The Night of Nights

The Night of Nights is a 1939 black-and-white drama film written by Donald Ogden Stewart and directed by Lewis Milestone for Paramount Pictures that starred Pat O'Brien, Olympe Bradna, and Roland Young.

The film received positive contemporary reviews from publications such as The New York Times. Director Milestone went on to other successful productions after the film came out, including Ocean's 11 and Pork Chop Hill.

The movie has no relation to the use of the phrase "Night of Nights" for the night of the Academy Awards ceremony,the album by musical group The Seekers, or the Touhou Project song.

Background

Milestone directed The Night of Nights nine years after winning the 1930 Academy Award for Best Director for All Quiet on the Western Front.

Plot

Dan O'Farrell (Pat O'Brien) was is a brilliant Broadway theater playwright, actor, and producer who has left the business. When he was younger, he and his partner Barry Keith-Trimble (Roland Young) were preparing for the opening night of O'Farell's play Laughter by getting drunk. When it was time to perform, they were so intoxicated they ended up brawling on stage and fell into the orchestra pit. The two left the theater and continued drinking, until they learn that they have been suspended. At the same time, O'Farrell learns that his wife, actress Alyce Martelle, is pregnant and has left him for ruining her performance in Laughter as Toni. Despondent, he in left the business and went into seclusion.