User Reviews

This was quite an entertaining film starring Bela Lugosi as a New York widower millionaire opera producer who likes having relationships with his leading lady. (The film opens and closes with some interesting clips of the old Metropolitan Opera House auditorium) The current LL is past her prime and needs to be disposed of. His son, who has no real career though is a fine musician, has been targeted for marriage by a society family which has run out of money. The son dislikes his father's philandering as it debases his mother's memory. After a row with father and LL he leaves home cut off without a penny. He releases the girl who has her talons in him, though she still thinks he could be a gold fish. He then takes a job as conductor in a rather odd café: it has a stage, an orchestra pit and a dance floor surrounded by tables for diners. Part of the entertainment consists of a long line of chorus girls, but it was difficult to see how the small number of covers could have covered their costs. Meanwhile a Russian émigré from the Red Terror, a famous violinist, and his daughter, arrive in New York. They cannot find work, so the father is reduced to busking on the streets, where the son helps him when a crook tries to steal his takings. (The crook vows vengeance, and later shoots and wounds the son, though the resolution of this sub-plot seems to have been cut from the Internet Archive version of the film). The son falls for the daughter and gets her a singing job at the café where she is a wow! The father sees her and decides she will be his next conquest, though the son warns her off. The one good joke in the film, is when somebody asks the father why his son is working in a cheap joint like Joe Green's. The father's plans are helped when the society girl cunningly asks the daughter to sing at her soirée when her engagement to the son will be announced. The daughter now sees no reason not the visit the father. Meanwhile the LL is pensioned off to sing in Boston. The daughter and her father arrive at the father's mansion, and while her father is plied with drink, the other father sets about her seduction. Meanwhile the son visits the society girl, realises what she has done and rushes off the mansion, crashing his car in the process and being held up at a level crossing. The daughter having repulsed the father's advances, he tries to rape her, somewhat realistically. As she pulls away she grabs a pistol from a desk draw and as the son enters shoots the father and misses, instead hitting the LL who was hiding behind the arras ready to denounce her lover for his betrayal. Almost everybody now on stage, the son and the daughter declare their love, and the father realises how much he loves his former LL. In the final scene these two share a box while the daughter is a runaway success on stage.

For 1925, this is a decent film, though certainly not outstanding in any way. Seen over eighty years later, it seems rather corny and the only reason anyone might want to see this is to see Bela Lugosi in an early pre-Dracula role.

Lugosi plays a rather amoral producer. He has a soft spot for a fading prima donna in his operas but he also ultimately knows he needs to replace her. Despite her decline, this singer is a rather nasty person--insulting Lugosi's dead wife needlessly. When this occurs, Lugosi's son is present and the kid becomes enraged that Lugosi lets her get away with this. THe son demands she apologize but Lugosi does nothing--at which point the 20-something son slugs his dad and walks out of his life.

Now that Junior has walked out, he's no longer living in luxury and needs to get a job. He becomes a band leader and later discovers a talented singer. Lugosi hears this pretty young lady sing and realizes she'd be great as his new leading lady--at which point there's another confrontation with his son. A bit later, Lugosi tries to use his casting couch on the new singer--and what follows is a pretty ridiculous ending where everything is miraculously resolved! You have to see the film to understand exactly what I mean--but it truly defies common sense and makes this movie end on a silly note.

Nothing is particularly outstanding about this film. The style is a bit dated even for 1925 but there's enough action to keep your attention. Worth watching mostly if you are a huge Lugosi fan.

Were it not for the presence of Bela Lugosi (and perhaps Lila Lee's as well), I doubt this film would be much remembered. It's a rather routine melodrama about a rich young man (Gareth Hughes, whose performance is blandness incarnate) who falls for an aspiring singer (Lila Lee). His lecherous stepfather (Lugosi) also has his eye on the beautiful girl, and wants her to offer herself to him in exchange for an operatic career. Even at the time of its release this would have seemed like treading water. Outside of Lugosi's charismatic performance and a shockingly brutal attempted rape scene during the climax, you definitely won't be remembering much of this one once it's over with.

Interesting to see Bela Lugosi was perfecting the sinister villain six years before "Dracula" in Chadwick's "The Midnight Girl". He plays a lustful Patron of the Arts, Nicholas Harmon who is now getting tired of his ageing lover, opera star Nina Morgan (Dolores Cassinelli) who is also past her prime as a singer and often can't hit the top notes in performances. His step son Don (Gareth Hughes) is disgusted with Nicholas's lecherous ways and after a blazing row over Nina's insulting comments about his mother, he renounces his wealth and the hand outs he receives and tries to make a go of it on his musical talent alone. That also solves his problem with gold digger Natalie and her equally avaricious mother: once they realise he is not receiving anything from his seething step father, they drop him like a hot potato!!

To the same boarding house comes Anna (Lila Lee) a newly arrived immigrant and Don finds in her and her music master kindred souls who share a love of beautiful music. His influence gets her a job as "The Midnight Girl" at a friend's café and that brings Nicholas snooping around: he is determined that she shall be his next discovery and his next lover!! To do that he enlists the help of Natalie who then visits Anna to organise for her to sing at Natalie's secret engagement party - to Don!!

I suppose this movie has generated interest because of Bela Lugosi but his part requires no real histrionics other than looking sullen and directing his penetrating eyes on the "damsels in distress". They are definitely in no distress from Gareth Hughes: Natalie's mother, at one point, calls him a wet fish and that is exactly the way he acts. Lovely Lila Lee is the one who deserves the acting kudos: she has a big scene where she fights for her honour (she has innocently bought her old music master with her but Nicholas's butler has slipped him a mickey finn) and she plays it for all she's worth!!

There is a surprise ending: Nina, who figures prominently in the seduction scene, looks to be a goner but in the last scene is seen to be lovingly holding hands with Nicholas (whose perfect match is really Natalie) as they both gaze paternally on as Anna wows the opera audience. The Alpha print is fuzzy but for a 1925 Chadwick you can't expect much more!!