4573  Film tango: "History Is Made At Night" (1937)

Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:56:11 -0700
From: Michael Knowles <binkster@binkster.net>
Subject: [Tango-L] Film tango: "History Is Made At Night" (1937)
To: tango-l@mit.edu

I just saw a beautifully restored print of "History Is Made At Night" at
Pacific Film Archive and was surprised and pleased to see Charles Boyer
and Jean Arthur dance a few tangos in a quietly romantic and intimate
manner in a Parisian nightclub after hours alone with the chef and the
dance band. The first tango finds Jean Arthur bizarrely dressed in a fur
coat, nightgown, peignoir and bedroom slippers. She kicks off the
slippers and dances barefoot after her feet twist out of the slippers a
couple of times in dance. She drops the fur coat a bit later. Charles is
in tuxedo. The dancing is powered by live musicians who are in turn
powered by free champagne. The musos are filmed as they make the
music--the story line has some of the musicians dropping off to sleep
which means their contribution to the music becomes absent. Bassist in a
stupor? No bass part in the song. Finally, dawn arrives and the last
musician standing is a grinning white-haired violinist who appears as if
he could continue all the next day as well. The songs we hear are
"Adios, muchachos", "Jalousie" and "El Choclo". "El Choclo" is the final
tune played by solo violin.

Later in the film, the leading romantic couple are in their stateroom on
an ocean liner and they tango briefly to "Adios, muchachos" from a 78rpm
record played on a portable player. Jean kicks her shoes off once again
for memory's sake.

Interestingly, the film refers to the Titanic and the Hindenburg but
only the Titanic is seen as a tragic disaster. The Hindenburg is
portrayed as a reasonable way to cross the Atlantic when you're rich and
in a hurry. This film was released in 1937 just prior to the
Hindenburg's burning on May 6th that year.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029002/

-Michael Knowles