Mademoiselle Midnight

This 68-minute version I saw stars Mae Murray as Renee Sorolla, a Mexican woman who is the granddaughter of the infamous French Mademoiselle Midnight, a woman so notorious she was banished from the court of Napoleon to Mexico. The spirit of the grandmother (Murray again) drifts through the hacienda at odd moments to inspire Renee.

This is not a comedy, as often stated, but is a romantic drama about greed and crooked politics. After Renee's father is killed by a bandit, she is shipped off to Mexico City to live with her slimy politician uncle who steals her estate and declares her insane. Luckily, an American she met (Monte Blue) and her devoted cousin (Johnny Arthur) come to the rescue.

The prologue is a rather confusing mishmash about Napoleon, the American Civil War, and the French "invasion" of Mexico. This all seems rather unimportant to the main story, but gives it some context.

Murray at 35 is a bit too old for the innocent Renee, but in her black wig she's quite stunning. She gets to do a little bullfighting and a lot of dancing, first at a fiesta, and later at a party in her uncle's house. Blue is OK as the stalwart hero. Arthur is fine as the silly cousin who is not as silly as we think.

Others in the cast include Otis Harlan as the padre, John St. Polis as the colonel, Nigel De Brulier as the nasty doctor, Mathilde Comont as the nasty nanny, Robert McKim as the bandit, and Nick De Ruiz as the uncle.

Apparently there are several versions of this film floating around in which the characters have different names. This film was produced by Tiffany Productions and released through MGM soon after its merger. The follow year, Mae Murray would have her biggest film success with THE MERRY WIDOW.