weezeralfalfa Jackson Morgan(John Wayne) was sure right. Jenny Blake(Joan Blondell): his partner in running the casino steamboat Memphis Belle, was crazy to encourage the fire she accidentally started on her boat("I'm burning my boats behind me" she remarked). We are spared the details of the conflagration, with many guests aboard. Would have been much more reasonable to have put out the fire and sell her half interest in the boat to Wayne, who didn't want to give it up. Very surprisingly, Wayne made no real attempt to put the fire out, just a complaint. Jenny was ecstatic that she had arm-twisted Alan Alderson into marrying her, so as to extinguish his unpayable gambling debts in return. Thus, she thought she had bought herself into the blueblood crowd around Memphis. But, as Wayne had warned her, it wasn't that simple. They would never fully accept her as one of them. But she believed she could accomplish anything she set her mind to. Joan and her maid, played by Hattie Noel, were certainly the most dynamic characters. Hattie showed her mettle by flattening the front door of the plantation manor where Jenny had moved, after being denied entry by the doorman Napoleon(true, unrealistic!). Joan was first billed over Wayne, and the most seen character. From 1939 through '42, when Wayne was paired with a well established lead actress, he was second billed. This happened 3 times with each of Clair Trevor, and Marlene Dietrich, and once with Joan Crawford, along with Joan, here. In this film, he's not very animated ,for the most part, mostly standing around talking. One exception is when he is told that the horse pulling the carriage Jenny is in is blind. He jumps in another carriage, pushes the driver out and speeds toward Jenny. Well, that horse sped down a twisty road, so it must have had some vision!Getting back to Hattie Noel, she wins my prize for the most charismatic actor. I had never seen her in a film before(and probably won't again), but she steals every scene she's in, and made me laugh various times. Her background was mostly in circuses, where she sang and danced, in vaudeville, and on the stage. She ran away at age 12 to join a carnival. She danced a bit here to the song played at Jenny's ball. Jenny brazenly thumbed her nose at the socially elite of Memphis at least 3 times in public, as well as on various private occasions. The first time is when she was elected queen of the Mardi Gras, and the elite clearly were shocked. She told them what she thought of them. The second is at her plantation ball, where she had invited a French dancing troupe to do the Can-Can. Of course, the guests where uniformly shocked, but Wayne voiced his approval by clapping his hands, followed by the others. The final time was during her trial for murdering her husband by poison. After her sentence, she gave a passionate speech that summed up her feelings toward the upper class. Another important player is Blanch Yurka, who played the evil Aunt Julia, who vehemently opposed the arrival of Jenny to the Alderson's, and, long ago had poisoned the fiancé of her sister: Aunt Katherine, who cowered in her shadow, probably afraid she would be poisoned if she got out of line. Katherine was the only member of the Alderson extended family who welcomed Jenny's arrival. One thing I don't understand: Why does Katherine keep a Civil War cavalry hat with a presumed bullet hole in it in her hope chest, if her fiancé was poisoned? There are several musical numbers, which add further variety to the drama and humor. On her casino boat, Joan leads a production centered on "Up in a Balloon", where she rises from the stage in a balloon basket at the end. Doloros Gray sings "Has Anybody Seen my Man", at The King's Club, which Wayne built after the Memphis Belle burned, and will eventually be co-owned by Jenny. . Then, a group of plantation African Americans sing and dance to "Ezekiel Saw De Wheel". Lastly, there's the French troupe dancing to Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e, followed by the Can-Can.All in all, a very pleasant viewing experience, well done, with the reservation of some obviously implausible happenings. Presently available at Youtube

Spikeopath Jenny Blake runs the gambling boat Memphis Belle, but she yearns to be accepted by the high society. Casting off her love interest Jack Morgan, Jenny accepts an offer of marriage from non compos mentis plantation owner Alan Aldredge. Naturally the rest of the Aldredge family are not too thrilled to have someone of Jenny's standing in their family, with one of them in particular prepared to do anything to get rid of Jenny.Serviceable time filler is a phrase that could have been invented for this particular film. It's neither good or bad, and it's competently put together from both sides of the camera. Tho primarily a romantic drama, there is often humour within the script, most often when John Wayne {Jack} and Joan Blondell {Jenny} are sharing the screen together. Tho for sure not during the big finale court room pay off!! Here is the main problem on why Lady for a Night really falls down, it's confused as to what it should be. It's joviality is nice and endearing, but when the theme of class snobbery is coming to the fore, light relief is neither warranted or required. In fact the shift in tone for the rushed final quarter takes all by surprise. We lurch from grinning with mirth one second to a serious drama the next, and it's all a bit off putting at a time when the nastiness of the story deserves our full attention.The cast are a mixed bunch. Blondell is effervescent and attractive, and Wayne, in a straight uncomplicated role, does what is needed with such minimalistic material. Blanche Yurka does a nice line in evil old bat routine {paging Mrs Danvers, paging Mrs Danvers} and Hattie Noel dons the maid apron and gives it the Hattie McDaniel treatment. The rest are barely worth a mention, with Ray Middleton & Philip Merivale particularly out of their depth. Some nice tunes such as "Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-é" and "Has Anybody Seen My Man?" lighten up proceedings {again is this a dark film or not?} and the costume side of production is well worth observation. But it all ends up being a collage of tones, with neither one or the other breaking out to let the good side of the film truly break free of the confusion, shame that. 4/10

padutchland-1 OK, it wasn't an Academy Award winner. However, it did have many good elements to it. I'm not going to waste time telling you what it was about, you can read that in other comments. John Wayne was young and good looking, standing straight and tall. John Blondell was young and pretty. I remembered her in later movies after she had gotten older and a little heavier. Old man time sure beats the heck out of all of us.Some people will raise and eyebrow at the plantation type scenes with the blacks dancing and singing. Did that go on? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised that after hard work in the fields, ANY people would be happy for the party time. Hattie Noel played the maid (Chloe) of Joan Blondell (Jenny). Chloe was funny and did an energetic job. Were these type parts demeaning for Blacks? Sure. But the way to look at it, is that it was the beginning of getting the foot in the door to show what you could do. There was a lot of talent in that singing and dancing. Nothing to be ashamed of, many a White person has played a demeaning part. The main thing is to showcase your talent. Hattie Noel may not have had the good fortune to be in Gone With The Wind, but she would have done quite nicely.The best acting came from Edith Barrett who played the kinder Alderson sister Katherine. Some might call it overacting but I don't think that to be the case. You could feel her anguish between being torn by family loyalty, fear of her sister and doing the right thing. She gave a terrorized, impassioned performance.Also enjoyable was John Blondell's singing performances as the part owner of the riverboat. In fact, she was so good that I wondered if a professional singer had dubbed her voice, even though I was aware of her own musical talents.Blanche Yurka played the evil sister Julia, and how she could ooze evilness, with those eyes boring into anyone who crossed her. She hadn't changed much from her earlier days as Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities.Leonid Kinskey played John Wayne's bodyguard. Although Mr. Kinskey was always a good character actor (remember him as the funny bartender in Casablanca?), the reason for the part in the movie escapes me. I guess John Wayne needed a sidekick.The rest of the cast was adequate, but nothing noteworthy that I can remember. Except of course for the can-can girls who really knew how to dance that thing with plenty of spirit.OK, should you see it? If you have the movie or see it coming on the late show, no reason not to. The story is predicable and acting is adequate with a few who stand out as mentioned above. Don't watch it just to see John Wayne because the Duke was just being the Duke. And although the Duke is almost always fun to watch, this role didn't give him much room to do his thing. His part was overshadowed by larger parts going to Joan Blondell and the Alderson sisters. However, if you have the time, you will be entertained by a movie that is "not too bad" and "fairly enjoyable". There are some good acting parts and the singing and dancing routines are quite good too. I do not think you will be disappointed.

sole2soul The prior review was excellent. But the movie is set in Memphis not New Orleans, even though the Mardi Gras opening would belie that. And Joan Blondell's character is the one who proposes the marriage, not the other way around. All in all, it's very entertaining movie which deserves a better reputation.