StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

calvinnme The film starts at the end. Mary Martin (Loretta Young) is on trial for murder. She seems resigned to her fate, browsing through a magazine during final arguments. When the jury goes out the clerk of the court offers to let her wait out the jury in his office. He's a kind gentle old fellow and mentions he has done this job for almost 38 years. Mary starts looking at the covers of the record books on the shelves and remembering how she had gotten to the place she was - sitting in a chair waiting to see if she is going to get "The" chair. What follows is a flashback of a girl who had very bad luck and a bad companion - Bunny (Una Merkel)who, when she tries to steal some jewelry, lets Mary take the rap even though Mary knew nothing about it. Mary gets three years in juvenile hall, and when she gets out at 16, she and Bunny get mixed up with Leo (Ricardo Cortez) and company, a couple of racketeers.Mary gets away from them for awhile and tries to find a decent job, but the doors are all shut for her. Now this had me puzzled. The movie was made in 1933, but this is supposed to be the 1920's when times were good. I guess WB thought audiences could relate to Mary better if she was having a bad economic time of it like everybody else in 1933. Wellman uses his silent movie techniques to sum up the despair of job-hunters in the Great Depression via a succession of large neon billboards, where the wording constantly changes from the name of the product being advertised and each sign instead proclaims "No help wanted" or "No jobs today". At any rate, starving, she goes back to the gang and to Leo, only to part with them again when a speak easy robbery goes bad and a cop is shot.She is rescued from the scene by wealthy Tom (Franchot Tone). He helps her get a decent job by underwriting her secretarial school and then putting her to work in his law firm. Tom never knew about the robbery and the shot cop, and then one day Mary's past catches up to her unexpectedly and she has to make Tom believe she never cared about him because she does not want him mixed up in a scandal. When she gets out of jail she goes back to Leo, still staying away from Tom to keep him out of trouble. Where this goes and who she kills and why she kills I'll leave for you to watch and find out.And this is where we came in. Mary halfway acts like she would like to get the death sentence. If you want to see what does happen - and it is a real Hollywood style ending, then watch and see. Actually, I thought Ricardo Cortez was better than Loretta Young here. He has this smooth exterior but you just keep waiting for him to boil over into pure anger at any given moment. Loretta Young did a good job, but her role didn't give her a chance to surprise you with her range or anything like that. Franchot sprinkles his nice guy persona with plenty humor, and the whole cast sprinkles the entire production with frank talk of sex that you won't see after the code.

MartinHafer This film is done in an old fashioned style that doesn't play so well for modern audiences who aren't familiar with the style of early 30s "Pre-Code" films. Since I am a huge fan of older films (much more than modern ones), I could forgive all the melodrama and improbabilities that occur in the film--it was the style of the day.The film begins with Loretta Young on trial. Oddly, she refuses to do anything to defend herself and the film soon goes to a flashback of her life. Oddly, director Wellman decided to use Loretta and Una Merkel for some of the early scenes--where they were both supposed to be only 9 years-old! He used large props and changed their dress and hair styles, but they looked a heck of a lot older than 9! In the teenage portion, Loretta was able to pull this off much better since she was still rather youthful when she made this movie.All these early snippets help to show how Loretta gravitated towards a life of crime even though, in some ways, she was a nice girl. When the film moves forward to the late 1920s, the movie slows its pace and instead of brief snippets we follow her as she joins up with a gang headed by tough guy Ricardo Cortez. Here, she is reunited with Merkel--who is quite the floozy--a big departure compared to ladies she played in most other films. Aside from allowing herself to be slapped around, Una also apparently loves premarital sex, as she later gets pregnant. They never say where the kid came from, but I assume it wasn't an immaculate conception! With this and some of the other violence in the film, it's obvious that this Pre-Code film is indeed typical of the racier style of films of the early 30s--something that would be banned starting just a year later with the new and tougher Production Code.Along the way, Loretta meets up with the rich and very nice Franchot Tone. However, Loretta realizes that her checkered past will kill Tone's career as a lawyer, so she quiet disappears--turning herself into the police for her part in a robbery. When she gets out of jail, she deliberately avoids Tone and goes back to the brutal and nasty Cortez--all because she loves Tone too much to mess up his life.Exactly where it goes from there and how it all ends up in court is very entertaining, but I don't want to spoil the surprises. Despite being a tad old fashioned, the Pre-Code morality also makes the film pretty exciting, as most people don't realize how wicked these old films were (they were definitely NOT prudes like we like to think they were). A busy but highly entertaining script, decent performances and excellent direction--this is worth a look.

whpratt1 William A. Wellman produced many great film Classics and this was one of his greatest. However, Loretta Young,(Mary Martin),"The Bishop's Wife",'47 looked radiant and sexy in her role as a young woman who got off in life on the wrong side of the bed everyday. Mary ran into Ricardo Cortez,(Leo Darcy),"Charlie Chan in Reno,",'39, who was a big time gangster and managed to involve Mary in his criminal activities, forcing Mary to spend time in jail and away from her new lover. Franchot Tone,(Thomas Mannering,Jr.),"Jigsaw",'49, fell in love with Mary Martin while eating some turkey in his apartment late at night. The conversation turned to sex and Mary said," Sex is All that Men Always Think About", which must have gotten some attention in the early 1930's. Andy Devine,(Sam Travers),"Pete Kelly's Blues,",'55, was a sidekick for Thom Mannering and played lots of slapstick comedy which he was famous for during his Hollywood career. Una Merkel,(Bunny,'Bun') gave a great supporting role as a dippy blonde who got pregnant by one of Leo Darcy pals. If you love old time great Classic Actors, this is the film for YOU.

overseer-3 Midnight Mary is essential viewing for the pre-code fanatic. I am not a big fan of Loretta Young and her bug eyes, but she was superb in this, as a good girl who suffers some rotten luck along the way to becoming a gangster's doll and prized possession. Ricardo Cortez was incredibly sexy and smooth as the jealous gangster; what a fascinating performance. Franchot Tone was his usual handsome, sophisticated self, but the weakest link in the film. His energy level can't compete with Ricardo's. From the opening courtroom scenes, with Loretta reading a Hearst Cosmopolitan magazine (with only her bug eyes showing), to the inevitable ending, this film will keep any pre-code viewer on the edge of their seat. 9 out of 10.