Lady Of The Night
Sog.: Adela Rogers St. Johns (Racconto); Scen.: Alice D. G. Miller; F.: André Barlatier; Mo.: Ralph Dawson; Scgf.: Cedric Glbbons; Int.: Norma Shearer (Molly Helmer / Florence Banning), Malcolm Mcgregor (David Page), Dale Fuller (Miss Carr, La Zia Diflorence), George K. Arthur (‘Chunky’ Dunn), Fred Èsmelton (Judge Banning), Lew Harvey (Chris Helmer, Il Padre Dimolly), Gwen Lee (Amica Dimolly), Betty Morrissey (Gertie, L’altra Amica Dimolly); Prod.: Mgm 35 Mm. L.: 1537 M. D, 61′ A 22 F/S.
Film Notes
How did they get that title past Hays? It may be a programme picture, but it’s an intelligent, touching and sometimes risqué one. Two girls, both played by Norma Shearer, fall in love with the same man. Shearer sharply differentiates the twin characters (Joan Crawford stands in for her in the taxi embrace). It is beautiful to look at. It is in this film that the famous moment occurs of the girl putting foot powder into her shoe to signal her profession; the Hays Office must have insisted on the banal title that follows. Both this and Pretty Ladies were based on stories by the glamorous reporter Adela Rogers St Johns.
Kevin Brownlow