The foreman of a jury asks questions that send a woman to the electric chair for a murder committed in the heat of passion. On the night of the execution, his actions come back to haunt him.The foreman of a jury asks questions that send a woman to the electric chair for a murder committed in the heat of passion. On the night of the execution, his actions come back to haunt him.The foreman of a jury asks questions that send a woman to the electric chair for a murder committed in the heat of passion. On the night of the execution, his actions come back to haunt him.
- Joe Biggers
- (as Lynn Overman)
- Dist. Atty. Plunkett
- (as Moffat Johnson)
- Ingersoll
- (as Henry O'Neil)
- Jury Member
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBased on the flop play, Midnight (1930). Drama. Written by Claire Sifton and Paul Sifton. Directed by Philip Moeller. Guild Theatre: 29 Dec 1930- Feb 1931 (closing date unknown/48 performances). Cast: Maud Allan, Glenn Anders (as "Bob Nolan"), Harold Bolton, Zena Colaer, Josephine Hull (as "Mrs. Weldon"), William R. Kane, Jack La Rue (as "Gar Boni"), Tom H.A. Lewis, Harriet E. MacGibbon (as "Ada Biggers"), Clifford Odets (as "Arthur Weldon"), James Parker, Frederick Perry, Francis Pierlot (as "Richard McGrath"), Charles Powers, Samuel Rosen, Neal Stone, Robert Strange, Fred Sullivan, Royal Dana Tracey, Louis Veda (as "Photographer"), Harold Vermilyea (as "Joe Biggers"), Linda Watkins. Produced by The Theatre Guild.
- GoofsDuring Stella and Gar's first meeting in the court room, audible clicks can be heard between their line.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Ethel Saxon: You see, I loved him. I mean I loved him when... when he didn't love me anymore, day in and day out watching him get further and further away from me. I could see in his eyes when he looked at me... I could see he hated me, hated me because I needed him. Oh, I was so frightened, so mixed up. It's so horrible to see someone who's become part of you slipping away, slowly. To feel helpless and empty, lonely and frantic, wanting to do something, anything, anything to bring him back! To patch things up, to try to tie together the few remaining bits of happiness... and then, that awful day when he drew the money from the bank and I knew the end I'd been waiting for had come, that all my fears were realized, that he was going away. I went mad... he mustn't go away, he mustn't go! Anything to stop him, anything! That's all I wanted to do
[starts to weep]
Ethel Saxon: I didn't mean to kill him, I only meant to stop him, to stop him from going away.
- Alternate versionsIn the retitled version, "Call it Murder" Humphrey Bogart's billing is moved to above the title.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Mind Games (1989)
Although the story premise is very interesting, especially the subject about a man who feels a murderer must pay the price, only to have his own daughter commit the same kind of crime of passion, MIDNIGHT fails to deliver mainly because of stiff, stagy production with not so convincing dialog. Under capable hands of a more suitable director, for instance, William Wyler, for example, MIDNIGHT might have worked as a tense and moving drama. Sidney Fox, who usually gives a satisfactory performance, seems to be the weakest link here, talking somewhat shaky at times for no reason. She's not very convincing, especially during her emotional scenes. Occasionally the camera shots moving at different angles keeps the pace moving, but not enough to hold one's interest at 73 minutes.
Other capable members of the cast include Margaret Wycherly as Mrs. Weldon; future director Richard Wholf as Stella's brother, Arthur; Lynne Overman and Katherine Wilson as Joe and Ada Biggers, tenants of the Weldon household; Granville Bates, Cora Witherspoon, Henry O'Neill, and Moffatt Johnston as a district attorney who is called to the Weldon home to solve the mystery to Gar Boni's murder.
To capitalize on the success of future film star Humphrey Bogart, MIDNIGHT was later reissued in 1946 as CALL IT MURDER with Bogey being given star billing, the very print available to video cassette and DVD. It's the former Blackhawk Video Company of Davenport, Iowa, that distributed the movie on videotape with it's original "Midnight" title, opening credits headed by Sidney Fox, O. P. Heggie and Henry Hull, with Bogart's name listed eighth in the cast, as initially presented in theaters in 1934.
MIDNIGHT will never be listed in Hollywood's Top Ten Best list, but it's worth viewing for being an early screen appearance of future superstar Humphrey Bogart or a rediscovery of Sidney Fox, whose movie career (mostly at Universal) lasted only three years. Fox and Bogart had worked together earlier in THE BAD SISTER (1931), which not only became Fox's movie debut, but the future two-time Academy Award winning actress, Bette Davis. (***)
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 16 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1