Star of Midnight

New York lawyer and playboy Clay Dalzell, [William Powell], is drawn into a search for his old friend Tim Winthrop, [Leslie Fenton], when Tim asks him to locate his girlfriend Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in Chicago a year ago and may have turned up in New York.

Dal teams up with Donna Mantin, [Ginger Rogers], who harbors romantic hopes for him, and the pair attend a hit stage show, Midnight, where a masked actress named Mary Smith, [Bess Flowers], captivates the audience. The performance ends in chaos when Mary vanishes in mid‑act after Tim recognizes her and blurts out the name Alice, suggesting the mystery runs deeper than a simple disappearance.

Gossip columnist Tommy Tennant, [Russell Hopton], believes he has a vital clue to the case, but before he can reveal it, he is shot in Dal’s suite. With Tennant dead, Dal becomes the prime suspect, yet Inspector Doremus, [J. Farrell MacDonald], does not buy the accusation and grants Dal the freedom to investigate on his own terms.

To uncover more evidence, Dal negotiates with gangster Jim Kinland, [Paul Kelly], and uses a bit of blackmail to retrieve letters that appear to embarrass Donna. He soon discovers, however, that the letters actually belong to a friend of Donna rather than to her.

Dal is visited by an old flame, Jerry, [Vivien Oakland], who is now married to a lawyer named Classon, [Ralph Morgan]. Jerry’s husband is also in pursuit of Alice, and she can provide an alibi for his client, who has been convicted of a murder in Chicago. The tangled web of relationships grows more intricate as each character’s motive and connection to Alice comes into sharper relief.

Determined to trap the truth, Dal stages a clever ruse in a Greenwich Village apartment. He pretends to have located the missing Mary, then notifies each suspect that she is on her way to meet him at his suite. The plan is simple: those who are innocent will head to Dal’s suite, while the murderer will race to the apartment to silence Mary.

When the killer arrives—disguised and dangerous—Dal and Inspector Doremus find themselves in grave danger, but their combined effort manages to subdue the culprit. The murderer is revealed to be Robert Classon. It emerges that Jerry had carried on affairs, first with the Chicago murder victim, then with his accused killer. Jerry despises the man who ruined her father, and her tangled affairs have almost derailed the investigation.

With the case finally resolved, Dal’s own future takes a positive turn: he marries Donna, tying the knot after a case that tested his wit, nerve, and loyalty.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:21