weezeralfalfa Jackson Morgan(John Wayne) was sure right. Jenny Blake(Joan Blondell): his partner in running the casino steamboat Memphis Belle, was crazy to encourage the fire she accidentally started on her boat("I'm burning my boats behind me" she remarked). We are spared the details of the conflagration, with many guests aboard. Would have been much more reasonable to have put out the fire and sell her half interest in the boat to Wayne, who didn't want to give it up. Very surprisingly, Wayne made no real attempt to put the fire out, just a complaint. Jenny was ecstatic that she had arm-twisted Alan Alderson into marrying her, so as to extinguish his unpayable gambling debts in return. Thus, she thought she had bought herself into the blueblood crowd around Memphis. But, as Wayne had warned her, it wasn't that simple. They would never fully accept her as one of them. But she believed she could accomplish anything she set her mind to. Joan and her maid, played by Hattie Noel, were certainly the most dynamic characters. Hattie showed her mettle by flattening the front door of the plantation manor where Jenny had moved, after being denied entry by the doorman Napoleon(true, unrealistic!). Joan was first billed over Wayne, and the most seen character. From 1939 through '42, when Wayne was paired with a well established lead actress, he was second billed. This happened 3 times with each of Clair Trevor, and Marlene Dietrich, and once with Joan Crawford, along with Joan, here. In this film, he's not very animated ,for the most part, mostly standing around talking. One exception is when he is told that the horse pulling the carriage Jenny is in is blind. He jumps in another carriage, pushes the driver out and speeds toward Jenny. Well, that horse sped down a twisty road, so it must have had some vision!Getting back to Hattie Noel, she wins my prize for the most charismatic actor. I had never seen her in a film before(and probably won't again), but she steals every scene she's in, and made me laugh various times. Her background was mostly in circuses, where she sang and danced, in vaudeville, and on the stage. She ran away at age 12 to join a carnival. She danced a bit here to the song played at Jenny's ball. Jenny brazenly thumbed her nose at the socially elite of Memphis at least 3 times in public, as well as on various private occasions. The first time is when she was elected queen of the Mardi Gras, and the elite clearly were shocked. She told them what she thought of them. The second is at her plantation ball, where she had invited a French dancing troupe to do the Can-Can. Of course, the guests where uniformly shocked, but Wayne voiced his approval by clapping his hands, followed by the others. The final time was during her trial for murdering her husband by poison. After her sentence, she gave a passionate speech that summed up her feelings toward the upper class. Another important player is Blanch Yurka, who played the evil Aunt Julia, who vehemently opposed the arrival of Jenny to the Alderson's, and, long ago had poisoned the fiancé of her sister: Aunt Katherine, who cowered in her shadow, probably afraid she would be poisoned if she got out of line. Katherine was the only member of the Alderson extended family who welcomed Jenny's arrival. One thing I don't understand: Why does Katherine keep a Civil War cavalry hat with a presumed bullet hole in it in her hope chest, if her fiancé was poisoned? There are several musical numbers, which add further variety to the drama and humor. On her casino boat, Joan leads a production centered on "Up in a Balloon", where she rises from the stage in a balloon basket at the end. Doloros Gray sings "Has Anybody Seen my Man", at The King's Club, which Wayne built after the Memphis Belle burned, and will eventually be co-owned by Jenny. . Then, a group of plantation African Americans sing and dance to "Ezekiel Saw De Wheel". Lastly, there's the French troupe dancing to Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e, followed by the Can-Can.All in all, a very pleasant viewing experience, well done, with the reservation of some obviously implausible happenings. Presently available at Youtube

Edgar Allan Pooh " . . . for cotton to come back, for the ghosts of their sons: zombies, the living dead who haven't the decency to lie down and stay buried," Jenny rails at the Court of Confederate (or Red State) Public Opinion during the climax of LADY FOR A NIGHT. At a time when many if not most Americans suspect that shadowy Ted Cruz operatives assassinated Originalist U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia after the latter preliminarily--and privately--revealed to Ted's henchmen that Cruz is INELIGIBLE to run for President under Scalia's prevailing Originalism Doctrine, LADY FOR A NIGHT also involves a no-autopsy poisoning victim. With Scalia dead and "The Fix" in for Cruz in Cleveland, Jenny's worst fears seem likely to be realized next year: President Cruz will allow the 30 "Red States" to Reimpose Race-Based Slavery, as all Constitutional Amendments are nullified except for No. 2 (the Right to Armory Muskets). Though Donald Trump is not yet assassinated as of this writing, his comments about The Trash "rigging the System" ring truer now than in Jenny's LADY FOR A NIGHT day. (After supporting Freddie Gray, Prince died mysteriously today; Donald could be next.) JFK was invited to Red Cruz State Texas and got whacked there in the 1960s. It's been all downhill for America ever since.

ianlouisiana Feeling low?Life getting you down?I've got just the thing for you..... "Lady for a night"(pun intentional?)set in Memphis during Mardi Gras with a cast of several,most of whom are masters of hyperbole.There are truly terrible songs,some dancing from Miss J.Blondell whose thighs are just a tad thick for such extreme exposure,a rather fey performance from Mr J.Wayne (and you don't see that very often) and an opening crowd scene that rapidly accelerates out of the control of director Leigh Jason - a man who was to gratefully grasp at the straw later offered to him by the nascent TV industry. Miss Hattie Noel is tremendous as Miss Blondell's maid.Forget the tremulous whispers of racism,this is a full - on portrait of a strong feisty black woman of her era.She is brash,confident,loud and very,very funny.It may be nominally Miss Blondell's movie,but it is Miss Noel I remember with the most pleasure. Full of Southern stereotypes with dodgy accents,"Lady for a night" satisfies all the criteria for a Camp Masterpiece.Miss Blondell's Gaming House looks as if it might fall down if someone leaned against a wall,Mr Wayne with a top hat is a sight to see indeed and the evil female relative is a dead ringer for Mrs Danvers. About as true a picture of The South as "Gone with the wind",but a whole lot funnier.You may boo and hiss at will - and you will most certainly laugh,loud and often.What more could you want?

bob the moo Jenny Blake is the owner of a river boat for gambling, dancing, drinking and women – suffice to say that she is not really accepted into polite society in the way she always dreamed of being. So when she is voted the Queen of the Mardi Gras, Jenny is overjoyed, only to be upset when she learns that her business partner Jack Morgan helped her by rigging the whole contest. So whenever drunken plantation owner Alan Alderson gets into serious debt with the gambling boat Jenny proposes to wipe out the debts in return for his hand in marriage and the fast track into high class society. However, not all those in that circle are that happy with her sudden rise above her station, especially Aunt Julia who is determined to get rid of her by any means necessary.I cannot remember why I decided to tape this film and, now that I've watched it I still have no idea – although I'm sure it was down to some sort of obsessive compulsion than any great attraction of the film! Anyway, the plot is a simple one of social climbing where Jenny tries to get away from her own level only to find that those above her don't want her to climb. You pretty much know where it is going from the first 20 minutes, although the plot still manages to be unlikely as well as predictable. It is nothing special but it isn't awful or annoying – it is just rather bland. The drama side is plodding and obvious, while the comedy is laugh free and relies more on energy than anything else. The couple of songs act well as distraction and filler but they are only OK. These produce a film that just looks to keep you happy for about 90 minutes but not do anything special during that time or have any impact past the end credits.The characters are very simply painted in the script and are simply delivered by the cast. Blondell is OK but she is hardly 'trash' is she and we never doubt what will happen to her ideals by the end. Wayne is a secondary character who's only purpose is to be a decent man who turns up every 10 minutes to help Blondell in some way. The support cast of Aldersons are very much join the dots and the actors are only average. There are a large amount of black characters, with two main ones in comedy roles – modern audiences may find them hard to watch because they are ethnic stereotypes that are overplayed for comedic effect. At first I was a bit taken aback by this (although I know it is of its time) but then I thought about modern movies that do the same thing (albeit with a cooler, hip hop, ebonics stereotype) and wondering if, in 50 years, that these films would be viewed as rather racist. Anyway, it was interesting to see the stereotypes but I must admit to have been a bit caught off guard when John Wayne threatened to send Hattie Noel 'back to Africa'!Overall this is an instantly forgettable movie that only wants to keep you semi-entertained for the running time without doing anything special or making a lasting impression. Maybe it is the presence of John Wayne that has meant it still pops up on television with some regularity because other than that I really have no clue as to why it has not been just forgotten by time.