That was an excellent one.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

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

Wow! What a movie! Definitely one of the best Pre-Codes I've seen. Swiftly paced, perfectly edited, with Loretta Young at her most beautiful and giving one of her most believable and honest performances.After seeing many of Loretta's films from the early 1930s, now I think that she gave her best performances in this period of time. There is a quality of freshness and naturalness, that gives much more truth to Loretta's portrayals in the early 1930s than to her interpretations of the late 1930s and 1940s, with few exceptions. Besides, those huge, beautiful eyes of hers, that smile, those apple cheeks, that slender figure so perfect for those early 1930s gowns, never looked better than in this period.Here she impersonates a doomed girl, who's known all the ugly aspects of life; the film begins when she's being tried for murder. The movie is told via-flashbacks and depicts how she got into this situation. It's so strange that this picture was produced by MGM; it could have been perfectly done at Warner Brothers. Well, the director, William Wellman, had been making lots of films on the Warner lot (Loretta as well), so he must have put much of the Warner's "Touch" and "mood" into it, perfectly blending it with MGM's gloss and top production values.Ricardo Cortez is excellent as the "aparently" suave gangster in love with Loretta and Franchot Tone is aptly cast as a society lawyer who falls for her. An excellent cast of supporting actors include Una Merkel, Warren Hymer, Martha Sleeper and those usual reliable butlers: Robert Greig and Halliwell Hobbes.I found this film so entertaining, so timeless, so modern in many ways. Pre-Code Fans don't dare to miss it!

Midnight Mary is pre-code bliss par excellence! Loretta Young stars as a down on her luck young woman who finds herself in situations that she never would've found herself in later in her career! From the opening courtroom scenes where Mary finds herself reminiscing about her past, we are taken on a roller coaster ride through the years to find out how she came to be where she is now! Mary isn't a bad girl, she's just had a lot of bad luck and made unfortunate choices in consequence.Loretta has tons of chemistry with her co-stars Ricardo Cortez (yummy) and wise-cracking, adorable Una Merkel, who has a really great philosophical drunk scene in the movie! There are many scenes that wouldn't have made it past the censors later on, such as the one at the kitchen table where Loretta and Franchot Tone discuss a subject that's on a lot of people's minds a lot of the time. And towards the end of the movie, there's a scene with Mary trying to seduce Leo, who responds by licking her fingers as she strokes his face.This is a great little morality play and a comment on the hard times encountered during the Depression Era, when many people were forced into hard choices they might never have made otherwise.All the cast is great, including Franchot Tone as the suave lawyer who befriends and saves Mary and Andy Devine as his loud-mouthed friend who's along for the ride.Midnight Mary really is Pre-Code Bliss!

Midnight Mary is the story of a girl who grows up poor, gets involved with people on the wrong side of the tracks, and tries to get out. The film opens and closes with Mary in a court room awaiting the verdict in her trial for murder.Loretta Young plays Mary; Young is absolutely beautiful and proves to be a great actress in all of her scenes.Ricardo Cortez plays her gangster boyfriend well enough. He is appropriately sinister at times and average in others.Una Merkel plays Mary's best friend, a cute and funny smart-cookie type.Franchot Tone is standout in this film, especially in his romantic scenes in which the kisses are long and passionate, the looks are meaningful, and the chemistry is hot and thick. Otherwise, Tone is sweet and lovable as always.This film was beautifully photographed and employed great costuming resembling both late 1920s and early 30s styles.This film was made before the production code that censored everything that came out of Hollywood, so it utilizes many racy scenes. One occurs when Young and Tone blatantly talk about the possibility of sex, another when the far from stiff kisses last longer than three seconds, another when Young whispers dirty things into Cortez's ear, and still another when a girl gets pregnant out of wedlock. There is also some abuse shown.The ending of the film is very satisfying and concludes a great film.