This comedy begins near Christmas time when a girl is caught shoplifting. The judge decides to postpone the case until after the New Year, leaving her to spend the season alone in jail. However, the assistant D.A. assigned to prosecute the girl takes her home with him for the holidays.
Screen legends Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray star in the heartwarming holiday classic Remember the Night. Lee Leander (Stanwyck) is a petty shoplifter on trial for swiping an expensive bracelet from a local jewelry store. When her trial is postponed until after New Year’s, sympathetic Assistant District Attorney John Sargent (MacMurray) bails her out of jail. Together, they find themselves falling in love when he invites her to his family’s home for the holidays where she discovers the warmth and love she’s never had but always wanted. Featuring a wonderful supporting cast (Beulah Bondi, Sterling Holloway and Elizabeth Patterson), stylish costumes by Edith Head, a charming script by Preston Sturges, and superb direction by Mitchell Leisen, Remember the Night (1940) is a timeless holiday favorite that can be enjoyed every season.
You’d have to be a grump not to like this funny, sentimental blend of pathos, drama and zaniness. – TV Guide
Playing superbly on the personae of his leads, Leisen creates a movie of warmth and immense style, which never quite trips over into excessive sentimentality. – Time Out
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson, Sterling Holloway.