21 Comments

  1. I love this movie. The Fred Toones character makes me cringe, too, but everything else about it is wonderful. And you’re right about MacMurray.

  2. Great job, Leah. Thanks for reminding me I need this duo pairing again in this film. I agree about globe night. I loved that speech by Hanks and his respect for Barbara.

  3. This is one of those movies that I seem to love the more I see…and to appreciate more. You make a great point about Fred MacMurray. He’s another actor I admire the more I see him!

  4. I made my mom watch this movie with me, but she only laughed harder at the cross-eyed grandpa. On the other hand, I really liked the yodeler servant – we don’t see many of them nowadays, do we?
    And it is a beautiful story – one that teaches us that love means sacrifice, and a lot of surprises along the way.
    Don’t forget to read my contribution to the blogathon! 🙂
    Kisses!
    Le
    http://www.criticaretro.blogspot.com

  5. Thank you for pointing out the terrible portrayals of Indiana. I watched June Bride with my mom once, a comedy with Bette Davis and Robert Montgomery visiting Indiana, and my mom was so annoyed at the amount of times they said “Hoosiers.” We’re not all backwards folk, and Remember the Night thankfully doesn’t give in to that idea. This is a movie I need to watch again — I enjoyed it the first time, but your post has pointed out things I missed or didn’t fully appreciate. Very, very nice job.

  6. This film has just the right amount of sentimentality, and I agree that was probably mostly due to Sturges. Obviously Stanwyck gives a wonderful performance, but it’s always MacMurray I look out for – he might not have been the obvious choice, but he was the right one!

  7. John’s family life is charmingly portrayed and appears idyllic to Lee especially when compared to what she has known. However, the characters of the mother and aunt don’t have it perfect and that’s okay – they live wonderful lives on their own terms and create something beautiful through their strength. At the end of the movie, Lee is about to do the same thing.

    Or as I once said to someone years ago – same thing, every December, I have a glass of red wine, watch “Remember the Night” and have a good cry.

  8. I really like this film – MacMurray took a while to grow on me, but has definitely done so now, and he makes a great combination with Stanwyck in this. Interesting comment about the portrayal of Indiana – as a Brit, I’ve never really noticed stereotyping of particular states in American films, but will watch out for this in future.

    • They are very good together. Yes, Hollywood likes to stereotype Southern and Midwestern states in particular, and when covering the former makes comic mistakes in terms of accents (my favorite Anthony Lane comment about Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor: “his accent takes a patriotic tour of several states.”) I’m sure you’ve noticed the same kinds of ridiculous accent mistakes in Hollywood films about Brits:)

  9. Dear Leah,

    Greetings from the Pure Entertainment Preservation Society! This is a fine article about a truly wonderful movie. Mr. Sturges did indeed do a brilliant job in this film, as did everyone else involved with it, including the director, the actors, the editors, and the self-regulators!

    I, Rebekah Brannan, have not participated much in the blog world in the past, but I intend to become more involved now.

    I would like very much for you to participate in my upcoming blogathon, The Singing Sweethearts Blogathon, which will be my first real participation in PEPS. This blogathon, which will be hosted around Valentine’s Day, is celebrating the famous singing team Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.

    You can read the rules of the blogathon at: https://pureentertainmentpreservationsociety.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/ring-the-assembly-bell-here-comes-the-singing-sweethearts-blogathon/. If you want to join, please comment and tell me your topic, if you have chosen one. I hope you’ll join me in honoring this brilliant team and the holiday of love!

    Joyfully,

    Rebekah Brannan

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