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6.5/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Evenings for Sale remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like movies that feel like they were pulled out of a time capsule from a dusty attic, maybe. This isn't a blockbuster. It’s a quiet, slightly awkward story about a man hitting rock bottom at a party. If you need pacing or big plot twists, you’re going to be bored to tears. But if you like watching people try to keep their chin up while their life falls apart, you might find something here.
Herbert Marshall plays the Count, and he has this way of looking at a room like he’s already halfway to the exit. He’s essentially a guy trying to afford his own funeral by acting like he’s still rich. It’s a bit pathetic, sure, but he plays it with a kind of stiff-upper-lip grace that’s hard to look away from.
The whole setup with the butler offering him a gigolo job? It’s bizarre. It’s handled with this weird, polite detachment that feels so 1930s it hurts. You can tell the movie wants to be romantic, but underneath that, it feels kind of lonely.
The party scenes have this oddly hollow feeling, like the people are just background noise for the Count's internal monologue. Sometimes the camera lingers on a side character doing something completely irrelevant for a beat too long, and I found myself wondering if they were just trying to fill the frame.
I couldn't help but think about A Lady's Morals while watching this, mainly because both films deal with people trying to hold onto a sense of dignity when the world has clearly moved on without them. There’s a similar, almost desperate need to be relevant that bleeds into the performances.
The film doesn't really try to be profound. It just *is*. And honestly? That’s kind of nice. It’s not trying to teach you a lesson. It’s just showing you a guy who is very, very tired of being broke.
If you’re looking for a perfect film, this isn't it. The structure is all over the place, and some of the supporting cast seem like they wandered in from a different movie entirely. But there’s a bit of heart there, buried under all that old celluloid. 🍷
IMDb 6.9
1927
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