NitrateVille.com

I watched OPEN ALL NIGHT, a strange 1924 marital comedy from Paramount where no one is really happy with his/her mate.

Adolphe Menjou opens the film holding a bizarre nude-woman ivory cigarette holder as he snuffs out a cigarette and ponders marriage. Viola Dana (his bored wife) is in the bath tub where she's reading lurid stories about husbands who beat their wives. Then arrives a friend (Gale Henry) and her date (Raymond Griffith) who is drunk and is described as the next "sheik" when he breaks into pictures.

They all go off the a 6-day bicycle race (the rage of Paris in the 20s) where the "petit Mathieu" (Maurice Flynn) is the favorite. His bored girl friend (the exotic Jetta Goudal) craves a gentleman. The stage is set for a "marital mix-up." Despite what I've heard, Raymond Griffith was not very funny in this film. About the only funny thing was when he (drunk) wandered onto the bicycle track. The bikes whizz by him and his cape and top hat are gone while he weaves on the slanted flooring.... then in a few seconds the bikes whizz by again and his hat and cape are returned. The whole thing about his going to America to become the new sheik wasn't funny. Maybe it was a running joke of the day? Then the French newspapers announce Valentino's return to films (which was a real event after Valentino's battle with Paramount and his Mineralava dance tour with Natacha Rambova) and Griffith's plans are dashed. Otherwise Griffith had little to do.

The other actors are all good but aside from being a tad bizarre, nothing much really happens, especially with a 64-minute (6 reel) running time. This copy is from an old Grapevine release (you can tell by the music track) and is of decent quality. The bizarre quality got this film banned in England on its release in 1924.

Trivia notes. Viola Dana and Maurice Flynn were married from 1925-29. And director Paul Bern was infamous for his brief (2-month) marriage to Jean Harlow and his suicide in 1932.

Raymond Griffith


Gale Henry and Raymond Griffith

Griffith and Gale Henry and just there for comic relief. They don't have much to do, but I thought that they livened up an otherwise knockoff film.

Wasn't this the role that first put Griffith in a top hat?

Bob

It's an inconsequential film but Viola Dana is quite a looker and there's a nifty shot where she leaps out of the bathtub to grab a robe off a stand- it's choreographed so she's almost naked but not quite. (Believe me- I ran it in slow motion). It's also interesting to see Charles Puffy AKA Karl Puffy / Karoly Huszar-Puffy etc etc in a small role outside of Fritz Lang pictures (he's the bicycle repairman)

I guess I'm the only one who loves this movie. Jetta Goudal's a scream.

I was creeped out by the wife wanting to be beaten theme, but otherwise thought it well made with an excellent cast. I had assumed it would be quite popular. And Jetta was terrific.

greta

I wrote a short review of this movie last Sunday on the TCM forums, before Ed posted his. Here it is:

:-[ Just saw OPEN ALL NIGHT (1924). With Adolphe Menjou, Viola Dana, Jetta Goudal. and Raymond Griffith. Pretty decent print. What a strange film. This can only be described as a "Bizarre Sex Comedy". It even opens with a close up of a Nude Lady Cigarette in the husband's hand. There are Traces of Ernst Lubitsch in there, although He did not direct the picture. Paul Bern was credited. I have championed Raymond Griffith in the past, but He is painfully unfunny in this movie.

:(Dana looks shell-shocked most of the time. A neglected Wife who has read so many tawdry romance novels that she longs for a real He-Man type to slap her around good, before making love to her. Hubby Adolphe Menjou, is far to much of a gentlemen for her taste. But a gentleman never the less with a roving eye, which He cast's in promiscuous Jetta Goudal's direction. She is stepping out on her muscle bound boyfriend, (a professional bicycle racer) in a Paris Hot Spot. The Hubby picks her up in the ladies public boudoir. At the same time, irony or ironies, wifey-poo is getting friendly with the athletic Boy Friend, played by the gigantic Maurice B. Flynn.

The subplot with Griffith's character headed to America to replace Valentino as the "Next Great Movie Sheik" never really makes much sense. This film was made during Rudy's self imposed sabbatical from Hollywood. As for the leads, If both parties were married, this could almost be described as a "Spouse-Swapping" movie. At the least it is a "Mate-Swapping one", or nearly so. A Highly unusual production to be sure. Goudal was a beautiful Woman, but is wearing enough make-up here to sink the Lusatania! She's also could stand to put some meat on those bones, all she has are bones! Viola, appears to be decidedly more shapely. Though Goudal is far more alluring. This is one of the oddest Silents I have seen in quite sometime. Maybe ever?

I enjoyed this one too, although was a little put off by the "wife wanting to be beaten by her husband" premise. But overall found it a fun film, and it has a terrific cast of folks.