Edgar Allan Pooh . . . are those who have a Rich Sugar Daddy desperately in love with them, Proletariat Director William Wellman tells us with MIDNIGHT MARY. Though the specific talents which make Loretta Young's version of "Mary Martin" so GIB are left up to the viewers' imaginations, they obviously are so superior to what passed for sex in the 1930s that her Siren Songs cause TWO Rich Guys to risk everything for her. As you might guess, this proves to be at least one Daddy Warbucks too many, with dire consequences for the entire trio. The great irony is that Mary is in jeopardy at all for offing Public Enemy Number One. In the past week, the guys who did the same as Mary for America with a New York prison escapee got hero buttons. Ditto for those who brought down Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Charles Whitman (the Texas Tower Sniper), and the elder Boston Crockpot Bomber. Wellman is warning us here that you have to be an official paid lackey of the Rich to get away with killing people--otherwise, you're up for Murder One (even if you've just gunned down Hitler!).

vincentlynch-moonoi There are two things to tell a potential viewer about this film. First, it's pre-code, so there are some racy scenes here...at least racy for the time. Second, this is an old-fashioned morality tale, and of course that means that the young woman (Loretta Young) will pay in the end! The story begins in a courtroom with Mary on trial for murder, seemingly bored by the whole procedure. She waits for the verdict in a room with law books, each labeled with a year -- a clever way to work through numerous flashbacks explaining how she got to where she is. Orphaned, she is falsely accused of shoplifting and sent to a reform school. She and her friend (Una Merkel) unwittingly get in with a couple of armed robbers. She tries to go straight but can't find work (after all, it is the Great Depression), so she return to the crook and becomes his mistress and partner in crime.Then, things seem to be turning her way. She meets and falls in love with a society lawyer (Franchot Tone), who rehabilitates her by putting her through stenographers school and then giving her a job. But the gang catches up with her eventually, and to save Tone's life she kills the mob boss that is in love with her, for which she goes to trail. Just as she is about to be convicted, Tone arrives to reopen her case with new evidence -- his own. And at the end of the film we are left with the hope that the second trial will go in her favor...which never would have happened post-code.Perhaps the most interesting casting in this film is that of Andy Devine, who wears a tuxedo throughout the entire film! But still has that Hee Haw voice.This is a good film worth watching. Gangsterish, but the central theme is that love conquers all. And oh those beautiful eyes of Loretta Young!

wes-connors While waiting for the jury's decision at her murder trial, beautiful Loretta Young (as Mary Martin) recalls her life, in flashback. An unfortunate childhood ends with Ms. Young being sent to a reform school; upon release, she falls in with a bad crowd, led by handsome Ricardo Cortez (as Leo Darcy). In an attempt to go legit, moll Young meets suave lawyer Franchot Tone (as Tom Mannering Jr.); and, they fall in love. Then, predictably, Young's past catches up with her… Young and chum Una Merkel (as Bunny) are remarkably good playing themselves as young girls, in the opening; and, Mr. Cortez plays his final scene very well, as directed by William A. Wellman. An interesting, but irrelevant, newspaper headline reads, "Hitler Said to Be Gaining in Popularity", after Andy Devine (as Sam Travers)'s voice cracks. ***** Midnight Mary (6/30/33) William A. Wellman ~ Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, Franchot Tone, Una Merkel

daneldorado Despite rapturous reviews by some, "Midnight Mary" is a VERY average, even tedious talkathon with no visual surprises. The story could have been told just as well on radio.The film is called a "precoder" by some because it was released in 1933, but the date is the only thing "precode" about it. It stars Loretta Young, then a rising star in Hollywood on the strength of strong performances in the late silent and early talkie eras. She plays Mary Martin, an innocent girl who is taken in by a gangster (Ricardo Cortez) who fancies her, and becomes his "moll." That's it. That's the extent of any sexual content in the film, which is primarily concerned with Mary's trial for the murder of her gangster boyfriend.The story unfolds in flashback after an opening courtroom scene showing the D.A. pleading loudly to the jury that they MUST find Mary guilty. We see the defendant sitting, reading a magazine, apparently unmindful of what the D.A. and the jury think about her.Two spoilers coming up. Mary is convicted, but in the final scene her True Love (Franchot Tone) springs to her defense, telling the court he has some new information. I was furious that this long-winded soap opera might continue for another hour or so; but fortunately, director William Wellman takes mercy on us and winds up the story, right there.One of the benchmarks I use when reviewing a movie is this: If the story could have been told just as well ON RADIO, the movie fails because there are no interesting visuals.That, alas, is the story of "Midnight Mary."