"Everything Happens at Night" isn't a truthful title, if it relates to this film. But then again, it may not. It appears to be another example of Hollywood slapping a title on a film just to name it, even if there's no connection, obvious or even hidden.
Thank goodness the film is better than the title. Ray Milland and Robert Cummings are two rival reporters - although they don't know it until about midway in the movie, who wind up sparring over Sonja Henie. They are Geoffrey Thompson and Ken Morgan and she is Louise Norden, although they don't know her last name until the end. The sparring consists of good-natured jokes and notes and ploys to remove the other from the scene so that the prankster can move in on and have all the attention and affections of Louise.
These two reporters, one in London and the other in Paris, are sent by their editors to a small town in Switzerland to check into a report that the famous anti-Nazi Nobel prize winner, Dr. Hugo Norden, is alive and hiding there. He was supposed to have been assassinated in public a year before. Well, when news gets out that the real Dr. Norden is alive and there, Nazi henchmen soon appear. Now Geof and Ken have to work together to protect and hurry away Louise and her father. Of course, this is after they have stumbled across Dr. Norden and learned that his nurse, Louise, is really his daughter.
Except for the short scenario with the Nazi pursuers at the very end, this is a relatively light comedy and slight romance. The screenplay could have used some beefing up to give it much more humor. Sonja Henie was a big draw in the 1930s and 1940s. A three-time Olympic gold medalist and 10-time world champion female figure skater, Henie was the darling of Norway in the 1930s and soon became a darling of audiences in movies with snow settings.
Henie made several comedy musicals for Fox that were all big hits and very entertaining. This film is fun but way below the level of her other pictures. Henie also performed in the Hollywood Ice Reviews and then her own touring ice show, the "Sonja Henie Ice Revue." Anyone who has ever seen the Ice Capades (1940-1995) knows how fun they can be. The great skating by many former Olympic skaters, wonderful skits, daredevil routines, and ice clowns made for great entertainment.
In this film, Henie has but one skating number, in a sort of dream, but it shows her incredible talent as a figure skater. She could dance in skates on the ice like no one else. The background winter scenes were shot in Sun Valley, Idaho, but sure can pass for Switzerland. Here are a couple of favorite lines.
Fred Sherwood, his editor, to Ken Morgan, "Hey, wake up, you somnambulist."
Hilda, "So you're an American?" Ken Morgan, "Yes." Hilda, "Are you a millionaire?" Morgan, "Well, a few of us aren't."
Thank goodness the film is better than the title. Ray Milland and Robert Cummings are two rival reporters - although they don't know it until about midway in the movie, who wind up sparring over Sonja Henie. They are Geoffrey Thompson and Ken Morgan and she is Louise Norden, although they don't know her last name until the end. The sparring consists of good-natured jokes and notes and ploys to remove the other from the scene so that the prankster can move in on and have all the attention and affections of Louise.
These two reporters, one in London and the other in Paris, are sent by their editors to a small town in Switzerland to check into a report that the famous anti-Nazi Nobel prize winner, Dr. Hugo Norden, is alive and hiding there. He was supposed to have been assassinated in public a year before. Well, when news gets out that the real Dr. Norden is alive and there, Nazi henchmen soon appear. Now Geof and Ken have to work together to protect and hurry away Louise and her father. Of course, this is after they have stumbled across Dr. Norden and learned that his nurse, Louise, is really his daughter.
Except for the short scenario with the Nazi pursuers at the very end, this is a relatively light comedy and slight romance. The screenplay could have used some beefing up to give it much more humor. Sonja Henie was a big draw in the 1930s and 1940s. A three-time Olympic gold medalist and 10-time world champion female figure skater, Henie was the darling of Norway in the 1930s and soon became a darling of audiences in movies with snow settings.
Henie made several comedy musicals for Fox that were all big hits and very entertaining. This film is fun but way below the level of her other pictures. Henie also performed in the Hollywood Ice Reviews and then her own touring ice show, the "Sonja Henie Ice Revue." Anyone who has ever seen the Ice Capades (1940-1995) knows how fun they can be. The great skating by many former Olympic skaters, wonderful skits, daredevil routines, and ice clowns made for great entertainment.
In this film, Henie has but one skating number, in a sort of dream, but it shows her incredible talent as a figure skater. She could dance in skates on the ice like no one else. The background winter scenes were shot in Sun Valley, Idaho, but sure can pass for Switzerland. Here are a couple of favorite lines.
Fred Sherwood, his editor, to Ken Morgan, "Hey, wake up, you somnambulist."
Hilda, "So you're an American?" Ken Morgan, "Yes." Hilda, "Are you a millionaire?" Morgan, "Well, a few of us aren't."