At the Midnight Hour
by Charles Jarrott
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cynthia Dale, Keegan MacIntosh, Lindsay Merrithew, Patsy Kensit, Simon MacCorkindaleDirector: Charles Jarrott
Cinematographer: Robert Fresco
Editor: Bruce Lange
Producer: Jean Desormeaux
Producer: Noreen Halpern
Producer: Norman Denver
Writer: Joe Wiesenfeld
Writer: Lisa Gardner
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 87 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-12-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of At the Midnight Hour
Movie Review: Mary Poppins With Sex
Summary: 5 Stars
Charles Jarrott, who helmed the nearly forgotten studio fiasco THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT, followed up years later with another "Midnight Movie," AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, this one a different kettle of fish entirely but one marked with the good taste and understatement that have long been a hallmark of Jarrott's films but which deserted him on THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT. This movie was produced by Harlequin-the romance company, trying to break into the profitable Lifetime For Women oligarchy with some productions of their own. It's a shame the Harlequin movie studio didn't last longer than a year or two, but during that time they made some interesting productions, including the unforgettable CHANGE OF PLANS in which twin sisters tried to bamboozle the eternally sexy Rick Springfield of "Jessie's Girl" fame.
AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR goes way, way British. They couldn't get Hugh Grant so they went with aging matinee idol Simon MacCorkindale, whom I have never forgiven ever since DEATH ON THE NILE, and here he plays a sort of Rochester type character (from Jane Eyre) who hires Elizabeth Guinness as nanny for his young tots. It's not Mary Poppins, for instantly sparks strike between aristocratic Richard and slightly repressed Elizabeth, who spends much of the first twenty minutes pursing her lips tightly, as though she'd just swallowed a lemon whole, but then she softens up as love, and the children, bring them together. Poor Elizabeth has to suffer as she finds out that Richard had another woman in his life, though not half as seriously as she imagines, and a touch of jealousy haunts her dreams. This part is played by Patsy Kensit, who has made 65 movies and still looks younger than springtime. I don't know how she does it; such profligacy harkens back to the glory days of the 1930s when a star like Myrna Loy or John Wayne might make ten or eleven movies a year. I look forward to everything Kensit churns out, even when it's soapy dreck like this one, just because she's so beautiful and so set in her ways.
If you liked REBECCA you might like this one. It's corny, but well played by two attractive stars, no longer in their first youth, but with the skills born of long practice at make believe and falling in love in front of the cameras. And the mansion that it all takes place in is fetching indeed. You can just imagine the Plantagenets throwing people's heads off of its battlements into the moat.
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