History is Made at Night is a comedy drama film directed by Frank Borzage, known for his romantic themes in cinema. In this tale, he incorporates romance, suspense and even destruction into his love story in a rare but perfect blending of several genres. This movie also features not one, not two, but three screen legends in Jean Arthur, Charles Boyer and Colin Clive!
The story is about Irene Vail (Jean Arthur, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), who desperately wants to get a divorce from her controlling, jealous, vicious husband Bruce Vail (Colin Clive, Frankenstein) who has falsely accused her of having an affair. Irene is basically fed up with his behavior, the way he treats her, and wants to get as far away from Bruce as she can. On the run from her cruel husband in Europe, Irene, by pure chance crosses paths with a stranger, Paul Dumond (Charles Boyer, Gaslight) and then an actual love affair develops. What follows is nothing short of a catastrophe in every sense of the word.
This was my first viewing of History is Made at Night. I felt that this was a sensational movie, with the three leads, Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur and Colin Clive handing in tremendous performances in their respective roles. The chemistry was there for the would-be lovers (Arthur and Boyer). Jean Arthur had mastered the role of someone having an uphill battle for herself or for someone else, while Charles Boyer was a master at playing a suave character, whether on the side of good or evil. Speaking of evil, this was the first film I had seen Colin Clive as an antagonist and gives a chilling performance. The movie does have the usual elements in a romantic drama but takes a surprising turn out of nowhere when it starts to become reminiscent of the film Titanic.
Criterion releases History is Made at Night on Blu-ray. This was given a new 4K digital transfer from a 35mm nitrate duplicate negative preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The image looks about as good as it will get with a strong grey scale and rich black levels. Visuals such as scenery are smooth and polished with excellent details throughout.
English LPCM Mono 1.0 soundtrack is serviceable with dialog and other noises coming in clean. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the film.
Criterion offers a wealth of supplements for this release.
First, we are treated to a “Restoration Demonstration”, basically showing the efforts made to restoring History is Made at Night.
A featurette, called Herve Dumont and Peter Cowie, is a conversation between Herve Dumont, former director of the Cinematheque suisse and author of Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic, and film scholar Peter Cowie was recorded in January 2018 at Lausanne, Switzerland. They reflect on History is Made at Night and Frank Borzage’s career in film.
Another featurette is a Farran Smith Nehme Interview from 2019 where she talks about the romance themes in Frank Borzage’s films.
“Audio excerpts of a 1958 interview with Frank Borzage from the collection of the George Eastman Museum Frank Borzage” is exactly just that, audio excerpts from an interview with Frank Borzage conducted by film historian and curator George Pratt in 1958.
“Radio adaptation of the film from 1940, broadcast by The Screen Guild Theater and starring Charles Boyer The Screen Guild Theater (1940)” This is History is Made at Night’s radio adaptation which was recorded for the radio anthology series The Screen Guild Theater. Charles Boyer gets to reprise his role as Paul Dumond.
There is also a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Dan Callahan
Criterion has once again outdone themselves with a release of a classic film. History is Made at Night is a brilliant film that now can be seen with top-of-the-line audio and video quality and some great bonus materials, making this a highly recommended release!
History is Made at Night
Director- Frank Borzage
Cast- Jean Arthur, Charles Boyer, Colin Clive
Country of Origin- US
Distributor –Criterion
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date-5/27/21