Roadhouse Nights

*Roadhouse Nights*
Roadhouse Nights
Directed by	Hobart Henley
Written by	Ben Hecht (story); Garret Fort
Produced by	Walter Wanger
Starring	Helen Morgan; Charles Ruggles; Fred Kohler; Jimmy Durante
Cinematography	William O. Steiner
Edited by	Helene Turner
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	February 23, 1930;
Running time	68 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Roadhouse Nights is a 1930 American pre-Code gangster film. A number of sources including Sally Cline in her book Dashiell Hammett Man of Mystery claim it is based on the novel Red Harvest written by Dashiell Hammett (author of The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, and The Glass Key). However the credits of the film itself say only "An Original Screenplay by Ben Hecht." Hammett receives no mention at all (and the plots are not similar).

The movie, an amalgam of musical comedy and gangster melodrama, was directed by Hobart Henley, stars Helen Morgan, Charles Ruggles, and Fred Kohler, and features a rare screen musical comedy performance by Jimmy Durante, in his screen debut, with his vaudeville partners Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson ("Clayton, Jackson, and Durante"). Helen Morgan also sings It Can't Go On Like This.

Plot

Lola is a nitery chanteuse's whose gangster bosses head a murderous bootleg operation. Willie is a news reporter pretending to be an inveterate drinker. He frequents Lola's club, his phony drunkenness a cover for his investigation of the bootleg ring.

Cast

Helen Morgan as Lola Fagan
Charles Ruggles as Willie Bindbugel
Fred Kohler as Sam Horner
Jimmy Durante as Daffy
Leo Donnelly as City Editor
Tammany Young as Jerry
Joe King as Hanson
Lou Clayton as Joe
Eddie Jackson as Moe
Fuller Mellish Jr. as Hogan

Production

Filmed at Paramount's Astoria Studios in Astoria, Long Island, Roadhouse Nights is typical pre-Code Prohibition-era entertainment, with a reasonably "straight" performance from comic actor Ruggles and a few songs from Helen Morgan.