Remember Last Night? **** (1936, Edward Arnold, Robert Young, Constance Cummings, Sally Eilers, Robert Armstrong, Reginald Denny) – Classic Movie Review 4515

The morning after the night before, down-to-earth sleuth Danny Harrison (Edward Arnold) investigates a murder at a party involving hard-drinking upper-class twits, all of whom were so pie-eyed that they can’t remember last night at all, in director James Whale’s sophisticated 1936 screwball-comedy thriller.

Robert Young and Constance Cummings play Tony and Carlotta Milburn, a couple who wake up after the wild night of partying at a friend’s house to discover that the host has been murdered in his bed so they call in detective Harrison to investigate.

Arthur Treacher upstages everybody as the butler Phelps, but the question naturally is, did he actually do it? Equally naturally, in the morning, the corpses start to pile as high as the wisecracks in the screenplay by Doris Malloy and Harry Clork.

With its dark-toned, wittily cynical humour, this is a truly memorable gem of a movie. The excellent cast amuses a lot, while both the mystery and comedy are both extremely engaging under director Whale’s stylish, sure-handed direction.

Also in the cast are Sally Eilers, Robert Armstrong, Reginald Denny, Monroe Owsley, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Edward Brophy, Jack LaRue, Gregory Ratoff, George Meeker, Louise Henry and Rafaela Ottiano.

Party revellers drink champagne from a tureen with straws. 

It is based on Adam Hobhouse’s novel The Hangover Murders, but the title was deemed unsuitable for the film by under the Production Code because of the word ‘hangover’, so Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle Jnr suggested the ironic change of title. First drafts of the screenplay were also deemed unsuitable because there was too much focus on excessive drinking and The Production Code Administration continued to tell Universal to curtail the amount of drinking in the film.  Censors cut Louise Henry’s line in response to Carlotta’s declaration that the Marines had landed: ‘There’ll be atrocities – I want to be first!’

Whale convinced Laemmle to buy the screen rights to the novel so he could avoid directing Dracula’s Daughter, as he did not want to direct another horror film after The Bride of Frankenstein  (1935). It was one of Whale’s personal favourites, but had mixed reviews and poor box office.

It was budgeted at $385,000, but when the shoot wrapped on 14 September 1935 it was nine days over schedule and $75,000 over budget. Whale added lines making fun of the horror movies that he wanted to distance himself from. Carlotta jumps on a diving board exclaiming: ‘Look, I’m Dracula’s Daughter!’ and later says: ‘I feel like the Bride of Frankenstein!’

James Whale (1889–1957) is of course the legendary director of Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4515

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