STAR OF MIDNIGHT

US, 1935, 85 minutes, Black and white.
William Powell, Ginger Rogers, Gene Lockhart, Paul Kelly, Ralph Morgan.
Directed by Stephen Roberts.

Star of Midnight is a screwball comedy with William Powell as a lawyer who has to do detective work. It was made at the same time as The Thin Man, the beginning of the series, with Myrna Loy. This film, from RKO, is a slight all comedy mystery with Ginger Rogers as his assistant.

The title refers not to a star or a jewell but to an actress who is performing on Broadway in the musical, Star of midnight. She disappears. Her friend looks for her in New York, seeks the help of a lawyer friend and becomes involved in a murder. The film brings up quite a number of suspects with denouement in a seedy apartment in New York.

William Powell is his usual urbane self, but doing a lot of smoking and drinking. Ginger Rogers, in the middle of her dancing career with Fred Astaire, is quite vivacious, and smokes a lot! Gene Lockhart is the rather snooty butler.

The film did not begin a series, but is a pleasant stand alone comedy-mystery.


1. A thirties screwball comedy? A murder mystery and detection? A range of suspects? Solution?


2. A variation on the Thin Man series? William Powell as suave lawyer, detective? Ginger Rogers as enthusiastic assistant, with an eye on marriage? Comic moments as well as serious?

3. The setting in New York City? Fashionable society? Criminals, police, the streets?

4. The introduction, Alice, the phone call, her disappearance? Tim and his desperation? Tim going to New York, going to see Dal, asking his help? Suspicions? The shooting? Dal’s reaction, Tim’s reaction?

5. Donna, Ginger Rogers and her screen presence, age, glamour, wealthy background, relationship with the Dal, wanting to marry? Her insistence on being present?

6. William Powell and his appearances as the Thin Man? The similarities? His suave manner? At home, with Donna, avoiding marriage? Drinking? Going to the theatre? His encountering the murderer at the theater without realizing it?

7. The shooting, the disappearance, the entry of the police, the nature of the investigations, the suspicions? Interacting with Donna?

8. Swayne, his actions as a butler, his personality, his comments and observations, being under suspicion? His contribution to the solution?

9. The search for the murderer, the cab driver, his story, the fact that he drove Dal?

10. Mrs. Classon and her presence, relationship with Dal? Her husband? His behavior? His inquiries? The later revelations? His using his wife? The murderer?

11. The puzzle, the apartment, the mask, the set-up?

12. Donna, her friend, wanting the material back from the gangster, Dal and his going to the theatre, leaving, the taxi, the meeting with the gangster, suspicions, the later discussions? The gangster helping?

13. ‘Mary’, the opening, disappearance, in the performance, Star of Midnight, Dal at the theatre? Her disappearance, the investigation and the discovery of the apartment, the truth?

14. The framing for the murder, Mary’s involvement, the lawyer, the range of suspects?

15. The solution, Dal in the apartment, playing the music, Classon and his revealing himself? The complexities of the situation in Chicago, the lawyer, the criminals, the case?

16. The explanation? The old situation of the lawyer explaining what had happened?

17. The happy ending, especially the diner, the wedding?