Night World. 1932. USA. Directed by Hobart Henley. Screenplay by Richard Schayer. Story by Allen Rivkin, P. J. Wolfson. With Boris Karloff, Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, George Raft, Clarence Muse. 35mm. 58 min.
This remarkable, bitter pill of an almost-musical, set in a down-market nightclub named “Happy’s,” offered Mae Clarke the chance to dance for the legendary Busby Berkeley in “Who’s Your Little Whoo-Zis.” Not only has the film been somewhat neglected by almost everyone save Berkeley completists, Clarke herself claimed to biographer James Curtis that she had no recollection of making the movie—adding, however, that she’d enjoyed seeing it. That’s good to know, because Clarke did wonderfully natural and engaging work as part of an ensemble cast that includes Boris Karloff, George Raft, and Clarence Muse. She plays a chorus girl who falls in love with Lew Ayres, an alcoholic society boy getting suicidally drunk while home from college. Shortly after making Night World, Clarke landed in the hospital with a severe sinus infection, the first of several crises, including nervous breakdowns and a car accident, that badly damaged her career. By 1935, Clarke found the productions and eventually the roles getting smaller.