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Midnight Alibi
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Wikipedia article
'Midnight Alibi' is a 1934 pre-Code crime comedy-drama directed by Alan Crosland, produced by First National Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. and starring Richard Barthelmess.[http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=6263 The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: 'Midnight Alibi'] Midnight Alibi is an adaptation of Damon Runyon's 1933 short story 'The Old Doll's House'.[https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A01E6D8123CE23ABC4C53DFB166838F629EDE NYTimes.com: Movie Review Midnight Alibi - Old Doll's House]
Barthelmess plays a gangster who returns to New York after some time in Europe and falls in love with Joan (Dvorak), unaware that she's the younger sister of his bitter rival, Angie the Ox (Barrat). After an attempted hit on him, he seeks refuge in the home of an old lady (Lowell), who tells him of her own romance many years ago with a man who looked just like him (also Barthelmess; Chandler plays her in the flashback). Their friendship will prove useful later when he's accused of murder.
This was Barthelmess' last film for First National after a 15-year run at the studio. Jack Warner was anxious to get rid of him because the grosses of his films no longer justified his $250,000 salary.
A print of the film is preserved at the Library of Congress.'Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress' page 116, c.1978 by The American Film Institute The film is also available on DVD on Demand from the Warner Archive.[http://shop.warnerarchive.com/search.do?query=midnight+alibi dvd-on-demand; Warner Archive]
Cast
*Richard Barthelmess as Lance McGowan
*Ann Dvorak as Joan
*Helen Chandler as Abigail
*Helen Lowell as The Old Doll
*Henry O'Neill as Ardsley
*Robert Barrat as Angie the Ox
*Robert McWade as Senator
*Purnell Pratt as Wilson
*Harry Tyler as Hughie
*Paul Hurst as Babe the Butcher
*Arthur Aylesworth as Louie the Blind Man
*Vincent Sherman as Black Mike
References
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