User reviews

After concealing his mistress in the office closet, corrupt New York "Night Court" Judge Walter Huston (as Andrew J. Moffett) answers a reporter's questions regarding an investigation led by fellow jurist Lewis Stone (as William "Will" Osgood). Denying all irregularities, Mr. Huston carries on his tough sentencing of prostitutes and petty thieves while letting hardened criminals off the hook. Later, Mr. Huston orders mistress Noel Francis (as Lillian "Lil" Baker) to lay low in a poor section of town, to avoid being questioned. She has some incriminating evidence in her purse, which is seen by pretty apartment neighbor Anita Page (as Mary)...

The young wife and mother decides to say noting about "Mrs. Moffett's" bank book, but Huston is taking no chances. He has Ms. Page railroaded. When her husband, handsome cab-driver Phillips Holmes (as Mike Thomas), shows up in court wondering what happened to his wife, the dirty judge takes the couple's baby away. The plot thickens with murder as Mr. Holmes endeavors to untangle the mess. This early "talkie" is nicely handled by all. An unusual pacing works to the film's advantage, making a series of shocking events engrossing. Holmes is an appealing "working class hero" and receives an outstanding cast of co-stars.

******* Night Court (4/23/32) W.S. Van Dyke ~ Phillips Holmes, Walter Huston, Anita Page, Noel Francis

A great little Pre-Coder with Walter Huston playing a slimeball crooked judge being investigated by a committee headed by honorable judge Lewis Stone. Huston is such a creep in this. He sends an innocent woman to jail on a trumped-up charge, has her husband beaten up, AND has their kid taken away from them. All because he wrongly believed the woman knew something about his crooked activities. What a bastard!

Walter Huston made a lot of interesting movies in the '30s and this is certainly one of them. He does a good job with an evil unconscionable character. Anita Page and Phillips Holmes are great as the young couple Huston sets out to destroy. Jean Hersholt has a small part as a friend of Holmes. This is a really good one for fans of the kind of gritty urban crime dramas that were made in the early '30s. Pretty compelling stuff.

You will watch this with increasing horror as the lives of a poor, lovely couple is destroyed by the selfish actions of Walter Huston's corrupt judge. You can literally feel the ground being pulled away from beneath their feet as their world is inexplicably obliterated - they have no idea what is happening to them. You can't believe this is happening - it's terrible and it feels so real.

Walter Huston's character is one of the most despicable people you will ever have seen. He's not evil; he doesn't kill people, he doesn't even carry a gun. Neither is he a vampire or even a psychopath but he is more terrifying than any gangster or Universal monster or even the Devil from THE EXORCIST. He is terrifying because he is just so normal. He's nothing more than a selfish ordinary man who just happens to be in a position of power and is able to ruin people's lives. Why this film is so shocking and scary is because you can believe that what happens to these poor unfortunates who's lives he casually ruins, could happen to you. It's not an easy watch but you cannot look away.

Phillips Holmes who plays one of the simple, naïve victims was never the greatest actor and in this he certainly doesn't disprove that poor reputation. Similarly, Anita Page never really made it to the top rank of actresses and although she's OK in this, it is hardly an Oscar winning performance. It's possibly those unpolished performances however which adds to the realism which is so perfectly conveyed.

This film is so natural, believable and realistic but on paper it shouldn't be. If you think about it, the story has so many Grand Canyon sized holes in it that it should have no credibility whatsoever. You are however so completely pulled in to this shocking story and so completely engrossed when you're watching this, it's the most realistic thing you'll ever see! Walter Huston as usual delivers a totally mesmerising performance but what makes this picture so absolutely riveting besides the story is the energetic direction. Action man, Woody Van Dyke brilliantly builds the energy so that each scene seems to have twice as much tension and emotion as the previous one. Despite his reputation for speed, he certainly doesn't rush this and there is plenty of time for reflection to get to know the characters. It's a remarkably good film.

"Night Court" is a delightful programmer released by MGM and featuring Phillips Holmes, who apparently was somewhat popular during the early talkies Era, mainly as a Paramount contract player. This was the first time I saw him on screen in a full-fledged-starring role (not counting his brief appearance in the all-star "Dinner at Eight", which I almost did not notice) and I must say I was favorably impressed by his performance and screen personae. I had read tidbits about his personal life and his films, and had another idea about him; he's nothing of what I expected. In my opinion, at least in this film, he has a strong screen presence, good acting ability, even when performing in scenes with seasoned pros such as Walter Huston (one of the finest actors of the American Cinema). He really makes his character likable and believable.

Holmes impersonates a cab driver who is extremely happily married to Anita Page's character, who plays very well a naive housewife, completely in love with her husband and utterly devoted to their only child (a cute little baby), who's unaware of her unexpected & tangent involvement with a corrupt judge's (played perfectly by the great Walter Huston) shenanigans & shady doings, who uses his unscrupulous lover (Noel Francis) for his evil purposes.

I wonder why Mary Carlisle (playing Lewis Stone's (a good Judge who's investigating Huston's corrupt Court) daughter) was billed fourth or fifth in the cast and Noel Francis the last, if the latter has much more time on screen and a meatier role.

John Miljan plays a villainous lawyer, skillfully as usual.

An interesting, seldom seen and highly entertaining Pre-Code (Check the Huston's Court hearings).

I quite don't understand why Maltin gives this film only two stars in his Guide; it at least deserves three and a half!

Made 73 years ago, "Night Court" is a very good, gritty precode about corruption in high places. In this case, it's a judge, played by Walter Huston.

When a young woman, Mary (Anita Page) finds a bankbook left behind by a neighbor, she returns it, and finds herself sentenced to the work house for six months. The money belongs to Judge Moffett (Huston), who, to keep his activities quiet, hangs out in his girlfriend's apartment. The Judge believes that Mary looked at the bankbook and knows where he keeps his money. He sets her up and has her arrested as a prostitute. Her baby is put into care, leaving her poor cab-driver husband (Phillips Holmes) with nothing, and thanks to Moffett's girlfriend, he's even doubting his wife's innocence.

However, he knows in his heart that Mary isn't capable of such a thing and sets out to clear her.

The original was written by Mark Hellinger, a reporter, and producer of "Naked City" in 1948. The story is loosely based on a real-life character.

Though some of the acting is melodramatic, as this was the style of the day, it's still compelling. Walter Huston is terrific, mean as dirt, and Holmes and Page are very sympathetic. Anita Page, about 22 here, worked until she died in 2008! Philips Holmes died in 1942 in a plane crash. For some reason, he reminds me of Tony Goldwyn.

Three other cast members of note: Mary Carlisle (who as of this writing is still alive) as an honest judge's daughter, Lewis Stone as the honest judge, and Jean Hersholt as the building janitor.

Very good and absorbing, though it's stylistically of the time.

Before it implodes with incredulity in its last ten minutes Night Court is an audience enraging piece of filmmaking as corruption runs amok in the justice system. Up until the story goes from the crime to the ridiculous you may find your blood boiling at the blatant abuse of power by a cabal of judicial miscreants.

In order to supplement a lavish life style and keep his amour in classy digs Judge Moffett (Walter Huston) dispenses injustice in his night court for a price. When a squeaky clean judge (Lewis Stone) initiates an investigation into his criminal practice Moffett goes into defensive mode by hiding the squeeze and his bankbook out in a marginal neighborhood. The woman befriends a neighbor who finds out too much as far as the judge is concerned so he has some charges trumped up to get the woman tossed in prison for six months as well as remove her child from the home. Her taxi driver husband vows to clear her name and expose Moffett so the judge sends some associates over to convince him to take a trip to South America.

Night Court's nightmarish scenario is filled with Kafkaesque undertone as the execrable and efficient Moffett exploits the system with his well oiled machine of muscle and money to deal with problems. Huston gives an excellent turn as the venal and arrogant judge who twists the system to his advantage exuding a condescending superiority even as the noose tightens around his neck and his criminal empire is rounded up. Phillips Holmes as the taxi driver and Anita Page as his wife also give notable performances as victim's of Moffett's handiwork.

Director Woody "One Take" VanDyke puts his appellation on display and to the picture's detriment as he attempts to tie everything together with a sloppy climax but not before he and Huston in pulpish fashion make a statement about a form of corruption that still flourishes eighty years later .

In the Pre-Code Era MGM at Least Tried Once in a While to be Socially Relevant and Concerned. In This One the Studio Ventured Into WB Territory with a Rather Nasty Story About a Corrupt Judicial System at the Bottom Level, the Night Court.

A Good Cast Makes the Most of this Heavy Melodrama About a Married Couple with an Infant being Sucked Into This Cesspool of Corruption Only Because of Proximity. What Goes On Here is Not Pretty to Look At.

Some Pre-Code Situations are Exploited to Explain the Frame-Up with Prostitution On Display Throughout This Rather Ugly Picture of Depression Era Folks Being Railroaded by the System and the Authorities. The Odds are Overwhelming and Only Determination and Some Luck Can Get Them Out of It.

Aside from the Heavy Drinkers and Undraped Females the Film Contains Some Brutal Beatings and Truly Evil Characters. At One Point Judge Walter Huston Says..."Get me some Bad Boys, some Really Bad Boys!".

Some of the Story is Gut-Wrenching when it Concerns the Happy Couple's Baby. The Movie is Not Easy Entertainment and Tries Mightily to Make a Statement About Some Social Concerns at the Time. The Ending May be a Tidy Wrap-Up but it is a Welcome Relief and Although Just a Fictional Placebo, that's About All a Movie Can Offer.

Walter Huston is as always excellent, here as a bad guy. He's a corrupt judge. He moves his girlfriend out of her tony digs and into a working class building. There, she lives next-door to a young cab driver, his wife, and infant. The wife happens to glance at a bankbook of the judge's that the baby took and next thing we know, the adoring young mother is set up on a charge of prostitution.

Phillips Holmes, the cabdriver, at first is devastated hat the young girl he married has turned to the streets. Then he starts to realize that she was framed.

He is tortured by hoods of the judge and other bad guys and then he gets the judge and tortures him till he tells the truth.

This was very shocking for its time. So was "Scarface," made at around the same time. Everyone knows about "Scarface" but "Night Court" is undeservedly unknown. Both are precursors t the very best of film noir.

(The only wrong note -- irrelevant to the plot but somewhat amusing -- is when the always fragile looking Holmes is given line describing himself as a big Palooka.)

Judge Walter Huston (Moffett) sits during the night court and emphasizes the moral need to obey the law when dealing with his cases. The trouble is that he himself is morally corrupt and is being investigated by fellow Judge Lewis Stone (Osgood). It's a matter of gathering evidence and waiting for the right moment for Stone. Meanwhile, Huston sets up housewife Anita Page (Mary) to be 'removed' for 6 months and sent to jail on prostitution charges. When her night-working cab-driver husband Phillips Holmes visits the night court with their baby to find out what has happened to his wife, Huston takes the baby away from him as well! Holmes now has nothing - he has lost both his wife and baby in one night. He broods for a while and then takes action. He is going to get to the bottom of things and the audience are all on his side as he goes about it.

The cast are good in this film which is based on some true gangster activity of the time. The only let-down is Anita Page in the second half of the film. Once she gets arrested she gets extremely annoying and so the film has to lose marks as we needlessly cut to her crying once again or calling out for her baby. Shut up!! Holmes is likable as the cab driver and gets a few good moments and some good dialogue whilst Huston is a good baddie. Noel Francis (Lil Baker) also plays a memorable part as Huston's 'bit on the side'. I've just watched her in "Manhattan Transfer" (1932) and she always seems to carry off her parts well. The set-up that convicts Page is memorable as are other scenes are we are drawn into devious plotlines. What a shame Page is so homely - I think she should have tried her luck "on the game". She would have been more likable. Maybe that's what she does next?

Nicely pre-Code but rather hack-written MGM programmer, wherein nice blue-collar cabby Phillips Holmes and nice wifey Anita Page come under the heavy thumb of Judge Walter Huston, who's incredibly corrupt. Huston, with a dashing mustache, relishes his bad-guy histrionics, and it's fun to see Metro toiling in the lower-class provenance of Warners. But the social consciousness is awkward: Huston's so all-bad and enemy Lewis Stone so all-good that these good actors can't do much to make their roles interesting, while the always-too-pretty Holmes is given to some theatrical, unconvincing soliloquizing. We're also asked to sympathize with and root for him when he kidnaps Huston, gags him, ties him to a chair, and beats him up. Virtue does triumph; we know because there's a shot of a newspaper headline saying something like "Vice Banished Forever from City, D.A. Says." There's also an annoyingly cute baby. W.S. Van Dyke directs at about half the pace Mervyn LeRoy or Howard Hawks would have employed at Warners, and Page is given to scene after scene of screaming and wailing. It's fun as a time capsule, but other studios, notably Warners, were handling material like this with much more finesse.

Night Court was a slight, but interesting, entry in the pre-code genre of social commentary or expose´ films of the early 1930s…I would say the same group that included the seminal `Public Enemy'. What made this film a joy to watch was not the revelatory peek of criminal machinations pervading the lower levels of the NYC justice system, but the relationship between the cabbie and his wife, unfettered by Production Code standards in effect just a few years later. The scenes of Mike and Mary and their baby in the one bedroom flat they shared were charming, and Anita Page evoked a warmth and naturalism uncommon in those days when the talkie was only 3 years old. No wonder she's still working 70 years later! Walter Huston was downright despicable, and his speeches to his night court denizens about maintaining law and order were rather chilling considering the depth of his criminal manipulations of the justice system. And the setting up of Mary Thomas as a prostitute to discredit her was an eye-opener and quite frank. The film moved along at a good clip, facilitated in no small measure I'm sure by the breezy direction of `One-Take' Woody Van Dyke who had a reputation for bringing a film ahead of schedule and under budget. Perhaps it is for this reason that scenes play out naturalistically, with the actors given what appears to be some latitude with the dialogue and action in order to move things along. Some occasional hammy acting doesn't really detract from the pre-code forthrightness of the picture.

To protect himself, a crooked judge frames an innocent woman for prostitution, tries to send her husband out of the country and takes away their only child. You start to wonder how evil can this film get. It's surprising Walter Houston did not get an Academy Award nomination for his performance as the corrupt magistrate but apparently MGM did not push for it.

Night Court was an excellent movie until the last 10 minutes which seemed as though it had a different script writer tying the loose ends together. And that's too bad because this could have been a great film. Phillips Holmes and Anita Page are solid as the victimized couple. Ms Page could act and was certainly more attractive than many of MGM's leading ladies but never achieved full blown star status because she refused to ..ahem.. cooperate with the studio execs. Instead they ruined her career. Golden Age Hollywood at it's worst!

Night Court is worth watching and keeps the viewer interested. I rate it a 7.

Judge Andrew J. Moffett says the right things, but is as corrupt as they come. Judge William Osgood leads the investigation against him. He sends away his mistress Lil Baker. A misunderstanding traps her new neighbors, married couple Mary Thomas and Mike Thomas, in the corrupt system.

Mike is a weak character. I'm willing to accept that he has no faith in his wife. I'm less willing to accept that he would let go of his baby so easily. He is as annoying as heck in that section. Nevertheless, I am rooting for the idiot. At least, he redeems himself. This is a case of the audience being way ahead of the characters. There is a bit of problem with the wax recording evidence. Otherwise, there is a fun reversal in fortune and it is a bit crime fun.

Just as the Walter Huston movie Law and Order had nothing to do with the successful television series, neither does 1932's Night Court. If you're looking for the inspiration for the comedic tv show, this isn't it. Go out and rent something funny, because this Night Court is extremely dramatic.

Remember what I always say about Walter Huston? He's wonderful as an honorable character, but he's spectacular when he lets his hair down. In Night Court, he plays a judge, but not a very honorable one. In the first scene, he's seen kissing Mary Carlisle in his office. When reporters knock on the door, he hides Mary in the closet and gives a soap-box type speech about morality in the courts to the reporters, only to have one of them accidentally open the closet on his way out. Mary has to think on her feet, and she pretends she's a sentenced man's sister, desperate to try and talk the judge out of his ruling to explain why she was hiding in the closet. It's a perfect opening scene. It shows how corrupt Walter is, how he and Mary can both spontaneously lie at the spur of the moment, and it sets the audience up for a grand dilemma. How far can Walter go to cover up his own corruption before the audience stops rooting for him?

That's a question everyone has to answer for herself, and it's an exhilarating ride as you struggle to figure it out. Joining the cast are Phillips Holmes, Anita Page, Lewis Stone, Rafaela Ottiano, and Jean Hersholt, and this fast-paced, exciting drama will remind you of everything the Hays Code prevented films from showing after 1934. This fantastic pre-Code flick is similar to L.A. Confidential, so buckle up and get ready for an emotional experience!

Walter Huston is the well-respected and often quoted judge in charge of the night court in the city. When a grand jury investigation of corruption begins, he sends mistress Noel Francis off to hide, with bank banks of all the bribery money he's gotten with her. He doesn't want her called in for testimony. She hides in a poor part of the city. Her apartment is next to taxi driver Philip Holmes, wife Anita Page, and their baby. When Miss Page gets a look at the bank book and a detective comes snooping around, she's railroaded into prison on charges of prostitution.

It has echoes of New York City and Lucky Luciano's ring. Holmes is arratic in his characterization, and the pace of the movie stops and starts, but everyone else good, and Huston is excellent as the hypocritical judge. It's the sort of movie that would be strangled under the Production Code, and movies like this are why the Code came to be enforced. Most people thought it was because of all the naked women, but it was actually the attacking of authority. With Lewis Stone, Mary Carlisle, John Miljan, Tully Marshall, and Jean Hersholt.

This is a very good film. I have always loved Walter Huston and he does a great job in this film too. You will love to hate his character. Don't think this is a comedy like the better known TV series by that name. This movie gets heavy and dark.

Huston is a corrupt judge sitting on the bench of the night court. He gives off the air of being just and kind, but he is being paid off by the mob to release gangsters. He is making lots of money which he hides and shares with his sleazy girl played by Mary Carlisle. He is thought to be a saint by the city while he grows rich off his corrupt use and perversion of justice.

Phillips Holmes and Anita Page play a sweet couple that just had a baby. They have the bad luck of becoming acquainted socially with Huston and Carlisle. When Page is suspected that she is starting to "get wise" to Huston's corruption, Mary Carlisle and Huston set up a frame job where Page is set up in a "compromising" position. She is arrested for prostitution and comes up in court against Huston. He sends her to six months of hard labor to get her out of the way. The sad part is that Page is innocent and really does not suspect Huston or Carlisle at all. Anita Page does a great job as she screams her innocence, cries out for them to get her husband, pleads to see her baby, and all the nightmarish emotions that would come from such a set up on an innocent sweet girl.

Phillips Holmes is perfect. He can't believe his wife would sleep with a man for money, even though they are having a hard time making ends meet. He runs to the court with his baby in his arms to save his wife. He is too late. She has been sent away screaming earlier that day. To make it worse, Huston orders the baby to be ripped out of his arms and placed in an orphanage "for the baby's best interest".

The film does a great job of showing the nightmare unfolding for first Anita Page and then it shifts to the nightmare unfolding for Phillips Holmes. He tries so hard to fight his disbelief in the overwhelming evidence that is wife solicited for sex. He wants to keep his faith in her but it is hard when everyone is telling him the opposite. He has a scene where he talks to himself in a mirror and lays out how he feels and fights with his trust in his wife and the horrible guilty facts of her "double life". Good stuff. Good scene. Good acting.

Does justice prevail? Does Anita Page get out of jail? Does Philips Holmes keep his sanity? Does the baby get returned? Does Huston get his comeuppance?

For all the above answers, you should see the film. It is worth it. It is classy and classic and you know I ONLY post movie reviews of movies you really should see. So follow my court orders and see "Night Court" from 1932!

A solid role for gruff Walter Huston, the actor you love to hate, and he is quite effective here, thanks to the masterful direction of W. S. Van Dyke.

Judge Moffett (Huston) is as dastardly as they come, and with connections to some really brutal guys.

Also a showcase for beautiful leading lady Anita Page, playing a young wife and mother who has the goods on Moffett, which leads to the judge declaring war on both her and her husband, played by Phillips Holmes, a staple in many films of the 30s.

Am exercise in human nature at its very worst, perhaps the most dramatic, if not over zealous role for Huston. Applause for Lewis Stone as the crusading lawman out to nail him, playing the role of judge Osgood. Don't y'all love that name!

Fine direction by Van Dyke, billed as "one take," who had the knack for filming everything in usually a single take -- and the cast and crew loved this guy. Van Dyke soon directed the THIN MAN series with lots of style. One of Hollywood's fondly remembered directors, nicknamed "Woody."

Always on remastered dvd. Thanks much to TCM for running this unforgettable oldie.

Night Court is a gritty drama about graft and corruption in the US courts. Very well acted by a good cast, there are a few too many convenient plot devices but on the whole this is a terrific film.

Walter Huston stars as Judge Moffett, a rotten crooked judge who has a whole network of goons and thugs doing his dirty work. Lewis Stone is Judge Osgood, a crusader trying to pin Huston. Phillips Holmes and Anita Page play a sweet young couple caught up in the corruption. Noel Francis (excellent) plays Huston's cheap moll. Tully Marshall plays a goon. Mary Carlisle has a weird scene as Stone's daughter. John Miljan is a crooked lawyer. Eily Malyon plays a starving woman. Jean Hersholt is the tenement manager. Rafaella Ottiano plays a neighbor.

Huston, Francis, Page, and Holmes are all really good. I've seen Noel Francis in a few other films and wonder why she was not bigger. She's always good. Page has one of her best dramatic roles in this film.

Gritty story, good actors---worth a look!

Odd what one sees in these old crime dramas. This one is pretty good, with star Walter Huston in particularly villianous form as a corrupt judge and the long- forgotten Phillips Holmes as the cab driver who brings the hammer of justice down on the jurist. But what sticks in my mind now is the harrowing situation of an innocent young family torn apart by the judge's efforts to elude a special prosecutor, resulting in mom Anita Page framed for prostitution and their baby wailing in an orphanage. Still watchable. We should all look this good at seventy-plus.