Infidelity has rarely been funnier than in This Is the Night, the Pre-Code comedy directed by Frank Tuttle, which tells the story of a pair of lovers whose romantic journey to Venice is disrupted by the major inconvenience that comes in the form of a spouse returning from an overseas trip long before he was supposed to, which only leads to more confusion. The era before the implementation of the Motion Picture Production Code was a time in which any stories could be told, granted they didn’t rely too heavily on excessively controversial subject matter, which ultimately led to films like this being made, where a subject as scintillating as infidelity could not only be the main propellant of a film, but done in a way where it isn’t necessarily derided, but rather viewed as an act of dishonesty and duplicity, something that would take films many decades to fully explore once the draconian standards of Will H. Hays and his cohorts were in full effect. Even if we look beyond the actual storyline, and focus on how Tuttle (who deserves much wider recognition for having made a wide range of fascinating films) tells this story, we can find reasons to love This Is the Night, which is almost certainly one of the funniest and most insightful social satires of its era. Adapted from an early 20th-century French farce, which was subsequently adapted into English on both stage and screen in prior years, the film is a tremendously entertaining series of riveting provocations that remind us that, even in its earliest years, Hollywood was capable of pushing boundaries that still seem fresh and exciting by contemporary standards.

Despite the subject matter and very playful approach to looking at it, This Is the Night is not flippant or inappropriate, so any allegations that it condones or encourages infidelity can only come from a fundamental misreading of the film. What Tuttle and screenwriters Benjamin Glazer and George Marion Jr. are doing is constructing a very funny film about despicable people, which was cutting-edge at a time when most major productions were focused on having likeable protagonists that are the embodiment of morality, with all controversial subjects matter being filtered through the villains, who pay the consequences. In this film, every character is essentially taking on the role of the unethical antagonist to some degree, since they’re all relatively lacking in morals, at least in terms of what puritanical beliefs would lead you to understand. The film is navigating a very narrow boundary between excusing the behaviour of these characters, and looking at it critically – even the actors themselves spoke about the process of playing characters who were so easily swayed in terms of accepting infidelity was a difficult aspect. Yet, we shouldn’t expect comedies to always portray the most moral individuals, and it’s perfectly justifiable to make a film that draws laughter from the misadventures of dishonest people and still gives them a happy ending. This kind of darkly satirical narrative would only be fully realised in later decades, making This Is the Night a film radically ahead of its time, so much so that even the existence of this film in the year 1932 (when certain subjects were seen as taboo) seems impossible since it’s not often we see a film so willing to go against not only artistic standards but actual ethical issues, which remains relevant today.

Every kind of comedy is compressed into This Is the Night, almost to the point where it becomes something of a dizzying experience, but not one that is in any way unpleasant or overly difficult to understand. Tuttle had an interesting perspective as a director, having worked in several genres, producing fascinating work in every one of them – and many ways, he may have struggled to gauge exactly the kind of approach needed for this story, since not only was the narrative itself quite peculiar and not at all adherent to any particular genre, but this film is the accumulation of several years of the source material being adapted on both stage and screen and in several different languages. The only way to figure out which sub-genre of comedy fits this film best is simply to try all of them, which is an ambitious but worthwhile tactic, and one that pays off exceptionally well. The humour underpinning the film is drawn from a range of different styles – it starts as an off-kilter musical (which recurs sporadically throughout), before becoming a lovable comedy-of-errors, taking a wild turn into an outright farce, and ending as an adorable and vaguely melancholy romantic comedy. It’s a strangely experimental work, and a tremendous forerunner to the screwball comedy genre, which was still in its infancy, along with another iconic Pre-Code comedy, the astonishing Merrily We Go to Hell, it helped define a style of storytelling that may have bewildered and shocked audiences at the time but set the groundwork for future entries, which owe enormous gratitude to the filmmakers willing to infuse their projects with more controversial subject matter for the sake of challenging conventions, all the while producing hilarious works in the process.

One of the primary reasons behind classifying This Is the Night as a forerunner to the screwball comedy, rather than an early entry into the genre, comes in how the characters function – rather than focusing on two central characters and a range of supporting players, the film employs a cast of five actors, each one of equal importance, making this is a true ensemble effort. Part of this comes in how the story functions – none of these characters have a more important point-of-view than any other, which allows the focus of the film to be weighted relatively equally amongst them. It also helps that the actors are all uniformly terrific Lili Damita and Thelma Todd are wonderful as the female leads, playing characters who are more than just objects of desire, but rather complex, interesting individuals with autonomy and a distinct set of opinions and ambitions, which drive the film. Roland Young and Cary Grant are their male counterparts, the latter being of particular note, as he was still a very young and untested actor, with This Is the Night being one of his first major roles after a few years of almost inconsequential appearances in other films (the aforementioned Merrily We Go to Hell being one of the first times he was noticed on screen). Then finally, between the two couples is Charles Ruggles, who steals every scene he is in as the only character whose stakes only lie with making those around him happy, to discover that he is the one that benefits from the schism between them. The quintet all play off each other exceptionally well and develop characters that are meaningful and very funny, while still being well-formed and far from thinly veiled archetypes, which is a credit both to the excellent writing and the actors tasked with bringing it to life.

This Is the Night is a tremendously entertaining film that has unfortunately found itself being buried under a mystifying level of obscurity, known and loved almost solely by those with either a devotion to the actors in the film (Grant in particular, in which case it exists as more of a footnote when referring to the early days of his career, rather than a star-making performance) or a working knowledge of the Pre-Code era. However, it stands as undeniably one of the best of its era, where the fact that few people know of its existence seems like it is discovering a wonderful little gem of a film, albeit one that should be ideally appreciated by a much wider audience. The jokes are constant, fresh and incredibly funny, and the film never feels stilted or unnatural – the romance is palpable, the humour direct and the sense of wonder distinct. Tuttle is not a director I particularly adore all the time (his most notable effort, This Gun for Hire, was an enormous disappointment), but when he has a good story, he can string together elements in a very special and meaningful way, which only adds to the genuine mystique that persists throughout this film. Funny, heartwarming and a genuinely solid, entertaining work of cinema, This Is the Night is a triumph that deserves to be pulled out of the depths of obscurity and appreciated as a true classic of an era where the most provocative discussions could be concealed under a layer of earnest humour and neverending charm, which is exactly what this film thrives at producing.