At only 58 minutes the film packs a lot of drama into its running time. Murder, humour, adultery, violence, philosophy, dancing, tragedy and love to name a few. It is impressively filmed from the saucy opening montage to the final scene in the snowy street. Set in a nightclub over one night it weaves together several stories, light and dark. Tim the Doorman says of the people in the night club,"Most all them folks is starving for something, and it ain't food."
The cast is fine; Lew Ayres as the deeply troubled young man, Boris Karloff as the club owner beset by gangsters and his unfaithful wife, Dorothy Revier as the wife, Russell Hopton as the 'other man', Byron Foulger as a very gay man and the great Clarence Muse as the doorman worrying about his sick wife. One of the club dancers is played by Mae Clarke and she is the shining centre of the film. Clarke gives a feisty and radiant performance. It baffles one how under used she was in films and never got to be a big star.
It has been called a low budget 'Grand Hotel' but it stands on its own very well.
The cast is fine; Lew Ayres as the deeply troubled young man, Boris Karloff as the club owner beset by gangsters and his unfaithful wife, Dorothy Revier as the wife, Russell Hopton as the 'other man', Byron Foulger as a very gay man and the great Clarence Muse as the doorman worrying about his sick wife. One of the club dancers is played by Mae Clarke and she is the shining centre of the film. Clarke gives a feisty and radiant performance. It baffles one how under used she was in films and never got to be a big star.
It has been called a low budget 'Grand Hotel' but it stands on its own very well.