Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

First off, anyone who watches this film because it's a John Wayne film (like me) may be disappointed because he is really a supporting actor. This is because he'd only been a regular starring actor in small-budget B-Westerns and in larger budget films he was mostly in secondary roles until the mid-to-late 1940s. Second, because the Wayne screen persona was not yet solidified, lovers of the Duke might also be shocked to see that for most of the film he plays a love-sick man who loses his woman to another. Had the later Wayne been in such a situation, he no doubt would have slugged the other suitor and drug off the woman for some lovin'--John Wayne style!! The real star of this film is Joan Blondell. Unlike Wayne, her star was starting to fall, as her prime as a leading lady was definitely the 1930s. Here she is a bit older and heavier, but this is also perfect for her role as a casino owner and singer.Blondell's ambition is to leave the casino life to Wayne and marry a society man in order to ensure herself a play in polite society. Unfortunately, she's seen as a woman of low virtue and the only man she can find to marry is a drunk from a previously wealthy and well-heeled family.Her welcome into the new family was not surprisingly rocky, as one of her new sister-in-laws was just plain evil. The longer the film progresses, the more evil and juicy this role becomes--making this a pretty exciting film and characterization. Ultimately, the plot takes a very dramatic twist near the end until it is all wrapped up nicely in the end.The only serious negative about the film is that the plantation she moves to in Reconstruction-era Memphis is ridiculous and full of racist stereotypes. No, the Blacks do not eat watermelon or act as bad as Stepin Fetchit, but they play out an even more insidious role--happy Blacks who are content with the good treatment by their White "betters". This over-idealistic view of the South is insulting and may raise a few eyebrows. Try to look past this to see that you still have the basis of a very good film.

Lady for a Night is a Joan Blondell film with John Wayne as her leading man. It is not a John Wayne picture, I repeat not a John Wayne picture. If you're looking for fights, or shootouts, this ain't the film for you to see. The Duke plays a part that would normally go to an actor like Ray Milland. He's the political boss of Memphis and the old Southern gentry of the town, tow his line. John Wayne even has a bodyguard, Leonid Kinsky. Who'd have ever thunk that.Wayne and Blondell are partners in a riverboat gambling ship. Wayne would like to make it a matrimonial partnership. But Blondell, who's a girl from the wrong side of the tracks wants some respectability as well as money. When Ray Middleton gambles away the title to the old Alderson family estate, Blondell offers to marry him to save the good gentry from being thrown out on their duffs. It's a marriage she has soon cause to regret.Blondell sings a nice number entitled Up In a Balloon on the riverboat stage and I bet she was looking around for Busby Berkeley. Kind of strange to see her singing without the splashy Warner Brothers production around her. But her performance was effective, the best in the film.What struck me so curious was that they seem to have grabbed off characters from other films and tossed them here. Hattie Noel plays Blondell's black maid and it's a total ripoff of Hattie McDaniel from Gone With the Wind. Edith Barrett and Blanche Yurka play Middleton's aunts, Barrett good, Yurka evil. Edith Barrett copied Patricia Collinge as Birdie Bagtry Hubbard from The Little Foxes and Yurka is another Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca.Still it does mix well and while it's not a great film, Lady for a Night is a passably decent one, though it's far from the usual Duke.

Jenny Blake is the owner of a river boat for gambling, dancing, drinking and women – suffice to say that she is not really accepted into polite society in the way she always dreamed of being. So when she is voted the Queen of the Mardi Gras, Jenny is overjoyed, only to be upset when she learns that her business partner Jack Morgan helped her by rigging the whole contest. So whenever drunken plantation owner Alan Alderson gets into serious debt with the gambling boat Jenny proposes to wipe out the debts in return for his hand in marriage and the fast track into high class society. However, not all those in that circle are that happy with her sudden rise above her station, especially Aunt Julia who is determined to get rid of her by any means necessary.I cannot remember why I decided to tape this film and, now that I've watched it I still have no idea – although I'm sure it was down to some sort of obsessive compulsion than any great attraction of the film! Anyway, the plot is a simple one of social climbing where Jenny tries to get away from her own level only to find that those above her don't want her to climb. You pretty much know where it is going from the first 20 minutes, although the plot still manages to be unlikely as well as predictable. It is nothing special but it isn't awful or annoying – it is just rather bland. The drama side is plodding and obvious, while the comedy is laugh free and relies more on energy than anything else. The couple of songs act well as distraction and filler but they are only OK. These produce a film that just looks to keep you happy for about 90 minutes but not do anything special during that time or have any impact past the end credits.The characters are very simply painted in the script and are simply delivered by the cast. Blondell is OK but she is hardly 'trash' is she and we never doubt what will happen to her ideals by the end. Wayne is a secondary character who's only purpose is to be a decent man who turns up every 10 minutes to help Blondell in some way. The support cast of Aldersons are very much join the dots and the actors are only average. There are a large amount of black characters, with two main ones in comedy roles – modern audiences may find them hard to watch because they are ethnic stereotypes that are overplayed for comedic effect. At first I was a bit taken aback by this (although I know it is of its time) but then I thought about modern movies that do the same thing (albeit with a cooler, hip hop, ebonics stereotype) and wondering if, in 50 years, that these films would be viewed as rather racist. Anyway, it was interesting to see the stereotypes but I must admit to have been a bit caught off guard when John Wayne threatened to send Hattie Noel 'back to Africa'!Overall this is an instantly forgettable movie that only wants to keep you semi-entertained for the running time without doing anything special or making a lasting impression. Maybe it is the presence of John Wayne that has meant it still pops up on television with some regularity because other than that I really have no clue as to why it has not been just forgotten by time.

The prior review was excellent. But the movie is set in Memphis not New Orleans, even though the Mardi Gras opening would belie that. And Joan Blondell's character is the one who proposes the marriage, not the other way around. All in all, it's very entertaining movie which deserves a better reputation.