Develiker terrible... so disappointed.

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Cissy Évelyne It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Richard Chatten The opening montage of this delirious slice of pre-Code life amounts virtually to a declaration of intent, as various New Yorkers hit the town in pursuit of sex, booze and violence. You can practically hear the scratch of pencils from the bluestockings in the audience whose increasingly persistent calls to put a stop to the depiction of just this sort of depravity would soon, alas, be calling the shots in Hollywood. In just 58 minutes, 'Night World' depicts illegal booze ("they can make it faster than you can drink it"), homosexuality (in the flouncing form of "MISTER Baby", played by a very young Byron Foulger before he grew his moustache) and adultery as facts of life; and comes dangerously close to condoning the latter in the scene in which Hedda Hopper appears as Lew Ayres' ghastly mother who shot his father for an improbably innocent dalliance with another woman. (It also takes a rather callously casual view of violent death when the bullets start seriously flying in the film's finale).A couple of previous reviewers have compared 'Night World' to a low rent 'Grand Hotel'; with Merritt Gerstad's extraordinarily mobile camera weaving it's way throughout the joint picking up one set of characters and then another rather as Robert Altman would later do. Presiding over 'Happy's Place' is a tall, lisping, English-accented proprietor called "Happy" MacDonald, played by - of all people - a third-billed and fascinatingly miscast Boris Karloff. The women all look magnificent - all that bobbed hair and bare shoulders! - and a sweet blonde Mae Clarke is permitted a sunnier characterisation than we are accustomed to seeing her get a chance to play. It's a blast to see her actually dancing in the lineup on the floor show (with appropriately lascivious choreography courtesy of Busby Berkeley himself)! The name of the prolific Hobart Henley often crops up in filmographies from the early thirties, but after 'Night World' he only directed one more film. On the strength of this I'd sure like to see some of his others.

MartinHafer You can certainly tell that "Night World" is a pre-code picture. It's set in a speakeasy--just the sort of sordid locale that wouldn't have been allowed after the new Production Code went into effect in mid-1934. Of course, by then alcohol was legal and speakeasies were a thing of the past anyways. The film is very much like a soap opera--with a variety of folks and love affairs going on during the course of the picture.Several story lines are going on at the same time in this film and at then end, they all converge. One story is about the owners of the club, Happy (Boris Karloff) and Jill. However, Jill is cheating on her hubby and the way this story ends is pure dynamite. The main story involves a young man who's been drinking himself into oblivion (Lew Ayres). Why and his relationship with a girl who works in the club (Mae Clark) is fascinating. Finally, the doorman (Clarence Muse) has something going on with his sick wife. Again, all three stories converge at the end for a very slick and tense finale.I rarely give short films like this such high scores. However, with this one, the writing was so good and the ending so enjoyable I highly recommend it. Thrilling and enjoyable throughout.By the way, the dance numbers, though smaller in scale than his trademark choreography, were directed by Busby Berkeley.

Mike-764 Happy's Club, a non speakeasy nightclub in Manhattan, is home to many stories and characters. Owner Happy MacDonald is threatened by rival bootleggers and decides to settle matters with them himself. Happy's wife Jill is keeping on an affair with the nightclub's entertainment director Klauss. Dancer Ruth Taylor is falling for young Michael Rand, who's been drinking away at Happy's after the recent events of the murder trial concerning his mother shooting his father. All the events come together (sort of- see review) where people with grudges against each our cast come to Happy's for a showdown.The film has a great cast and almost all of them do a bang-up job, but the film falls flat because the various stories don't really gel together and a lot of characters have their roles wasted (Clarence Muse and George Raft especially). In a sense the only draw of the film is the Busby Berkeley choreographed dance sequence about 10 minutes in.Rating 4 out of 10.

ROCKY-19 Poor Mae Clark was in loads of films yet is most known for getting a grapefruit in the kisser from James Cagney in 'Public Enemy.' So it's nice to see her in a part with a few more brains. She is just part of an odd mixed-salad of a cast. Some, like Boris Karloff as an awkwardly gangly night-club owner, and Bert Roach as a silly drunk, seem to be in strange waters. Others, like Lew Ayers and George Raft, get roles typical of their young careers. Though she has only one scene in this very short film, Hedda Hopper steals the show as the world's worst mother.The only character to really warm to is The Doorman, Tim Washington (Clarence Muse). He is clearly in a horrible situation which those around pity at best and ignore at worst. So many African-American roles in the white films of the '30s are painful to watch, but Muse brings something special to this thankless part.Cinematographer Merritt Gerstad shows an inventive eye both in the opening montage and in scenes that would otherwise be nothing to look at. And of course, we get brief Busby Berkeley numbers, which would never really work in a night club, but allowances must be made for Hollywood.