Although Night After Night is not a comedy, it has many comedic moments, especially with the comic relief of West, who plays a supporting role in her screen debut.
Plot
Joe Anton (Raft) is a speakeasy owner who falls in love with socialite Miss Healy (Cummings). He takes lessons in high-class mannerisms from Mabel Jellyman (Skipworth). Joe does not know that Miss Healy only pays attention to him because he lives in the elegant building that her family lost in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. After a risky encounter with his old flame Iris Dawn (Gibson) involving a gun, Miss Healy kisses him. Joe is ready to marry her, but she's engaged to her friend Mr. Bolton, although admits she's just marrying him for his money.[2]
Infuriated at her gold digging, Joe tears into her, before leaving to pursue Iris instead. Miss Healy follows him back to the speakeasy to tell him off, but she realizes that she has genuinely fallen in love with him. Meanwhile, Maudie Triplett (West) befriends Mrs. Jellyman and offers to hire her as a hostess in one of her elegant beauty parlors.[3]
Cast
Mae West in publicity photo for Night After NightLobby card
West portrays a fictionalized version of Texas Guinan. The film is primarily remembered as the launching pad for her career. Raft campaigned to cast his friend and former employer Guinan herself but the studio opted for West since she was nine years younger. Raft believed that the part would have launched a major film career for Guinan (then aged 48), which proved to be the case for West instead. West was reportedly a fan of Guinan and incorporated some of the flamboyant Guinan's ideas into her own acts.[4]
The film was Raft's first leading role and came about due to response to his work in Scarface. According to Filmink "this picture is best best remembered today for introducing Mae West to cinema audiences – and she’s brilliant – but Raft was excellent too as a former gangster turned nightclub manager who is having a mid life crisis."[5]
