Moviecut—They Met at Midnight

source: They Met at Midnight

Piccadilly Incident

The title of the review is describing what the W.R.E.N. Service is. However it is incorrectly spelt. WRNS is the correct abbreviation as it stands for Woman's Royal Navel Service and phonetically pronounced as Wrens.

Story about a wartime widower who remarries and has a son, only to find that his first wife is still alive. It's OK but the cop out ending ruins what is an interesting premise.

A British romantic drama; A story set in London and the Far East about a Wren and a Captain who meet by chance during an air-raid in London, 1941. They eventually fall deeply in love and marry. The spends her short embarkation leave together, but their hopes are tragically destroyed after the fall of Singapore. The film has a promising beginning, building the story well, but the second act dips from plausible, realistic drama to melodrama. The third act becomes ultimately absorbing, however. Finally it falls to sentimentality and a sharp conclusion which is implausible. The prologue and epilogue bookends deliver, weightily, a legal flaw which bring stark realities and a provocative theme, but for a film audience a problem unresolved. Anne Neagle gave a brilliant performance of first rate acting. With Wilding they had a great chemistry despite the rather conventional dialogue. It has an admirable all round cast nonetheless.

Very genteel British wartime romance in which Michael Wilding eventually remarries after believing his wife of only three days (Anna Neagle, looking incredibly good for 42) has died at sea, only for her to turn up alive and well. It's all very British - exaggerated politeness, stiff upper lips, chirpy working classes, etc - which makes the outlandish plot seem even more far-fetched than it probably is. Director Herbert Wilcox seemed to struggle to fit all that plot into the 103 minute running time, as some key events are glossed over.

First can I say that I consider Mr Reids review to be spot on.I would add that the key to the mediocre production values is that it was made at Welwyn studios,a small studio run by ABPC,used when they had no space at ElstreeI believe that the legalities are fundamentally flawed.In any event this aspect cannot save what is a dull stilted melodrama,which is deservedly forgotten.

I first saw this wonderful little film at 16 years of age and have never forgotten it. Michael Wilding and Anna Neagle ( in particular) carry the film with an English understated romance atypically bubbling under the surface - although Neagle's warmth is palpable. It is a curious but clever mix of war, romance, adventure and ethics. I think the stand-out and almost jolting point for me was the judiciary's comment - at the end - alluding to the fact that the child (of the second wife) would always be illegitimate. They don't make them like this anymore.