User Reviews

Gentleman Jimmy ("J.J.") Walker was one of New York's most notorious mayors, and since his days in office has been seen in his own film biography (the mediocre "Beau James" with Bob Hope) and Broadway musical (the flop "Jimmy" with Frank Gorshin). There's even a song about him in the 1959 hit Broadway musical "Fiorello!" that could be his campaign song. But during his days in office, Hollywood got its bite in on his life by doing this fictionalized account of a playboy mayor living it up with chorus girls, throwing out the first ball at a baseball game, and various personal and political scandals. Who other to play him than Lee Tracy, the fast-talking king of Hollywood in the early 30's? Don't expect the truth on the life of Mayor Walker here; The truth is obviously altered enough to prevent a lawsuit, but the obvious references make it clear who the writers are talking about. It almost seems like this could be a Capra film (having been made by Columbia, where Capra reigned in the early 30's), but it isn't. The director was a man named Benjamin Stoloff whose credits included an early sound version of "Destry Rides Again" (1932) and two forgotten art decco musicals, "Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round" (1934) and "Radio City Revels" (1939). But do expect a fast-moving frenetic comedy with all sorts of typical New York characters, most notably Tracy's mayor, and Eugene Palette's crooked assistant.

Evelyn Knapp, who plays the mayor's chorus girl love interest, is an unique personality here. She isn't typically beautiful by any means. She sort of resembles Sara Jessica Parker with her angular face and almost anorexic body, and is thoroughly modern in the way she is photographed. In fact, other than the black and white photography, she seemed like she could be from this day and age, let alone the 30's. Warren Hymer is amusing as Tracy's butler who is used by Palette for nefarious purposes. Don Dillaway is boring as the reporter dating Knapp and out to get a scandal on the mayor. He seems as much of a reporter as Eugene Palette would be a dietary consultant.

This comedy deserves a lot of credit for its many pleasures, but it doesn't deserve credit for its clever title. At least one New York City gossip columnist had already applied the nickname 'the Night Mayor' to Jimmy Walker, New York City's nightclubbing mayor of the late Prohibition years. This movie blatantly rips off many details of Walker's meteoric career, and 'The Night Mayor' was released less than two weeks before Walker resigned as the result of a scandal.

Lee Tracy is note-perfect here as Mayor Bobby Kingston, who's clearly Walker in all but name, and who even has many of the real Walker's biographic traits. At one point here, Tracy claims to be a lyricist: the real Walker wrote the lyrics to the hit song 'Will You Love Me in December As You Do in May?'.

I was intrigued by this film's story credit for Sam Marx. He later held sway as long-time head of the scripts department at MGM (while his cousins the Marx Brothers were under contract there), but Sam Marx's writing credits are few.

One of my favourite character actors, Warren Hymer, is in fine form here. Hymer almost always played dimwitted thugs: here, he's a butler(!) who does some thugging on the side. Eugene Palllette gives one of his best performances, and has one great line: 'I eat publicity!'. The sight of Vince Barnett in plus-fours is worth the price of admission.

I disliked the leading lady here, Evelyn Knapp. She's a goodish actress but her face, voice, hairstyle and make-up in this role are unattractive. She's also anorectically thin. Knapp is cast here as a chorus girl in a Ziegfeld-style revue, but in 1932 the showgoers preferred chorines with some meat on their bones.

There's lots of bright sparkling dialogue, although Tracy mispronounces 'repartee'. I disliked one noisy scene with lots of telephones all ringing simultaneously. Tracy's brassy mayor is meant to be sympathetic, but I disliked him. He's always on hand for a mayor's ceremonial duties, but when there's actual work to be done he's off to the nearest party featuring Prohibition hooch.

Due to this film's premise, there are LOTS of stock-footage shots featuring huge thronging crowds; some of the footage is obviously quite old, as the crowds are wearing clothes from circa 1915. More pleasantly, there are also lots of expensive optical wipes, and one very impressive travelling shot through a large hotel lobby. Tracy briefly does a hoofing routine with Knapp, dancing expertly. In a key role, Don Dillaway is a non-entity.

SLIGHT SPOILERS. As mayor, Tracy is embroiled in an investigation that threatens to scupper his career, but the film simply drops this at the fade-out with no resolution. I spotted a continuity error: we see a message that Knapp's character wrote in lipstick on a wall, and later we see a handwritten letter that she also wrote: but the handwritings don't match. And I think there's another error too: I know that the mayor of New York City is empowered to perform marriages, but we see Tracy doing this in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Can New York City's mayor perform marriages in a completely different state?

Despite my quibbles, 'The Night Mayor' (yes, there's a 'The' in the title) is a delightful comedy with clever dialogue and several excellent performances. This movie's a lot more fun than 'Beau James', an ostensibly accurate biopic of Walker that isn't much more accurate than 'The Night Mayor'. My rating for this one: 8 out of 10. IMDb, please fix your spell-check so I can spell Eugene Palllette's name correctly.