Midnight (1939) review

Broke and unemployed, "singer" Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert) arrives (by train) to Paris from Monte Carlo (where she lost her money at a casino), convinces Hungarian taxi driver Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche) to drive her around to look for a nightclub gig, runs from him and winds up "hired" by aristocrat Georges Flammarion (John Barrymore) to prevent his wife Helene (Mary Astor) from running off with charming Jacques Picot (Francis Lederer).  There are plenty of zesty quips courtesy of all-star screenwriting duo Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder (working off a story by Edwin Justus Mayer and Franz Schulz) that add to the ditzy fun, even though as a whole it's a tad "busy" and there are far too many coincidences plugged in there in order to keep it humming along.  I'm not sure if this is completely correct, but apparently Barrymore, one of my film heroes near end of his career (he would pass away three years later and no doubt wind up at the great cocktail bar in the sky), was a bit "hard to handle" so they brought in his fourth wife Elaine Barrie in a small role (as Simone) to essentially be his babysitter.  Whether or not that's true, it's another fine performance from him: he's a little loopy, but whip-smart and hopelessly in love (with a woman who doesn't deserve him).