#Remember that night trial

Instead, Leisen cut much of the dialogue and focused on MacMurray's quiet strength. They also changed the character of Jack in line with MacMurray's strengths in Sturges' original screenplay, the lawyer was a dashing, articulate and slightly theatrical character, but Leisen felt that MacMurray did not possess the verbal abilities needed for the heroic speeches assigned to his character. Leisen's script alterations shifted the film's focus from MacMurray's character to that of Stanwyck. This film also contains a number of references to Easy Living for instance, in the supper club where MacMurray takes Stanwyck for dinner, the song ' Easy Living' plays, and when Stanwyck gives a false name to a justice of the peace, she uses 'Mary Smith', the name of Jean Arthur's character in Easy Living. However, of all the films that Sturges wrote before he began directing, Leisen directed the only two films ( Remember the Night and Easy Living) that Sturges bought for his personal film library. This annoyed Sturges, and was one of the main reasons fueling his determination to direct his own scripts thereafter, which he did beginning with his next project, The Great McGinty. ĭirector Mitchell Leisen shortened Sturges' script considerably, both before and during shooting. to commit hara-kiri several times.' As with all of Sturges' scripts, Remember the Night included a number of elements from his own life, including the falling-in-love-on-a-journey motif, inspired by his experience with Eleanor Post Hutton on the road to Palm Beach many years before, and the character of Jack's tough but loving Midwestern mother, based on the mother of his third wife Louise Sargent, from whom the lead character's name derived. The script, which blends a number of genres, proved difficult to write, and Sturges joked that it caused him '. Preston Sturges suggested Great Love as a title for the film. Spencer Charters as Judge at Rummage Saleįred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in a trailer for Remember the Night.Tom Kennedy as 'Fat' Mike, the bail bondsman.Fred 'Snowflake' Toones as Rufus, John's servant.Paul Guilfoyle as District Attorney, John's boss.Sterling Holloway as 'Chilly' Willie Simms.She refuses, saying that if he still feels the same way when she has served her sentence, and he has had time to consider his decision, they can marry. As she is led away, Jack wants to marry Lee on the spot. Realizing that Jack may damage his career, Lee changes her plea to guilty. Jack's boss has been alerted about the affair, and secretly listens outside the courtroom. Back in New York, Jack tries to lose Lee's case by using harsh and aggressive questioning to force the jury to sympathize with her. On the way back to New York via Canada (to bypass Pennsylvania), Jack tells Lee that he loves her, and tries to persuade her to jump bail, but she refuses. She asks Lee to give Jack up, rather than jeopardize his career, and Lee agrees. She reveals that the family was poor during Jack's childhood, and that he worked hard to put himself through college and law school. On New Year's Eve, Jack kisses Lee at a barn dance, and later that night, his mother visits Lee's bedroom for a talk. She is warmly received by Jack's cousin Willie, aunt Emma, and his mother, even after Jack reveals Lee's past. Jack takes Lee home to spend Christmas with his family. Lee's mother, a malevolent, embittered woman, has remarried, and does not want a relationship with her daughter, whom she considers a lost cause. Lee starts a fire in his wastebasket as a distraction, and the pair flees. The next morning, they are arrested by the landowner for trespassing and destruction of property, and taken to an unfriendly justice of the peace. On the drive, Jack gets lost in Pennsylvania and the couple spends the night parked in a field. Discovering that Lee is a fellow Hoosier (native of Indiana), and that she has nowhere to spend Christmas, Jack offers to drop her off at her mother's house on his way to visit his own family. Fat Mike assumes that Jack intends to seduce Lee, and after he posts bail for her, he delivers her to Jack's apartment.

When he hears Lee complaining to her lawyer about spending Christmas in jail, Jack feels guilty and asks bondsman Fat Mike to post bail.

#Remember that night trial

The trial begins just before Christmas, but to avoid facing a jury filled with the holiday spirit, Jack has the trial postponed on a technicality.

The assistant district attorney, John 'Jack' Sargeant, is assigned to prosecute her. Lee Leander is arrested for stealing a bracelet from a New York City jewelry store.