This Is the Night Information

This Is the Night is a 1932 comedy film made by Paramount Pictures, and directed by Frank Tuttle. The film stars Lili Damita, Charles Ruggles, Roland Young, Thelma Todd, and Cary Grant.

It is based on the 1923 play Pouche by Henri Falk and René Peter, and the 1925 English-language adaptation Naughty Cinderella written by Avery Hopwood. The plays had already been adapted for film once before as Good and Naughty (1926) with Pola Negri.

This is the Night is Cary Grant's feature film debut. He disliked his role, believing that a man accepting the unfaithfulness of his wife so calmly was unbelievable. After seeing the film, he decided to quit the movie industry; his friend Orry-Kelly talked him out of it.

Plot

When Claire Mathewson's (Thelma Todd) husband Stephen (Cary Grant) comes back unexpectedly from the 1932 Summer Olympics, where he was supposed to compete in the javelin throw, he discovers the train tickets for a romantic Venice getaway she has planned with her lover Gerald (Roland Young). Gerald's friend Bunny (Charles Ruggles) lies and says that the tickets are actually for Gerald and his wife. With Stephen still suspicious, Gerald must find a fake wife to go to Venice with him. He tries to hire the actress Chou-Chou (Claire Dodd), but since her boyfriend is a jealous man, she gives the job to out-of-work Germaine (Lili Damita), who needs the 2000 franc fee to keep from starving. At first, Gerald thinks she is too demure, but she soon convinces him that she can pretend to be a glamorous wife.

The two couples go to Venice. Bunny, attracted to Germaine, decides to join them. On the train, Stephen questions Gerald and Germaine about how they met. When they arrive in Venice, Claire quickly becomes jealous, as both Stephen and Gerald seem fascinated by Germaine. Claire eventually demands that Gerald send Germaine away immediately, so he orders her to leave the next day. Meanwhile, a drunken Bunny climbs a ladder into Germaine's bedroom and offers to take her away. After she turns down his offer, he falls into a canal on his way out and is apprehended by two policemen. Stephen believes he hears a burglar and goes to her room to investigate. The two are then caught in a seemingly compromising position by Gerald and Claire. However, Bunny reappears and explains what really happened. Her love for her husband rekindled, Claire breaks off her affair with Gerald. Germaine reveals to Gerald that she is not in fact Chou-Chou and decides to return to Paris, but Gerald catches up to her in a gondola and asks her to marry him.

Cast

• Lili Damita as Germaine
• Charles Ruggles as Bunny West
• Roland Young as Gerald Grey
• Thelma Todd as Claire
• Cary Grant as Stephen
• Irving Bacon as Sparks, Gerald's chauffeur. In a running gag, he accidentally snags Claire's dress repeatedly, for example in a limousine door or luggage, causing her to lose her clothing.
• Davison Clark as Studio Official (uncredited)
• Gino Corrado as Manager of Neapolitan Hotel (uncredited)
• Claire Dodd as Chou-Chou (uncredited)
• Alex Melesh as Porter (uncredited)
• Donald Novis as Singing Gondolier (uncredited)
• Tiny Sandford as Porter (uncredited)
• Rolfe Sedan as Boulevardier (uncredited)
• Harry Semels as Man in the Manhole (uncredited)