La vita notturna degli dei

Thorne Smith was a writer whose stories reliably made good movies, even after the censors cut some of the juice out of them. I am also an Alan Mowbray fan. Thus, I expected a lot from Night Life of the Gods. The title itself suggested a witty parody

This film did not deliver A large amount of time was devoted to Mowbray using his magic ring to freeze annoying people and bring ancient statues of Greek gods to life. Zip! Zap! Huntz Hall could have done it much better. It takes forever to get to the part where the gods are brought to life. When this finally happens , the Gods turn out to be .morons. There are no comments from them about modern life nor any comparison with lifer on Mt. Olympus. They just act like bewildered children with an immense sense of entitlement. Unfortunately, there is very little humor in their romp through New York City.

Florine McKenny is the romantic interest She hams it up royally. Everyone else also does the same, but it is unusual to see this in the romantic lead. She screws her face into some awfully unattractive expressions which I can't remember ever seeing from a female romantic lead, at least not from one as attractive as she.

Too bad.

"Night Life of the Gods" is an incredibly strange movie and one you won't forget. In fact, it's so strange that I am amazed it was made in the first place. And, that strangeness alone is clearly enough reason to see the film.

The story begins with a crazy rich inventor (Alan Mowbray) working on a very explosive project. In the process, he manages to nearly blow himself up and when he awakens he finds his invention is a rousing success. It seems he has created a magic ring that can turn people into statues as well as turn statues into living, sentient beings! The first thing he does is turn his god-awful and greedy extended family into statues. Then, with help from his lady friend, he goes about turning all the classical statues from a nearby museum into the gods and heroes they were supposed to be. Then, with these ancient weirdos in tow, the guy guys through town having a lot of incredibly strange adventures!!

As I said, this one is strange but also creative and enjoyable. While it doesn't always work (it does go on a bit long) the overall film is hard to hate. Worth seeing and 100% unique!

A one-of-a-kind comic fantasy from the pen of Thorne Smith, creator of "Topper", this strained whimsy has eccentric playboy Alan Mowbray invent a magic ring that turns people to stone. After rendering his annoying family into marble, he spends the night drinking with leprechauns, and then visits New York's Metropolitan museum, where he throws his ring into reverse and brings to life the statues of ancient Greek gods. Hectic shenanigans ensue when they all check into the Waldorf-Astoria hotel: Bacchus drinks rubbing alcohol, Venus de Milo acquires arms, Neptune starts a slapstick fight in a fish market, and so on. More witty than funny, the movie is afloat with Prohibition-era tipsy jokes, but manages to get an occasional naughty touch past the Hays Code restrictions. Mowbray captures the right energy and manic glint in his eye, and an imperturbable butler wins some laughs, but the others give overly broad performances that are comic, but in the wrong way. At this point in history, the curiosity value and Art Deco sets exceed the entertainment, or maybe they've now become the entertainment.

Thorne Smith wrote some of the funniest and most risqué books of the era which my mother introduced her kids to in the 70's. We watched 'I married a Witch' (which is now available on DVD - although I got my copy in Spain several years ago) and my mum told me that she'd seen Topper, Turnabout and that she'd heard that they had may have made Night Life of the Gods. The book rocks which is why I wanted to see the film.

The DVD of this movie took me two years to find and was so appalling in quality that I couldn't finish it - and I really did try. even in postage stamp format the picture was bad. Alas, 70 years of culture and a really bad print really mucks things up. This movie had the opportunity to be THE screwball comedy of all time, it had great lines,sex and all in a time of innocence, I really wish I could have seen if the movie had lived up to it. I guess if it had it might not be in such a sorry state.........

Crackpot inventor Alan Mowbray devises a process to turn flesh into marble and marble into flesh. After turning the disapproving portion of his family into statues, he gets plastered -- figuratively -- and meets a leprechaum and his 900-year-old daughter, Florinne McKinney. They sneak into a museum and turn statues of Olympian deities into flesh-and-blood, and then go on a boisterous rampage about town.

It's based on Thorne Smith's comic fantasy. Smith and James Branch Cabell were popular fantasy novelists of the 1920s and 1930s, carrying on the tradition of Offenbach's operettas, in which various deities and other figures form myths carry on in ways that modern people with too much wealth and too little sense do. Lowell Sherman directs a crazy comedy about the subject, but remains too well mannered and rational, insistent on having a traditional plot structure about the movie. Still, it's fun while it last. With Peggy Shannon, Richard Carle, Phillips Smalley, Wesley Barry, William 'Stage, and various other well known players as the gods.