According to William K. Everson, whose Theodore Huff Society screening a few years ago is probably the one and only revival of On Such A Night prior to tonight's screening, On Such A Night is an “enigmatic film; not a good one certainly, but a fascinating one. It's far too elaborate a film, with too much creative talent behind the cameras, to be just a ‘B,' yet its cast indicates that it could never be intended as an ‘A.' On the whole it smacks more of a salvage job - getting the most out of a property on which money had already been spent, but for which enthusiasm had waned. Frankly it looks as though it had been planned for production much earlier in the '30s, perhaps as a kind of all-star dramatic film in the manner of If I Had A Million. Quite clearly, the Alan Mowbray role was written for W.C. Fields; not only have all the Fieldsian lines been retained, but Mowbray even plays it more in his style, complete to traditional Fields grimaces, than in his own style. Milli Monti presumably was called in to substitute for Carlotta Monti when Carlotta either refused to do the role - or Fields wouldn't let her! (The Montis were presumably sisters, and their career seems to parallel that of the Roberti sisters; one girl more vivacious than the other, one career trying to take over unsuccessfully when the other dwindled.) It's as much fun to conjecture what On Such A Night MIGHT have been as to enjoy it on its own rather misfire grounds, but it's still a most interesting little work.

“Grant Richards, as always, is a rather dull hero - but the rest of the cast more than makes up for his lack of color. Eduardo Cianelli has some superb lines and plays the slimy villain with great gusto, and the handling of the Negro contingent would give the NAACP convulsions today. Although it must be admitted that it isn't really very helpful or inspiring of them to sing a mournful rendition of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' to speed the hero on his way while he's out battling an epic flood to save all their lives! The camerawork is stylish, and the special effects handsomely done, and all in all it's a most curious footnote to the history of the film in the mid-'30s.”