THE MIDNIGHT GIRL

(director/writer: Wilfred Noy; screenwriters: Jean Conover/story by Garrett Fort; cinematographers: Frank Zukor/G.W. Bitzer; editor: Paul F. Maschke; cast: Bela Lugosi (Nicholas Harmon), Lila Lee (Anna), Gareth Hughes (Don Harmon), Charlotte Walker (Mrs. Schuyler), Dolores Cassinelli (Nina), Flora Finch (Landlady), Ruby Blaine (Natalie Schuyler); Runtime: 84; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: I.E. Chadwick; Video Yesterday; 1925-silent)

“The silent drama has Bela Lugosi sporting a goatee.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The silent drama has Bela Lugosi sporting a goatee in the film directed by the British stage actor Wilfred Noy (“The Devil’s Cage”/”Eager Lips”/”Father O’Flynn“). It’s based on a story by Garrett Fort, and is written by Noy and Jean Conover.

Lugosi plays the wealthy American opera impresario Nicolas Harmon. Lila Lee plays the Russian singer Anna, who is trying to get work in opera. At the club where Nicolas’s estranged step-son Don (Gareth Hughes) is the orchestra leader, Anna dances in the floor-show to a number entitled “The Midnight Girl.” Don arranges for his step-dad to see Anna perform at the club. Later, at the study of the elder Harmon, he makes a pass at his son’s girlfriend, and she responds by throwing an object at him. It misses him but it hits Nina (Dolores Cassinelli), who is hiding behind a curtain. Nina is the temperamental diva, the current opera house lead singer romantically linked to Nicolas. She has been let go because she’s losing her voice.

After that embarrassing incident, everything comes up smelling roses as Lugosi comes to his senses and rights his wrong.

REVIEWED ON 4/17/2015 GRADE: B-