Lady of the Night is a 1925 film directed by Monta Bell, starring Norma Shearer.
Shearer plays dual roles. She is Florence Banning, virginal good girl, daughter to a judge. She also plays Molly Helmer, daughter to a convict who's sent away for 20 years shortly after Molly is born. Florence lives in the lap of luxury, graduating from a private girls' finishing school at age 18, while hardscrabble Molly is released from reform school at about the same time.
A minor scuffle in a bar results in Molly meeting one David Page, a would-be inventor. Molly quickly falls for handsome David, a would-be inventor who has just invented an anti-theft device for bank safes. At Molly's urging, David offers his device to the directors of a local bank, one of whom happens to be Judge Banning. After the sales pitch, David meets the judge's lovely daughter Florence.
Joan Crawford, so new to Hollywood that she was still going by her real name Lucille LaSueur, has a bit part as Shearer's body double when Florence and Molly are in the same scene. It was her film debut, and her face can be briefly seen (as Molly) when the girls are hugging in the back of a car.
Tropes:
- Betty and Veronica: Shy, innocent Florence contrasts with Molly's brassy demeanor and outlandish dresses. Although, both women are more complicated than that. Florence likes the idea of kissing boys and wants to explore her sexuality, while Molly imagines herself as a proper "lady" and copies fancy table settings out of magazines.
- Dogged Nice Guy: "Chunky", who pretty much knows that Molly isn't as in to him as he is in to her, but doesn't care. (She smacks him when he tries to dance cheek to cheek.) It's one of the more positive examples of this trope, as he is willing to put her first and step aside if David got serious about Molly. And he's rewarded in the end, as Molly, who recognizes that Chunky cares about her even if she isn't in love with him, agrees to marry him and go away.
- The Flapper: Molly is this—flashily dressed, sassy attitude, loves to dance. She contrasts with demure Florence.
- Hollywood Darkness: Someone switches out the lights in the ballroom where David and Florence are dancing. Instead of things getting dark, they get blue-ish, as was customary in that era.
- Hypocritical Humor: Florence's aunt criticizes Florence's use of perfume. After Florence leaves the room, the aunt dabs some perfume on herself.
- Identical Stranger: No one even seems to notice that Florence and Molly look just like each other. Maybe Judge Banning had an affair?
- Imagine Spot: Chunky's offer to marry Molly and take her out west leads Molly to visualize their car breaking down in some arid desert. She chuckles about the "great wide open spaces", but agrees to go anyway.
- Maiden Aunt: When Florence's persnickety aunt carps about Florence's use of perfume, Florence snarkily notes that her aunt never got married.
- Meet Cute: Molly and Dave are introduced when Chunky tries to defend Molly's honor at a bar, and gets thrown right into Dave.
- Missing Mom: Both moms are dead by the time the daughters reach 18.
- Non-Indicative Name: One might imagine from the title that Molly is a hooker but there's no such indication.
- Time Skip: 18 years between the introductory sequence with the girls as infants and the setting of the main story.
