Midnight Daddies: A Glimpse into Forgotten Farce
Is
Midnight Daddies worth digging up today? Probably not for everyone. If you’re a die-hard fan of early talkies, especially those quick-fire pre-Code comedies from the late 20s or early 30s, then yeah, give it a shot.
Otherwise, you’ll likely find its pacing a bit… _sluggish_, and the laughs pretty thin. This one is strictly for the cinema historians or folks who just adore seeing what passed for a wild night out a century ago.
Everyone else? You can safely skip this trip down memory lane. It’s more of a curiosity than essential viewing.
The setup is pretty simple, as these things often were. Two slightly older gentlemen, George and Harry, decide their domestic lives are too dull. They sneak off for a night of supposed adventure, trying to recapture some youthful spark among the city’s bright lights and jazz age flappers. Of course, nothing goes quite as planned.
You see George (William McCall) trying his best to look suave, but he mostly just looks uncomfortable in his fancy suit. Then there's Harry (Harry McCoy), who fancies himself a smooth operator, only to stumble over his words every single time he tries to charm someone.
Their chemistry is less "buddy-buddy" and more "two guys who got stuck together." It’s charming in a clumsy sort of way.
There's this one scene in the nightclub, probably the main setting for the middle chunk of the film. The floor is supposed to be packed, right? But the way they shot it, you can almost count the extras.
It just feels… _empty_, despite all the noise. The sound design tries hard to convince you it's bustling, but your eyes tell a different story.
One particular moment sticks with me: Harry trying to do a complicated dance step. He bumps into three different people, almost trips, and then just stands there, looking bewildered. The camera lingers on his panicked face for what feels like an eternity. It’s supposed to be funny, I guess.
Billy Gilbert shows up, and you know what that means. Yep, he sneezes. And sneezes. And sneezes again, at the most inappropriate moment, naturally.
It’s his schtick, and it gets a chuckle, but it does go on a little long. You can almost feel the director thinking, "more sneezes!" 🤧
Andy Clyde is there too, playing some kind of exasperated club manager. He doesn’t have a ton of lines, mostly just reacting to George and Harry’s antics with this fantastic, bug-eyed stare.
His exasperation is probably the most relatable emotion in the whole movie. You just want to give the poor guy a break.
The plot kind of meanders. George and Harry get separated, then find each other, then lose their hats, then try to impress different women. It’s a series of little vignettes rather than a tightly woven story.
One flapper, played by Natalie Joyce, spends almost her entire screen time with this _very_ fixed smile. It's like she was told to smile and just forgot how to stop. It becomes a bit unsettling after a while. 😬
The film tries hard for slapstick, but sometimes it feels a bit… _forced_. Like when a waiter trips over nothing and sends a whole tray of drinks flying. You can practically see the chalk mark on the floor where he was supposed to fall.
There’s a strange little subplot about a diamond necklace that feels totally tacked on. It’s introduced, causes a brief kerfuffle, and then just sort of… vanishes from the story. Nobody mentions it again.
It's clear the writers, Earle Rodney and Harry McCoy among them, were aiming for a light, frothy comedy. And for its time, it probably hit the mark for some folks. But watching it now, it's a window into a bygone era of humor that often relied on broad strokes and simple misunderstandings.
Ultimately,
Midnight Daddies feels like one of those forgotten little films that filled out a double bill. It has its moments, sure, especially if you appreciate the specific quirks of early cinema. But don't go in expecting anything groundbreaking. It's a quick, if slightly creaky, jaunt.
Didja notice?
- The way one extra in the background kept looking directly into the camera during the dance scene.
- There’s a bizarre painting in the club that’s just a giant, blurry purple blob. What was that?
- George’s bow tie keeps getting crooked, then straight, then crooked again between shots. Continuity, folks!
- The sound quality for dialogue jumps around a lot. One line clear as a bell, the next all muffled.
- That one prop chair that looks like it's about to fall apart every time someone sits in it. 🪑
