It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

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

"Remember the Night" is a wonderful movie, a redemptive tale wrapped around a tender love story that has Barbara Stanwyck bringing fought-off tears to the viewers' eyes by the end of the movie. The structure of the story is so symmetrical and balanced that the viewer doesn't realize this amazing effect until the story ends. In the beginning of the movie, Miss Stanwyck is the bad girl thief and Fred MacMurray is the good guy lawyer pitted against each other in the courtroom. The set-up is ordinary and familiar but what ensues is not. By the end of the movie, Miss Stanwyck is the good girl, repentant and Fred MacMurray is the bad guy manipulator, which may cause the viewer to recollect the saying, "there's a whole lot of good in the worst of us and a whole lot of bad in the best of us". Because the good guy lawyer feels guilty about ruining the girl's Christmas, even though he keeps her out of jail for the Christmas , the two embark on a Christmas trip home over the holidays to their beloved shared Hooiser state, Indiana, and the story unfolds. Barbara Stanwyck is so good at making us wonder about her character and revealing her inner feelings just by watching her face on screen even when she is not speaking, showing nuances that drive us to care about her character. This fantastic actress has been so underrated for so many years that it is difficult to believe that she never won an Academy Award (she was robbed!). Throughout the story one wonders how this straight arrow lawyer is going to fall in love with this bad girl thief. He treats her with respect and is good to her but this lawyer has scruples and despite his good nature, he is not going to allow a pretty face and figure dissuade him from putting her in jail when they return to court on January 3rd. In the middle of the movie the hinged event occurs that inverts the story. MacMurray's character realizes that the powerful influence of a mother's love makes a world of difference in the life of a young boy or girl. He sees himself in Miss Stanwyck's character as a young girl and finds out that as kids they both "took" their mother's saved money from the cookie jar for their own selfish reasons. But the big difference is how their respective mother's react to this shared act of thievery. When MacMurray's character realizes this tremendous difference, all of his defenses against the Stanwyck character's feminine charms go down. He falls deeply in love with her. But by now Stanwyck's character is so remorseful about her life of stealing that she doesn't know if she can reform and seeks to distance herself from MacMurray's character so as not to ruin his life by association. Because he loves her, he now deceitfully manipulates courtroom proceedings to prevent her from going to jail. And so, here we are at the end of the movie. This is the part where Barbara Stanwyck pours it on, and fought-off tears appear in the viewer's eyes. Watch it and see for yourself.Best Lines: (While the two are in a clinch in silhouette with the Falls in the distance) MacMurray: Do you know where're going on our honeymoon?; Stanwyck:(reluctantly) No, where?; MacMurray: "Niagara Falls". Stanwyck: (pausing)"….but darling we're already there."Best Tidbit: The excellent songstress who is in the nightclub singing," My Indiana Home" is Martha Mears. The same lady who two years later in 1942 is heard singing, by voice over dubbing for Marjorie Reynolds, the great hit: "White Christmas" as a duo with Bing Crosby in the original release from the movie, "Holiday Inn". For some legal reasons that original duo version of "White Christmas" is not available on any medium but the movie.

I think I was expecting something funnier or something more clever from Preston Sturges, and so I was disappointed in "Remember The Night". It's funny in spots but the storyline is too far-fetched and contrived for the website's present rating.It starts off OK, as shoplifter Stanwyck is pinched shortly before Christmas and appears in a New York courtroom with Mac Murray as the prosecuting attorney. Here ensues a humorous scene, with Willard Robertson as the defense lawyer in what must be his best role. His long-winded and tear-jerking defense causes the trial to be put off until after Christmas, which means Stanwyck will have to spend the holiday in jail.The plot here goes far afield. Feeling sorry for her, MacMurray bails her out, finds out she has nowhere to go and volunteers to drop her off at her home, which is a few towns away from his in Indiana - will wonders never cease, huh? The scene in which her mother disowns her is leaden and tough sledding, and doesn't fit with the general light-hearted theme of the picture. The picture could have lost me right there except for the star power of Fred and Barbara, who guide the picture through some more improbable circumstances until the improbable ending.It plays like a romantic drama, and a pretty fantastic one at that. It is also not typical Sturges stuff. In the website notes it is remarked that Sturges was very displeased with the final cut, so perhaps some essential elements of the story were left on the cutting room floor. I have to think that is a regrettable fact, as this picture desperately needed a rewrite in several places.

With one caveat (below), this is a darned good romantic comedy, and one -- though not well known now -- that was very popular with the public and reviewers.Let's tackle the caveat first. I'm not a prude about how Blacks were depicted in movies from the 1930s through the 1950s. History is history, and it is easy to wonder just how an enlightened Hollywood in many ways could be so insensitive about race. Even historical Blackface doesn't bother me much more than an occasional wince (such as with Bing Crosby's black-face number in "Holiday Inn"). It's part of entertainment/film history. But Hollywood could also be downright cruel when it played the Black stereotype, and to m, this film is a good example of that. Fred "Snowflake" Toones plays a really, really dumb man-servant, and it is pathetically demeaning here. Ironically, Toones -- a prolific supporting actor -- actually also ran the shoeshine stand when he worked at Republic Studios. Shame on the screen writers and director of this film for perpetuating such stereotypes.Beyond that, Barbara Stanwyck plays a shoplifter who is arrested just before Christmas. Fred MacMurray plays the Assistant DA who is assigned to prosecute her. With the trial beginning just before Christmas, he sees the writing on the wall -- that the holiday spirit will probably lead to an acquittal. So, he postpones the trail and posts her bail so she won't spend the holiday in jail. Although soft-pedaled, she thinks he's hitting on her...which he isn't. But soon, romance begins to weave its way into the relationship, and he offers to drop her off at her hometown in Indiana on his way home for Christmas. Unfortunately, on the way to Indiana, MacMurray and Stanwyck get arrested and then flee the law. When Stanwyck's mother rejects her (albeit for reason), MacMurray invites her to his mother's home for Christmas. MacMurray tells his mother about Stanwyck's past. But before leaving, MacMurray's mother has a chat with Stanwyck, reminding her of the hard work MacMurray put in to reach his role as Asst DA. Stanwyck agrees to give him up. On the way back to the city -- via Canada so as to avoid the small town judge where they had been arrested -- MacMurray offers to let her escape, but she refuses. She goes on trial in New York for the shoplifting charge, but she realizes he is being particularly cruel toward "a woman" on the stand so that the jury will feel sorry for her and not convict her...which might land him in hot water. So, she pleads guilty. She goes to jail, but tells him that if he still loves her after jail, then she'll marry him.This is another example of what a wonderfully affable actor Fred MacMurray was in his prime Hollywood years. Far more than the man too many Americans only remember from "My Three Sons". And, this is one of Barbara Stanwyck's best roles. Also notable are three supporting actors -- Stanwyck's mother is played by Beulah Bondi, her cousin by Sterling Holloway, and his aunt by Elizabeth Patterson. Bondi is the classic old-fashioned mother figure, and is welcome in most any film; though very good here, this may not be her best role. Holloway is no favorite of mine, but here he sings a wonderful version of "The End Of A Perfect Day", and after being very unappealing early in his scenes, turns in a rather sensitive performance. And Patterson is another of those "old lady" character actresses who just seems so very right.There are a few aspects of this film that unrealistic, but the story is heartwarming, even a bit uplifting. Yet it is not sugary...after all Stanwyck does go to prison and for quite a long time.Highly recommended.

Four years before they were murder (in "Double Indemnity") and five years before she learned how to flip pancakes (in "Christmas in Connecticut"), Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck were dynamic in this Mitchell Leissen comedy/drama that will leave you merry but weary from crying. It's just before the holidays in New York City, and shoplifter Barbara Stanwyck is caught trying to hawk a bracelet she just stole from another jewelers. D.A. Fred MacMurray is raring to get out of town for the holidays, but must first prosecute her case. He is not happy, yet he won't be happy if he leaves her behind bars over Christmas. So what does he do? He takes her home with him, of course! It's not that simple, but MacMurray does agree to drop her off in Ohio to see her mother who is not welcoming at all. But being a "Hoosier" (from Indiana), MacMurray does agree to host her for the holidays along with his widowed mother (Beulah Bondi), spinster aunt (Elizabeth Patterson) and sweet farmhand (Sterling Holloway). They are more than happy to have her, sure a romance is brewing. For a small town girl gone wrong like Stanwyck, this is heaven. And slowly but surely, the two fall in love, even though she's sure to get jail time when they get back to Manhattan.One of three Christmas movies made by the wonderful Barbara Stanwyck ("Meet John Doe" is the other), "Remember the Night" is an almost forgotten gem which has been rediscovered by film connoisseurs and is now considered a classic (not just another old movie). At the heart of its story is the message of what Christmas really is about-giving of oneself, not just to family, but to strangers as well. Once MacMurray realizes this, he finds that the reward is magic. There are so many wonderful moments in this timeless film that the best way to learn about them isn't to read reviews, but to watch the film. This cynical world of ours may find films like this overly sentimental, but it is sentiment which keeps us sane over the holidays. For me, the highlight is MacMurray's family and Stanwyck singing "A Perfect Day", as well as some sweet scenes between Stanwyck and Patterson, and later Stanwyck and Bondi, the later almost bittersweet. Georgia Caine is darkly cold as Stanwyck's mother who takes great pains to remind Stanwyck (in front of MacMurray) what a rotten child she was. Leissen took great care to make the ending a bit more realistic than it could have been. The mixture of comedy and pathos makes for great viewing of one of the best emotional screenplays (by the brilliant Preston Sturges) ever put on celluloid.