Robert Wise could direct almost anything, and direct it well, but clearly comedy was not a genre he excelled in. Exhibit A is This Could Be the Night, a distaff take on the Frank Tashlin style that desperately tries to combine elements of The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Paul Douglas does the Edmond O'Brien thing as lovable gangster Rocco, who hires sweet young innocent Anne Leeds (Jean Simmons) as his secretary, and Joan Blondell reprises her matronly role from Rock Hunter. Unfortunately, the decision to film in black and white--not to mention the rather pedestrian musical numbers--renders the film a disappointment in contrast to those Tashlin triumphs. On the plus side, Neile Adams, Mrs. Steve McQueen, looks gorgeous in glasses and delivers a sizzling strip tease performance during a number entitled Hustlin' Newsgal. On the other side of the ledger, This Could Be the Night seems to feature a minstrel show, surely an anachronism in 1957 and quite an embarrassment today. All in all, it's not terrible, but lacks the anarchic joi de vivre of Tashlin.
Review of This Could Be the Night
