Micitype Pretty Good

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

bkoganbing Life truly does imitate art as this pretend story about the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was to find a real life counterpart in the United Kingdom a year after The Night Is Young was released. One wonders if Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson saw this film before plunging their empire into a potentially chaotic situation.Henry Stephenson playing a most regal Emperor Franz Josef tells his playboy nephew to get those wild oats sowed because he's got to settle down, marry a suitable princess and begat some Hapsburg heirs. Nephew Ramon Novarro has someone in mind he wants to marry, the Emperor wants him to marry Rosalind Russell who is of high rank enough to satisfy royalty requirements. To throw the Emperor off the scent Novarro says he's been having a fling with dancer Evelyn Laye while both are attending the ballet. Then having to make good on it, he hires Evelyn to play his mistress so he can sow his real oats elsewhere. I think you can see where all this is going. The Night Is Young is a combination of Novarro's own silent role from The Student Prince and The Merry Widow which MGM did the year before. In fact such cast members as Edward Everett Horton and Herman Bing are in this one as well.Sigmund Romberg wrote the music with Oscar Hammerstein, II supplying the lyrics and libretto. The film was a flop at the time, but one of Romberg's songs When I Grow Too Old To Dream became one of his most beloved classics.As we also know the film also is similar in some ways to the real life Hapsburg tragedy at Mayerling. I'm surprised no one ever thought of casting Novarro as Prince Rudolf, he has the proper delicacy in his screen persona to carry that part off, especially on the silent screen.The Night Is Young is typical Viennese frou-frou which was passing out of public taste at the time. Seen today it's not the best of Sigmund Romberg operettas, but not so terribly bad as people thought back in the day.

MartinHafer It takes a special sort of person to enjoy this film--a person who likes ultra-sappy operetta music. So, if you think that Janette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy films are the greatest things EVER, then you'll no doubt enjoy "The Night is Young"--even though neither of these stars are in the film. However, I do not, as I happen to be sane!! Sure, a few of the songs (the ones without the opera-like singing) are cute, but for the most part, when Evelyn Laye sings, I felt like screaming. It's amazing that such high-pitched caterwauling was popular in the 1930s and 40s, but today you'd be very, very hard-pressed to find anyone who'd like this sort of 'singing'. Oddly, however, Charles Butterworth of all people sang quite a bit in the film--even though he's certainly not a singer with his thin voice. But despite this, he was a delight throughout the film--even when he sang.The story is likely inspired by a sad true-life story. Back in the late 19th century, Crown Prince Rudolf of the Austria-Hungarian empire fell for a woman of not especially noble birth. His father (Emperor Franz Josef) forbade the romance--as love has nothing to do with marriage! Franz Josef's own marriage was a loveless disaster and by gum, so would Rudolf's--marriages were simply ways of forging political alliances...period. So, in a very tragic turn, it appears that Rudolf killed his lover and then himself! None of this is alluded to in the film. Instead, Franz Josef has ANOTHER son (something he did not have in real life) and this one also falls for a commoner--but with non-tragic results.The perennial lover of the 20s and 30s, Ramon Novarro, plays the handsome Prince. While he was always very good in such roles, it seemed weird that this guy had a strong Mexican accent. Laye (a really, really bad name for an actress) plays the commoner who ADORES singing. As for Una Merkel and Butterworth, they were welcome as comic relief. Oddly, however, the usually wonderful Edward Everett Horton (one of the best comic supporting actors of his age) was mostly wasted and had little opportunity to play his usual lovable befuddled self.Overall, the film had quite a few cute moments and the romance wasn't bad, but the singing had the effect of derailing the film. Too old fashioned and too schmaltzy, this film could have been lovely, but is simply not worth your time unless you are a die-hard Butterworth fan!

samhill5215 If you like operettas this is one you'll want to see. Released in 1935, it contains elements from earlier, pre-code days, such as the scene where Evelyn Laye puts on her stockings. It's pure cheese, probably inserted for no other reason than effect since it has absolutely no bearing on the story. In any case it's a minor and not unwelcome blemish on what is otherwise a very enjoyable film. Ramon Novarro is as always adorable (he even sings) and the chemistry between him and Evelyn Laye quite unforced and believable. The songs are also quite good and I found myself whistling their tunes later on that day. The whole thing has a feel of levity, airiness, joy and fun. And the ending is realistic to boot.My only complaint is the casting of Charles Butterworth as the love object of Una Merkel. At 39 he was definitely too old to be introduced as a 'young man' by Novarro and perhaps not too old for 33-year old Una Merkel but he just looked so much older, more like a man in his 50s, while Merkel looked like she was in her 20s.

Chung Mo Evelyn Laye is the standout amoung a cast of familiar 30's character actors. I never saw her before and she walks away with this film. It seems she dropped out of the movies after this to work on stage again. The rest of the cast is fine and the photography and direction are stand outs. It's occasionally on TCM here in the US. The print is in very good shape but the audio is fuzzy in a few scenes. Recommended