I'm a huge Billy Wilder fan, so I'm glad to see Universal has finally put out Midnight (with Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche) on DVD.

Wilder (with Charles Brackett) wrote Midnight, but he didn't direct. That chore feel to Mitchell Leisien, one of the Hollywood helmsmen who drove Wilder to take the director's chair himself, just so he could protect his own witty dialogue from directorial malpractice.

The 1939 outing is one of Wilder's scripts I've never seen, so I'm looking forward to it. And bonus, it has John Barrymore in his last major role, who for reason of his own turns Colbert, a down-on-her-luck American, into a fake countess. Sounds frothy and fun!

(I've lost track of this, but a while ago, before the DVD came out, there were rumors that Reese Witherspoon was going to tackle a remake. Wonder if this means the remake is a go?)

Midnight DVD cover