Barbara Stanwyck returns in my next ‘40s yuletide tale, the more breezy and whimsical Remember the Night from 1940. This time she’s Lee, a wily festive shoplifter caught in the act who, in a none-more-Hollywood fate, finds herself spending the holidays under the watch of kindly assistant D.A. Jack (Fred MacMurray). Naturally, with some Christmas magic in the air, feisty romance begins to blossom in this cute film from Mitchell Leisen.
It’s satisfying stuff from the star pair who would later go on to feature together in legendary noir Double Indemnity to career-defining effect. In this delightful Christmas comedy they show early signs of that magnetic chemistry with Stanwyck as the free-spirited, jewellery-pilfering dame and MacMurray as the stuffy lawyer keeping an eye on her. It doesn’t sound like much, but the screenplay by Preston Sturges takes us on a giddy, romantic festive journey with some sweet touches.
Christmas plays a pivotal role here, as prosecutor Jack is worried that, being filled with holiday spirit, the jury in Lee’s trial will feel all mushy and let her off with it, so pushes for the trial to be delayed. Feeling awful that she’ll be locked up until New Year, he reveals he’s a total sweetheart by striking a cheeky deal to get her out. However, he’s not expecting the bail bondsman to drop her off at his front door.
With nowhere else for her to go and realising they’re both Indiana native ‘Hoosiers’, he offers to drop her at her family’s place on his way to his own Christmas celebration. It’s quirky, romantic road trip time with various scrapes and mishaps along the way on the highway to romance city.
It's a little predictable, but the film’s set-up and heart-wrenching climax are far from your standard romance movie clichés. There are a few surprises and great moments in there, like Jack trying to milk a cow and the pair joining in a good ol’ Indiana barn dance, while MacMurray and Stanwyck together are frankly irresistible. I feel in the presence of greatness watching these two bounce off each other.
It's touching to watch Stanwyck effortlessly charm everyone she meets and to see Jack’s family realise he’s in love with this dynamite dame before he does. But the film’s also undercut with sadness with Lee’s reunion with her own family not going so smoothly and her own mother rejecting her – at Christmas!
It gets even more melancholy as even though Jack’s mother adores Lee and can tell he’s smitten with her she still asks her to “let him go,” realising a relationship could jeopardise his career and everything he’s worked for. So, it’s not all cutesie fun, but carries a whiff of tragic, doomed romance, leading to a memorable, gut-punch climax, the likes of which you don’t often see.
As the film goes on, I get slightly worried that it’s all going a bit Hallmark cookie-cutter ‘meh’, so I’m pleasantly surprised that in its final act the plot side-steps all the usual clichés in favour of something more profound and memorable. Sadly, the film does lose points for having Jack’s valet be a thick, bumbling “Yes suh!” racial stereotype. Shame.
Ignoring that unfortunateness, it’s still a winning romance tale that stands as powerful testament to the enduring power of the holiday spirit. Just don’t go in expecting a conventional happy ending.