Mitchell Leisen

Midnight

Midnight (1939), directed by Mitchell Leisen and written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, follows American showgirl Eve Peabody as she impersonates a baroness in Paris to escape poverty — only to become entangled in a wealthy couple’s marital crisis. Anchored by Claudette Colbert’s precise physical comedy and Charles Lang’s softly lit cinematography, the film balances screwball energy with studio-era sophistication. Though its final act retreats from its sharpest ideas into convention, its craftsmanship, timing, and thematic clarity make it a durable, pleasurable artefact of Golden Age Hollywood.