Movies - All Night

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	Movies - All Night

All Night is a 1918 silent film starring Rudolph Valentino and Carmel Myers.

Synopsis

Richard Thayer, a shy, unassuming man (Valentino) is in love with a sheltered young woman, Elizabeth ("Beth") Lane (Myers). While the feelings are mutual and Richard wishes to propose, he can never find a moment to speak to Beth alone. She is constantly surrounded by admirers and her overprotective father (Wadsworth Harris).

Richard explains his predicament to his friends, a young married couple, William and Maude Harcourt (Charles Dorian and Mary Warren). They agree to help by hosting Richard and Beth at a private dinner at their home. Beth's father agrees to let her dine with the Harcourts, but insists that she keep to an eleven o'clock curfew.

The eveing of the dinner, William Harcourt receives a telegram from a prospective business associate, Bradford (William Dyer), informing him that he is arriving that night for a surprise visit. The announcement throws the Harcourts into a panic. William has recently mortgaged his home and life savings to buy a copper mine; he is counting on a million dollar investment from Bradford to save his business and house. He does not have any servants to welcome the millionaire, having fired them earlier in the day in a fit of rage.

Working together, the four friends devise a plan: Richard and Beth will pose as the Harcourts; the real Harcourts will play the servants because they are familiar with the layout of their house. The scheme initially works, but things quickly deteriorate when Bradford, an eccentric, overbearing man, starts flirting with Maude Harcourt and insisting that Richard and Beth turn in for the night. The situation worsens when Beth misses her curfew and her father shows up at the Harcourt home to look for her. Eventually, everything is solved, but not before Colonel Lane is locked in the pantry, Richard falls out a window and William is tossed out of his own house.

All Night is one of Valentino's earliest films, and one of the only ones in which he plays a comedic role. In contrast to the screen persona of "The Great Lover", his character of Richard Thayer is shy and insecure. For this film, Valentino performed several scenes of physical comedy and pratfalls, including falling from a window into a barrel of water. He was originally billed in the film as Rodolpho de Valentina.

Only one print of All Night is known to exist; it has suffered some nitrate deterioration, especially in the fifth reel. However, it has been preserved and made available to the public on VHS and DVD by an independent film dealer.

from The New York Times
http: // www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/FeaturedVideo/video148.htm - Contemporary review at Silents Majority (offline now, but availble at the Internet Archive)

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