The Midnight Message (1926) watch online HD

I've always wanted to see a film directed by the prolific character actor, Paul Hurst. Grapevine have come to my rescue with a very attractive tinted print of The Midnight Message (1926), a "B" movie from an outfit called Goodwill Productions that moves along competently if somewhat heavy-handedly, until suddenly coming to vibrant life for a really rousing chase climax on actual city streets. It's a little sad to see the famous Wanda Hawley of "Bobbed Hair", reduced to appearing in a "B" (she made no less than 10 movies in 1926 alone), but let's be thankful that we can see her at all – and in this excellent print! She receives good support from young Johnny Fox as the resourceful boy hero, but Creighton Hale's pallid suitor isn't much of a match for her. Stuart Holmes tries hard to put himself across as the villain but the script's excuse for inviting him into the Macy home in the first place, is paper-thin, to say the least. However, Otis Harlan really enjoys throwing his weight around as Macy, and we suspect some real police were rung-in to play themselves.

Just to see Wanda Hawley in a movie is marvellous even if by this time her star had slipped and she was grateful for any fly by night company that would give her a job. Throughout her career she had worked for the big studios but in 1926 the only studio that stands out in her resume is Universal. The others, Rayart, Banner, Gotham, Sterling and Goodwill were way down there. Even critics wondered why the glamorous star was wasting her talent in films that weren't "quite right" - that she still had the talent was proved by "Smouldering Fires", she played a sassy factory worker and you remembered her. Wanda had had a chequered private life and by 1926 a drinking problem was making her unemployable.

Widow Malone (Mary Carr) just manages to scrape a living together with the help of her trusty sewing machine and her young son who is a telegraph delivery boy and who has the chance of making more money by working nights!! It is now doubly important for him to make good as the widow's sewing machine has broken down and been pronounced unfixable.

If Widow Malone and her son are down among the shanties, the Macys are on the top of the heap. With humorous little titles "do you ever notice how long it takes for an affair of this sort to drag it's way through an evening" - the affair being Mary Macy's (Hawley) birthday party, father has just presented her with a string of pearls and Billy (Creighton Hale) thinks they make his little old ring look pretty shabby. Someone else who has noticed the pearls is Red Fagan (Stuart Holmes) an "uninvited" guest who has a couple of henchmen outside just itching to rob the place. Another funny title "the moment of supreme relief - when you get your hat and coat" means the evening party is at an end. Not for some people - Red Fagan and his band of thugs have stayed behind in the shadows and with all the valuables in the strong box and Mary tied up and helpless it should be a cinch - but they didn't reckon on the little messenger boy. Somehow (as if you didn't know) he is named as the thief when in reality he has untied Mary and given chase to the real robbers.

The ending is worthy of a Harold Lloyd chase as he jumps on a trolley car, hitches a ride on a fire engine, impersonates a gas station attendant then steals a horse drawn milk truck. Great stuff for a minor movie from a studio called Goodwill. Creighton Hale only had a couple of scenes and yes, the director is the same Paul Hurst who appeared in over 300 films and made the roles of bumbling flatfoot and cowardly sidekick his own. He directed over 50 films - stopping in 1927, obviously realising he had more fun in front of the camera!!

Highly Recommended.