{"id":36433,"date":"2016-11-14T08:35:08","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T16:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=36433"},"modified":"2016-11-14T14:20:50","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T22:20:50","slug":"challenge-week-41-midnight-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-41-midnight-mary\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 41: Midnight Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cheery little Pre-Code drama told mostly in flashback while Mary Martin awaits the jury’s decision in her murder trial. Turns out growing up poor, getting locked up for a crime you didn’t commit, becoming a “lady of the night” (hence the nickname), then falling in with gangsters can lead one down a dark path that ends in murder – but there are bright spots, too, like when Mary almost manages to leave her gangster boyfriend for a rich young gentleman who truly loves her.<\/p>\n

Almost.<\/p>\n

\"tf-street\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The bare-faced plot sounds pretty sordid in the retelling, but Loretta Young plays Mary with a kind of resigned luminosity, and William A. Wellman directs with a straightforward empathy, and it’s actually all much more sensitive and stylish than you’d expect, while also being definitely Pre-Code in most every way. I tend not to care for Young too much in her later, more saintly roles, but she’s got a very alluring quality in Pre-Codes – a knowing innocence, almost. Mary certainly isn’t innocent in any sense, but you continue to pull for her anyway.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, as per usual in Pre-Codes, the film is populated with a great supporting cast – a great roll call of “it’s that guy” roles like Andy Devine. Of course, Una Merkel has graduated far above “it’s that girl” for me, and I get a major thrill every time I see in in a cast list, because she always livens up the proceedings of any movie whatsoever. Here she’s Mary’s best friend, who takes to the gangster’s moll life with a lot more gusto than Mary does. Still, because this is largely a drama, she doesn’t get the freedom to really let loose the way she does in something like Don’t Bet on Women<\/em> or 42nd Street<\/em>, or even Private Lives<\/em>. She does get the film’s best line, though, when her would-be beau brings her four orchids and she retorts “that’s vulgar! I never wear more than three.”<\/p>\n

\"tf-una\"<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

1933, USA<\/em>
\ndirected by William A. Wellman, written by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola, from a story by Anita Loos<\/em>
\nstarring Loretta Young, Franchot Tone, Ricardo Cortez, Andy Devine, Una Merkel<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how Midnight Mary<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

Midnight Mary<\/b> > The Spanish Apartment
\nMidnight Mary<\/b> > Ran
\nMidnight Mary < The Three Musketeers<\/b> (1973)
\nMidnight Mary < The Myth of the American Sleepover<\/b>
\nMidnight Mary<\/b> > La jetee
\nMidnight Mary < I Know Where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Going<\/b>
\nMidnight Mary<\/b> > eXistenZ
\nMidnight Mary < Christmas in July<\/b>
\nMidnight Mary < Born to Kill<\/b>
\nMidnight Mary < The Devil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Backbone<\/b>
\nMidnight Mary<\/b> > Sense and Sensibility
\nMidnight Mary<\/b> > Cat People<\/p>\n

Final #779 out of 3708 films on my chart (79%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #4 William A. Wellman film, my #3 Loretta Young film, my #2 Franchot Tone film, my #3 Una Merkel film (though I’d place her PERFORMANCE in Don’t Bet on Woman<\/em> ahead of this performance), my #30 Melodrama, my #20 Pre-Code, and my #12 film of 1933.<\/p>\n

Midnight Mary<\/em> was recommended by Laura G.<\/a>, a film blogger friend. Averaging together this #779 ranking with my #425 ranking of her other film, Westward the Women<\/em>, gives Laura an average ranking of 602.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"tf-table\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-office\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-lorettaftone\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cheery little Pre-Code drama told mostly in flashback while Mary Martin awaits the jury’s decision in her murder trial. Turns out growing up poor, getting locked up for a crime you didn’t commit, becoming a “lady of the night” (hence the nickname), then falling in with gangsters can lead one down a dark path that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[3242,2946,3241,2988,1529],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-midnight-mary.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36432,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-41-westward-the-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":36433,"position":0},"title":"Challenge Week 41: Westward the Women","author":"Jandy","date":"November 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What a super-interesting and unusual Western! And surprisingly under the radar. I'm a big fan of Westerns but had barely heard of this one before Laura assigned it to me, and I'm so glad she did. The premise is that a rancher in the newly developing California decides to bring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-westward-feat.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36901,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/adventures-on-criterion\/","url_meta":{"origin":36433,"position":1},"title":"Adventures on Criterion: Screwballs","author":"Jandy","date":"December 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Trying to make full use of my Criterion Channel subscription (the best streaming option out there if you like classic and arthouse films), I've been spending most of my moviewatching time lately letting Criterion be my guide. Usually they add two or three new programming blocks each month with different\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CriterionChannel-Screwball.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CriterionChannel-Screwball.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CriterionChannel-Screwball.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CriterionChannel-Screwball.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36654,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/challenge-week-50-some-kind-of-wonderful\/","url_meta":{"origin":36433,"position":2},"title":"Challenge Week 50: Some Kind of Wonderful","author":"Jandy","date":"December 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Teen\/coming-of-age\/1980s movies are often a hard sell for me, but John Hughes-penned ones have a bit of heart and tenderness that hit me in the right place, so I was hoping Some Kind of Wonderful, one of the few I'd missed up to this point, would fit the bill as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-feat-somekind.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35754,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/challenge-week-13-my-best-girl\/","url_meta":{"origin":36433,"position":3},"title":"Challenge Week 13: My Best Girl","author":"Jandy","date":"April 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I've literally been looking forward to this one since even before the Challenge started, as Dan let me know earlier that he would probably pick this one. It did not disappoint! I think it probably came up in conversation after I saw and LOVED Why Be Good? (1929) at last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tf-feat-My-Best-Girl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36496,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-44-the-color-of-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":36433,"position":4},"title":"Challenge Week 44: The Color of Money","author":"Jandy","date":"November 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's honestly been so long since I've seen The Hustler that I don't remember the details all that well, but I don't think it really mattered going into this much-later sequel. Now Fast Eddie Felson (Newman) is retired from the pool circuit, instead doing very well as a liquor salesman.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-the-color-of-money.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20606,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/tcm-film-festival-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":36433,"position":5},"title":"TCM Film Festival 2011","author":"Jandy","date":"April 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again I am heading to the TCM Classic Film Festival, and I couldn't be more excited. It's such a great opportunity to see classic films the best way possible - on the big screen with audiences who love them. The overall theme of this year's festival is Music in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/TCM-Classic-Film-Festival-featured.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}