Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Night After Night Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 16, 2022

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of Mae West in Hollywood.

For a star who was perceived to be such a voluptuous female sex symbol, Mae West had, well, swagger. Just look at the way she gallivants, even marauds, physically through her scenes, walking almost like a prize fighter observing some prey she's just devastated. She frequently has a masculine mien in her gait, hands on hips almost threateningly, and with a kind of pugnacious attitude that nonetheless never completely masks a rather unexpectedly sweet and kind aspect to many of her characters, even if those characters are just as apt to be tough as nails. Specifically in terms of West's memorable saunter, if none of her other unforgettable aspects, one of the commentaries included with this set calls West's distinctive stride a "shimmy" that West supposedly overtly stated was culled from watching black women, though some may jokingly wonder if West was also watching black men for a few pointers. What is kind of fascinating about West's ineluctable allure in terms of behaviors and mannerisms, though, is how she manages to be slyly seductive and ridiculously overheated almost simultaneously, but it's instructive to note that this layering of attitudes and demeanors, as well as "mere" physical presence, was part and parcel of West's own writing and character building acumen, since it seems only obvious that West was more than aware that she was putting on a show on any number of levels. West's proclivities as "another" kind of auteur, one who crafted a series of films that frequently were based on West's own ideas and/or writing, are rather prominently on display in this handsome new(ish) set from Powerhouse Films' Indicator imprint, which aggregates together ten features ranging from 1932 to 1943.

Even mighty oaks need to start from somewhere, and in this case the "tiny acorn" in Mae West's filmography is this interesting outing from 1932, where the actress is unaccustomedly somewhat down on the cast credits list and offered a substantial but still definitely supporting role. This is for all intents and purposes a "George Raft film", with Raft starring as speakeasy owner Joe Anton, the kind of hardscrabble guy who has a background in boxing but wants to go "legit". In a kind of switch on some elements of Pygmalion, Joe is schooled in proper deportment and decorum by a "society dame", Mabel Jellyman (Alison Skipworth). Both current and former infatuations of Joe's enter into the plot dynamics, with Constance Cummings and Wynne Gibson offered larger parts than West, who shows up rather late in the story as yet another former flame of Joe's, but one with a rather ebullient "party hearty' streak. It's fascinating to see West in her first film assigned to actually act rather than just "be Mae West", and she does a rather beautiful job in a character reportedly based on real life socialite Texas Guinan.

Night After Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Night After Night is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Powerhouse Film's Indicator imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. The back cover of this release advertises a "2014 high definition remaster" of the film, and it may also be salient to note that the aspect ratio of this release is just slightly wider than the Kino Lorber release put out for the North American market. Based solely on screenshots, it looks like this release is quite similar in overall grading and contrast to the Kino Lorber release. There's a rather heavy grain field which can easily be seen in the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, and it can be a tad splotchy on occasion, especially against lighter backgrounds. There are a fair number of age related wear and tear defects on display, though the vast majority of them tend to be in the relatively minor form of smaller scratches and nicks. My score is 3.25.

Night After Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Night After Night features LPCM Mono audio. Fidelity is generally fine, though the film understandably can't escape from the then still developing sound technologies, and so the entire track is rather boxy and hollow sounding, without much depth or dynamic range. Dialogue is nonetheless easy to discern throughout. Optional English subtitles are available. My score is 3.25.

Night After Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Powerhouse Films has packaged this release with both Night After Night and She Done Him Wrong sharing a disc. The following is a complete listing of supplements on the disc:

• She Done Him Wrong Commentary with Pamela Hutchinson


• Mae West at UCLA (25:31) is an archival audio supplement featuring West at a Q & A held in May 1971 at UCLA after a screening of I'm No Angel. This comes with a warning about audio quality.


• Night After Night Theatrical Trailer (HD: 2:36)


• Night After Night Image Gallery (HD)


• She Done Him Wrong Image Gallery (HD)


• She Done Him Right (HD; 7:54) is a 1933 cartoon in black and white featuring Pooch the Pup.


• The Merry Old Soul (HD; 8:02) is another 1933 cartoon in black and white, this time starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Night After Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mae West was such a force of nature in all of the films in which she starred (and many of which she wrote or at least contributed to the writing of), that it can kind of seem downright weird to see her in a supporting role in an at least somewhat tamped down form. She nevertheless pretty much walks away with this picture, leaving Raft and the trio of other female stars in her dust. Video and audio both have some hurdles to overcome, but the supplemental features are fun. With caveats noted, Recommended.