If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I'm sure that Louis B. Mayer got a good price to loan out William Powell to RKO for Star Of Midnight. No doubt he was thinking of the sequel to the immensely popular The Thin Man that was already on the boards at MGM.Over at MGM Nick Charles was a reluctant detective who liked his new bride, martinis, and mysteries in that order. In Star Of Midnight Clay Dalzell is a reluctant detective who likes the legal profession, Ginger Rogers, martinis, and mysteries in that order. The new star of a late night revue in Manhattan walks off the stage and just disappears. Powell's playboy friend Leslie Fenton who has been looking for her says she's a girl from Chicago he knew and when she saw him in the audience she took off. Gossip columnist Russell Hopton says he knows why and is about to tell Powell when he's bumped off and Powell wounded in the same attack.Of course that gives Powell a nice reason to sleuth. He has to do it with the help of Ginger Rogers who just wants to get him to the altar.RKO got Powell a little later in the decade as another amateur detective in The Ex-Mrs. Bradford. Similar story with Jean Arthur as a former wife who can't stay away.A cast of familiar players make up the suspect list. The eventual murderer, all I can say is that it was one original disguise that was used.Fans of The Thin Man will enjoy Star Of Midnight.

Watching some of her movies when growing up with my mum and dad,the only thing that I know about Ginger Rogers is her famous on screen partner Fred Astaire.Taking a look on BBC iPlayer,I was intrigued to find a non-Astaire Rogers film,which led to me gingerly getting set to meet the star of midnight.The plot:Whilst trying to track down a friends missing girlfriend, Clay 'Dal' Dalzell attends a show with pal Donna Mantin.During the performance,it hits Dalzell that stage singer Mary Smith, (dubbed "Star of Midnight") (who dresses in black with a veil covering her face)is the missing girlfriend.Yelling out this fact (smart move!) Dalzell causes Smith to run off stage and disappear. Being a fellow audience member,gossip columnist Tommy Tennant claims to have secret details on Smith,but is mysteriously killed in Dalzell's apartment. Faced with his life of luxury coming to an end,Dalzell has to prove his innocence before the midnight hour. View on the film:Stepping on stage a week after completing Roberta,(and after Midnight,she would 6 days later start filming Top Hat!) the glamorous Ginger Rogers gives a sparkling performance as Mantin,with Rogers making the light Screwball Comedy exchanges with Dalzell flow across the screen,and Rogers giving Mantin a pleasant, somewhat clumsy, investigating eye. Showing no sign of being a "thin" presence on screen, William Powell gives a debonair performance as Dalzell,who appears to solve the case with a mere click of the fingers,whilst Powell gives his one line exchanges with Rogers a dry wit.Rolling out their adaptation of Arthur Somers Roche's book just 2 years after Prohibition ended,the screenplay by Howard J. Green/ Anthony Veiller & Edward Kaufman sips up the new era with everyone having a drink in hand,and a number of Mantin's and Dalzell's exchanges being drink puns. Presenting a caper tale on the works,the writers strike a fine balance between easy-going Comedy and a mystery with some sly (and an ending which beats Scobby Doo by decades!)turn,as every attempt Dalzell makes to unmask the killer,leads to himself. Whilst the movie does craft an eerie women in black and fully displays Rogers lavish costumes,director Stephen Roberts disappointingly keeps things stage-bound,with would-be set- pieces being kept off screen via conversations between the two,as Roberts gives the caper a Film Noir atmosphere unmasking,as the star of midnight sings for the last time.

Before watching this film, I need to mention that the co-star of this film, Ginger Rogers, plays a woman named 'Miss Mantin'. This character is NOT to be confused with the character from "The Mad Miss Manton"--a detective film starring Jean Arthur and William Powell. And, to make it more confusing, "Star of Midnight" is ALSO a detective movie starring William Powell as a hard-drinking gentleman amateur crime-solver!! William Powell plays a lawyer, 'Dal' Dalzell. A murder is committed in his apartment and he's shot (and only slightly injured) by the killer. When the cops come to investigate, one wants to arrest Powell (which makes no sense--and the cop is a stereotypical idiot cop you find in these sort of films). The other (J. Farrell MacDondald) is MUCH more pragmatic and does something I can't recall any other cop doing in a film--he lets Powell do all the investigating and just waits for Powell to uncover the killer!! This is a GREAT thing about the film, as is the nice repartee between Powell and Rogers. As a result, it's a fun and enjoyable film--in the same tradition as Powell's "Thin Man" movies. The only drawback concerns the crime itself. It seems like some things were missing and the heroes made a few logical jumps in reasoning--like the writer needed to hash out the story just a bit better. Still, it's enjoyable and worth a look.

My first favorite is Clifton Webb's bathroom in "Laura". When I win the lottery, I plan to hand the DVD of "Laura" to the finest interior decorator money can hire and say, "Create Waldo Lydecker's bathroom for me." Now that I've seen "Star of Midnight", I will have to add, "And incorporate William Powell's shower." Besides the fantastic Art Deco sets, Star of Midnight is enjoyable for the excellent comic yet suave performance by William Powell. Perhaps inspired by Powell, Ginger Rogers is less wooden than usual, and I (no Ginger fan) found myself rooting for her in her pursuit of marital bliss. Paul Kelly, Gene Lockhart and J. Farrell MacDonald turn in respectable if not particularly memorable performances. The only two clucks in the bunch are Leslie Fenton as the young man in search of a lost love (even if they scraped off the pancake makeup and the extra eyeliner he still would only have one expression in his repertoire), and a clod-footed "comic" turn by Robert Emmett O'Connor as a dumb police detective. Fortunately, they have very few scenes. I enjoyed "Star of Midnight", especially for William Powell's performance, and will watch it again and again.