Night After Night finds George Raft as a former boxer now owner of a swank speakeasy who is looking to move up in class. A part Raft could really identify with considering his own humble circumstances.

In addition Raft is juggling three women, society girl Constance Cummings, former flapper Wynne Gibson, and the one and only Mae West.

Without Mae in this film, Night After Night would be just a routine film with nothing terribly special. But because Mae made her screen debut, the film has come down as a legend.

West is only on the screen for about 15 minutes of the film, but it's 15 unforgettable minutes. Raft is trying to acquire some culture and polish and hires Alison Skipworth to educate him in the finer arts. He brings her along to dinner with Constance Cummings to impress Cummings and Mae crashes the party.

When Paramount hired West they apparently did not know what to do with her. The part she has here as originally written is a supporting role. Remember she was a star on Broadway and wrote a lot of her own material. Mae persuaded the powers of Paramount to let her write her own lines and she wound up stealing the film.

As this was pre-Code the budding relationship of Mae to Skipworth shows more than a hint of lesbianism. As it was Mae West was quite the gay community icon, still is.

Without her, Night After Night is a routine, even substandard melodrama, with Mae it's a classic.

This film has the distinction of being Mae West's movie debut. It also has the distinction of being one of her most enjoyable performances--as she plays a different sort of gal she played in later films. Now Mae is NOT the star of the film--clearly a supporting character. No, instead this is a George Raft film and while he's good in the film, the film ends so badly that he really looks like a total sap. That, combining by being a bit upstaged by West must have annoyed him...at least a bit.

The film is about Raft and his desire to be sophisticated and accepted by society. That's because he operates the fanciest and most respectable speakeasy in New York and he wants to feel accepted by his high-class clientèle. And, in particular, Raft has noticed a certain pretty lady (Constance Cummings) who has been coming there alone recently. He knows she has class and wants to make a great impression on her.

This leads to the most wonderful part of the film--the big fancy night Raft plans with Cummings. Because he's just a mug, he decides to have his 'class' teachers (Alison Skipworth) sit in on the dinner. This isn't a bad idea necessarily, but when an old friend (Mae West) shows up (as well as a VERY crazy ex-girlfriend), things seem to completely fall apart. BUT, oddly, through this, he manages to win Cummings...or at least temporarily.

What follows is interesting. You learn that although Cummings supposedly has class, she is a very class-less person. And Raft realizes, he's too good for her! Now this is a GREAT idea..and the film really hooked me. However, the ending of the film COMPLETELY mucks up this great message! Grrrr, did this make me mad! Fortunately, the various scenes with Skipworth and West were so good that it STILL makes it all worth watching. I was surprised, as I really have never liked West in films in the past. I think the differences this time are that she is a supporting character AND she didn't play the 'awsomely irresistible dame' she did in other films--something that frankly made no sense since she was WAY too old and 'seasoned' to be so ridiculously desirable (she even did this in film into her 80s!!! YECK!!).

Overall, a very auspicious start and a film that really hooked me...until a really stupid ending.

Since I just checked from the library this 5-disc collection of Mae West movies, I dove right in to watch her first one, Night After Night. She's only a supporting role here but when she's on screen, she steals it for all it's worth. And now-forgotten supporting player Alison Skipworth, as a teacher hired to give speakeasy owner George Raft proper English lessons, is a hoot alongside West in her exchanges with Ms. West. The rest of the film is basically about Raft and his following of a proper lady played by Constance Cummings that wasn't bad to see but, really, without Mae, this movie would probably suffer in obscurity today. Can't wait to watch the other four soon...