78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific movie, but don't buy it here, December 14, 2009
This review is from: Remember The Night (DVD)
Five stars for the movie, a well-done, not too sentimental story of pickpocket Stanwyck finding love with sympathetic D.A. MacMurray during the Christmas season. Her homecoming scene with her loveless mother is a scene you will not forget.
The DVD is the result of a partnership between Turner Classic Movies and Universal Studios Home Video. It's an actual DVD (not a DVD-R) and the quality is terrific. You can buy it brand new at either the TCM website or at the Movies Unlimited site for $20 or less. Those selling it here at Amazon are charging a ridiculous amount so don't be cheated.
UPDATE: Amazon has started selling the movie on-demand on DVD-R discs. My review is for the item I purchased from TCM, which was an actual pressed disc, not a DVD-R.
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45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stanwyck Shines in Touching Film, August 7, 2005
Barbara Stanwyck never looked more feminine or gave a more luminous performance than in this touching holiday classic directed by Mitchell Leisen. A fine screenplay from the great Preston Sturges and an excellent supporting cast bolster this sentimental film into a holiday staple you'll watch every Christmas.
Fred MacMurray is Assistant District Attorney John Sargent, charged with prosecuting pretty shoplifter Lee Leander right before the holiday weekend. He uses her defense attorney to wangle a postponement so he can go home to his mom's farm just outside Wabash, Indiana for Christmas. Feeling guilty when Lee reacts badly to being locked up during the holidays, he has an old pal post bail for her.
He brings her to John's place, however, and once the suspicious Lee realizes John had no ulterior motives, Lee confesses she has no place to really go for the holidays. Startled to find her childhood home is just a few miles from Wabash, John decides he can drop her off and pick her up on his way back to New York for the trial.
Stanwyck and MacMurray were a great team, and there are some very fun moments as they keep getting lost on the backroads in Indiana, even getting arrested for trespassing at one point! But there is nothing funny about the reaction of Stanwyck's mother when she goes home after all those years, only to find bitterness and rejection. John decides to take her home for the holidays and they slowly begin to fall in love.
John's family is warm and welcoming, only his mother (Beulah Bondi) aware of Lee's situation. Elizabeth Patterson is wonderful as John's aunt, taking an immediate shine to Lee and helping her get in John's heart. It is the family Lee never had, the one thing that might have made the difference in her life. It is warm and moving when John's mother and aunt make sure Lee is represented as well when they open presents on Christmas morning.
Sterling Holloway is marvelous as their farmhand Willie, who along with the rest of John's family gives Lee all the love she never had. The season passes all to quickly and after the New Year's dance it is clear John loves Lee and she loves him. Stanwyck, often unfairly described as less than beautiful by critics, has never been so much so in the tender bedroom scene with John's mother, who knows he may just love her enough to ruin his career when they return.
John confesses his love for Lee at Niagra Falls and though she knows she shouldn't, she loves him also. She won't run, however, and when John starts to question her about the theft during her trial, she slowly realizes what he is doing for her. She makes a gesture of love also, and in a memorable ending their future is decided.
This is a warm and wonderful film, sentimental and moving. There are fine performances from everyone and a truly memorable one from Barbara Stanwyck. A film you don't want to miss. You will always remember the night.
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64 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Even Snowflake Can Ruin This Movie, June 13, 2000
I loved this movie. That's a hard statement for a black man to make about any movie in which Snowflake has a role. Regrettably, Hollywood had few roles for blacks in the 30s and 40s and the roles it had were generally comic relief and blacks played characters typically happy, subservient and dumb. Snowflake is Fred McMurray's butler and made a few early scenes in the movie very dated. ("He's not too bright, but he makes a great sandwich"). Nevertheless, the movie has a great script and gradually builds where the viewer roots for the improbable pairing to work out. I'm surprised that I've never seen this movie on cable around Christmas because it is truly a Holiday classic.
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