This is one of my all-time favorite films, partly because it stars Jean Arthur, one of my all- time favorite actresses, has Boyer's charm, and is beautifully directed and produced. An artistic achievement of its day.

Poor Jean Arthur, trying to get loose from a really ruthless, jealous soon-to-be ex, is set up in her Paris hotel room by husband who has hired a gigolo to sneak in. Boyer, on the balcony, gets wind of it and spoils it and steals her away. They wind up at his place of work, a elegant Paris restaurant, and they dance, dine, laugh, and begin to fall in love. But when she returns to the hotel, it seems the hired gigolo is dead, and her husband coerces her back, threatening scandal, making her give up the divorce final.

Broken-hearted, Boyer and his chef friend go to America to try to find the lady, but cannot, so decide to go to work at an upscale café where Boyer hopes she may patronize. She does and they reunite and the cruel almost-ex-husband, who is a very wealthy shipower and builder, fixes it so Boyer is about to get arrested for the Paris murder. Jean and Boyer try to return to Paris on board a new ship of her husband's and he orders the captain to go full speed into a dense fog...and, well, it is suspenseful and frightening and wonderful. It plays up the speed competitions of the great Ocean Liners, the luxuries and yet dangers of this mode of travel. I learned all I know of Ocean Liners of the time thru movies like this, Love Affair, and Now Voyager, etc, because I would never have the opportunity to sail on one myself. Movies were always a great source of learning to me! But this film is especially entertaining, even though Jean Arthur is playing a straight romantic drama this time. Boyer never disappoints. I count this as another of the late 1930's golden crop of finest all-time films...

Two years before a shipboard romance with Irene Dunne in "Love Affair", suave Frenchman Charles Boyer did the same with Jean Arthur in this lavish and sometimes comic tearjerker. Arthur is a run-away bride who spends one glorious evening with Boyer after he rescues her from a plot by her evil husband (Colin Clive). Later separated from Boyer, Arthur ends up in New York where fate brings them together and onto a return voyage to France that will change the course of their destiny.

This might not be the classic love story of Leo McCarey's 1939 masterpiece and its 1957 remake "An Affair to Remember", but it is worthy of inclusion with the greatest love stories ever made. Any film with Boyer and Arthur will include dollops of humor here and there, and it helps the film avoid being mawkish and melodramatic. Colin Clive is a predictable villain, much like Billy Zane years later in "Titanic". References to that ship and the Hindenburgh are mentioned. Some good special effects are involved in the film's chilling conclusion.

The film has many implausibilities, but that has really no consequence because of the ultimate satisfaction it gives. Leo Carrillo shines as Boyer's pal, a cook who can do the most wonderful thing with lobster. That would be a great dinner to serve while watching this movie, with pink champagne of course!

The obsessive and jealous shipowner Bruce Vail (Colin Clive) does not accept the divorce his wife Irene Vail (Jean Arthur) achieved in London, and he hires his driver Michael Browsky (Ivan Lebedeff) to forge adultery with Irene in Paris to make the decree null. However, she is rescued by the headwaiter Paul Dumond (Charles Boyer), who punches Michael and locks Bruce and his private eyes in a locker, and they spend a wonderful night together in the restaurant Château Bleu, where Paul and his best friend Chef Cesare (Leo Carrillo) work, and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile, Bruce kills Michael and blackmails Irene, blaming Paul and forcing her to return with him to New York. But Paul does not give up on Irene, and moves to New York with Cesare trying to find her love. They meet each other, but things get complicated when an innocent is arrested accused of murdering the driver.

"History is Made at Night" is a dated melodrama, but extremely romantic. Jean Arthur and Charles Boyer show an amazing chemistry in this delightful romance. The friendship of Cesare and Paul is quite unbelievable in the present days, but gives the funniest moments in this film. Colin Clive performs an obsessive and totally insane villain, with his sick jealousy. But in the end, love wins for the pleasure of the romantic viewers. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A História Começou A Noite" ("The History Has Begun at Night")

Note: On 05 March 2012 I saw this film again.