Neil Doyle TCM is showing a very crisp print of LADY OF THE NIGHT, tinted throughout in shades of blue, yellow, orange, sepia, etc. and giving it a more interesting look than most of the B&W films of that era. It's accompanied by a very perky score by Jon Mirsalis that captures the feel of the story with style.NORMA SHEARER has the chance to play two roles, a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks and a rich society girl--with both of them in love with leading man MALCOM McGREGOR. The stories are blended because the poor girl is the daughter of a criminal sentenced to life in prison and the rich girl is the daughter of the judge who sentenced him.Camera work is marvelous in scenes where Shearer acts with herself, technically excellent in the manner the actress is photographed for the dual scenes. Particularly clever is the use of tinted photography to make the story more vivid.For Shearer fans, this is a must see since this is really a minor gem in her career. She's equally convincing as Molly, the gum-chewing gal who knows she's not respectable enough to win the love of the inventor she has helped, and the quiet and thoughtful rich girl who realizes that poor Molly really has first claim on McGregor's heart.The ending manages to be a mixture of sadness and brightness, a satisfying conclusion to an interesting and poignant tale about the whims of true love when it comes to wealth and poverty.

Emaisie39 Norma Shearer began her career playing bit parts in 1920. Four years later she reached stardom in a series of hit films like "He Who Gets Slapped"(MGM,1924) and "The Snob"(MGM,1924) but it is this beautifully done film released in early 1925 that made her a top MGM star. She plays a good girl and a bad girl and is just marvelous in both roles. The film is not long on story but Monta Bell's excellent direction and Norma's superb acting make this silent film so much more. The forgotten George K. Arthur lends fine support but it is Norma at her silent era peak that makes this a must see. SHe is just great in the hooker role-a forerunner of the racy roles she would excel in during the early talkie period.

hcoursen The strength of this one is the way the camera tells the story -- beautifully. The film justifies the artistry often claimed for silent films. The weakness of the film is the story itself. It starts out like "A Place in the Sun" (George Stevens' great film of 1951), with an ambitious young man loved by a lower class woman and an aristocrat. Dreiser's 'An American Tragedy,'on which the Stevens film was based was published in the year of 'Woman of the Night' (1925). But the film becomes conventional, when Molly decides that Chunky will at least be a lot of laughs. The fact that the two women do look alike, in spite of the makeup and garish costumes that Norma's Molly wears, is not exploited. The "double story" a la 'Dorian Gray,' 'Jeykll and Hyde,' Poe's 'William Wilson,' Dostoyevski's 'The Double,' James' 'Jolly Corner,' and Conrad's 'The Duel' is not told, so there's no point in having Shearer play both women. In fact, Joan Crawford, who must have just changed her name from Lucille LeSueur, plays Molly when the two women are on screen. I wonder how Crawford felt later, when Shearer got all the parts that Thalberg bought for her during the early days of talkies. Crawford told us when she commented on Shearer and Howard in the 1936 'Romeo and Juliet': "I couldn't wait for those two old turkeys to die -- could you?"

MartinHafer This is a pretty good film starring Norma Shearer in dual roles--as two different women in love with the same man. The acting is just fine and the film is still very watchable today, but I also feel that it's an awfully forgettable film as well--worth a look, but it won't change your life. Most of this is due to the simplicity of the plot and the fact that there really isn't that much tension in the film. The nice guy that the poor lady ("Norma #1") fell for really didn't love her, while the rich lady ("Norma #2) did--so it seems pretty obvious which "Norma" will end up with the guy in the end. Plus, when it becomes obvious that both women desperately loved the guy, the poor Norma just walks away and wishes them luck,...and there just doesn't seem to be any sparks or action. I didn't want a cat fight or anything, but to just walk away so quickly and without even a whimper was too anticlimactic. In addition, the message that nobility can be found in the poor as well as the rich is pretty obviously conveyed, though despite all the obviousness about the film, it is still pretty good and compares reasonably well with the many silent films I have watched.