Her Night of Romance (1924)
Direction: Sidney Franklin
Screenplay: Hans Kräly
Cast: Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Jean Hersholt, Albert Grand, Robert Rendel
Directed by Sidney Franklin and written by frequent Ernst Lubitsch collaborator Hans Kräly, Her Night of Romance is certainly on my list of top three favorite films at Cinesation 2009.
Constance Talmadge, whose extant films are hard to come by, is always a delightful comedienne. In Her Night of Romance, Talmadge plays Dorothy Adams, a wealthy young woman who goes about in hideous disguises to ward off fortune hunters only interested in her money. Eventually, Dorothy meets and falls in love with an impoverished English Lord (Ronald Colman), who is mistaken for a doctor. The "doctor" goes along with the ruse, and ends up falling in love with Dorothy as well. Needless to say, a delightful series of misunderstandings occur.
Her Night of Romance offers Constance Talmadge the chance to deliver another fine comedic performance. As a plus, Ronald Colman is equally excellent. Seeing Colman in this film — and in other comedies such as Her Sister from Paris (also with Constance Talmadge) and Kiki (with Constance's sister, Norma Talmadge), I can attest that he is a truly underrated comedian. In fact, Ronald Colman scores very high in the farcical romantic comedies he made in the silent era — and I wish he'd done more like them.
Her Night of Romance runs on a consistently buoyant pace thanks to Sidney Franklin's able touch. I should also mention that the film boasts great cinematography (Ray Binger and Victor Milner) and art direction.
Reviewed at Cinesation 2009
© James Bazen