up with the phrase "this silly old town"), her billing was prominent. Alas not so for luscious Noel Francis - down the bottom of the cast but a pivotal part of the plot, her Lil really struts her stuff and shows what a pre-code bad girl could really do without restrictions!!
sol
***SPOILERS*** Telling his live in and single girlfriend Lil Baker, Noel Francis, to lay low in the seedy part of town until the heat, in him being investigated for legal and political corruption, blows off mobbed up Judge Moffet,Walter Huston,is shocked to find out that his secret bank account,that he deposits his pay off money into, was lost and recovered by Lil's next door neighbor Mary Thomas, Anita Page. Mary being the good and decent person that she is returns the bankbook to Lil but her boyfriend, "Da judge", feels she'll turn the information of his illegal payoff scheme over to the district attorney's office.Judge Moffet getting one of his stooges Ed, Warner Richmond, to pose as a John or man out on the town looking for action, if you know what I mean, to break into Mary's apartment and be caught with his pants down or completely off and have her arrested for both prostitution and shaking Ed down for more money, $20.00, then what she at first asked for. With her shyster lawyer Crawford, John Miljan, who's secretly working with Moffet telling a confused Mary to plead guilty and get off with just a $5.00 fine she instead has the book thrown at her by Judge Moffet and given a 90 day sentence in the city workhouse. What's even worse Mary has her baby taken away from her and her taxi driver husband Mike, Phillips Holmes, for safe keeping by the state!Not for a moment believing the charges against his wife Mary her husband Mike soon uncovers Judge Moffet's criminal activities and kidnaps him to get him t spill the beans on what he did to his wife and many others who's lives like Mary's that he destroyed. That's after Moffets' goons lead by his top bone and head cracker Gorgan, Tully Marhall, kidnapped Mike and brutally worked him over to keep him quite and in line!***SPOILERS*** It was in fact the murder of top crime investigator Judge Osgood, Lewis Stone, by one of Mofft's goons that saved the day for both Mike & Mary Thomas. That in having Judge Osgood secretly recording, with a hidden dicta-phone, Moffet threaten to murder him if he doesn't end his investigation of him as well as other corrupt state and NYC judges. Facing the very possibility of being sent to the Sing Sing electric chain for Osgood's murder, which in fact he was innocent of, or spending ten years behind bars for taking payoff money to fix sentences like the one he imposed against Mary Thomas, which Judge Moffet was guilty of, the now exposed Judge Moffet choose the later!
MartinHafer
This film had a very poor script--filled with clichés, ridiculous story elements and was way too predictable to be enjoyed. While I am a huge fan of Hollywood films of the 1930s, I really hated this film because of the script and because the film had some excellent actors who were totally wasted. Walter Huston played a crooked judge--in a rather one-dimensional way. It was really hard to see the brilliance of this actor in this turgid film--even though in DODSWORTH and TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE he gave truly amazing performances. Lewis Stone, an excellent character actor, was also given a pretty thankless role. And the part of the film where the innocent woman is "railroaded" and sent to prison is just ridiculous and nonsensical. The bottom line is that it really looks like MGM put little, if any, effort in making this very standard and very silly film full of plot problems. Not everything old is good.
