Midnight Girl, The (1925)

This 1925 film was one of the best silent film roles for Bela Lugosi, before he had even played Dracula on stage. Lila Lee gets top billing at the young age of 24, as she had already been in dozens of films. The story involves Lugosi as a wealthy art patron whose top singer is getting old. He is searching for a new prima donna, when his son, who is unhappily engaged, leaves his father’s riches to prove himself on his own. The son, Don, then finds Lila Lee, Anna, on the streets when her elder music teacher is abused by a bully and he rescues them. Don brings Anna back to his father, only to find that his father is instantly infatuated with her. Many melodramatic twists ensue and there is a nice old-fashioned resolution. The Midnight Girl seems like classic, standard melodrama for its’ day. The main standout of it today is the Lugosi presence.

cast: Lila Lee, Gareth Hughes, Dolores Cassinelli, Charlotte Walker, Bela Lugosi

1925, B&W, silent, 84 minutes