Tonight's Movie: Night and Day (1946) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

The Warner Bros. musical NIGHT AND DAY (1946), a biography of composer Cole Porter, has recently been released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection.

NIGHT AND DAY, like most '40s musical biopics -- including the previous year's Warner Bros. film RHAPSODY IN BLUE (1945) -- is a fictionalized telling of a composer's life.

In the case of this biography of Cole Porter, NIGHT AND DAY is even more fictionalized than most such films, spinning a story which has only tangential connections to Porter's real life. Anyone looking for a film vs. reality breakdown can easily find it online; I'll leave that to others, approaching NIGHT AND DAY here strictly as a movie.

The movie begins with Cole Porter (Cary Grant) as a student at Yale. Cole's lack of interest in his studies disappoints his grandfather (Henry Stephenson), who dreamed Cole would be a lawyer, but Cole is only interested in music.

Cole's developing career goes off track due to service in World War I, where he is injured, but over time he achieves success. However, his devotion to his career interferes with his romance with wealthy Linda Lee (Alexis Smith), even after their marriage.

There's not a great deal more to the story of this 128-minute film, which has plotting which can only be described as desultory, despite the participation of the usually quippy William Bowers as one of the screenwriters. Bowers wrote the screenplay along with Charles Hoffman and Leo Townsend.

Typically the musical numbers are what make composer biopics worthwhile, as was the case in the even longer RHAPSODY IN BLUE. However, while Ginny Simms provides some needed musical pep, as does a brief song by Mary Martin, some of the numbers are indifferently staged, which was a disappointment. This film had a lot of potential, given the cast and the Porter music, but it never quite comes together as it should have.

Cary Grant is one of my all-time favorite actors -- indeed, this was one of a very small handful of Grant films I'd not yet seen -- but there's no depth to his performance. He marches through much of the film with a frown on his face, partly due to serious injuries; he occasionally, as Linda notes, deigns to smile at her.

Similarly, Smith is lovely but doesn't have much to do other than be patient and try to support Cole's career, which isn't always appreciated by the man she loves.

All that said, one of the things which does make the film worthwhile is the supporting cast. Just as Oscar Levant played himself in RHAPSODY IN BLUE, NIGHT AND DAY features Cole Porter's friend Monty Woolley as himself.

The deep cast also includes Dorothy Malone, Jane Wyman, Eve Arden, Donald Woods, Selena Royle, Victor Francen, and Tom D'Andrea to name just a few, and it's fun watching the parade of great faces pass through the film.

The movie was directed by Michael Curtiz, who was often quite at home directing musicals, but this was one of this lesser efforts. It was filmed by J. Peverell Marley, William V. Skall, and the uncredited Bert Glennon.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray is from a 1080p HD master from 4K scans of the original nitrate Technicolor camera negatives. It looks absolutely fantastic. Although I found the movie slow going, I completely enjoyed the visuals and from that standpoint highly recommend this disc. Sound quality is also excellent.

Disc extras consist of the short MUSICAL MOVIELAND (1944), which runs 21 minutes; the 11-minute short DESI ARNAZ AND HIS ORCHESTRA (1946); a Bugs Bunny cartoon, THE BIG SNOOZE (1946); the trailer; and a song selection menu. As is always the case for Warner Archive Blu-rays, optional English captions are also provided.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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