"Night World" is a short-ish film from Universal about a night in the Big Apple during prohibition, centering on a night club, Happys, run by, of all people, Boris Karloff.This is the kind of rough film one associates with Warner Brothers, but instead it's the horror film studio of Universal. We have a gay guy in the mens room, the depressed son of a man (Lew Ayres) whose father was just murdered by his mother (Hedda Hopper) and acquitted, the girlfriend of the murdered man telling his son what his mother is really like, a performer, Ruth (Mae Clarke) at the club trying to comfort him, a tough guy (George Raft) trying to pick up Ruth, the owner's (Karloff) wife being unfaithful to him, a shootout, and a philosophical doorman, Clarence Muse. Muse was a very accomplished black actor; I highly recommend reading his bio on IMDb.Busby Berkeley did the choreography, utilizing the overhead camera to show his various patterns - not that the actual nightclub audience could see them. And the movie doesn't hide the fact that several of these chorines fool around.Everyone is very good, with Muse, Clarke, and Ayres standouts. If you want to see a racy precode, this is it.

At only 58 minutes the film packs a lot of drama into its running time. Murder, humour, adultery, violence, philosophy, dancing, tragedy and love to name a few. It is impressively filmed from the saucy opening montage to the final scene in the snowy street. Set in a nightclub over one night it weaves together several stories, light and dark. Tim the Doorman says of the people in the night club,"Most all them folks is starving for something, and it ain't food."The cast is fine; Lew Ayres as the deeply troubled young man, Boris Karloff as the club owner beset by gangsters and his unfaithful wife, Dorothy Revier as the wife, Russell Hopton as the 'other man', Byron Foulger as a very gay man and the great Clarence Muse as the doorman worrying about his sick wife. One of the club dancers is played by Mae Clarke and she is the shining centre of the film. Clarke gives a feisty and radiant performance. It baffles one how under used she was in films and never got to be a big star. It has been called a low budget 'Grand Hotel' but it stands on its own very well.

Universal in the early 30's is mainly remembered as the home of the horror film, but in fact they ventured into other kinds of films as well. This fast little precode seems like it might have come from Warner Bros., but instead it is the product of Universal. Boris Karloff plays "Happy" the owner of a night club and husband to an unfaithful wife, not that he doesn't have a roving eye himself. George Raft shows up briefly in the film as a tough guy who has an eye for chorus girl Mae Clark. Finally there is Lew Ayres as the son of a prominent family whose mother has just recently shot his father dead and been acquitted. This is not the mom of a heart of gold that you see in so many depression era films, and the young man spends night after night in Happy's club trying to forget his troubles. Add in a snappy Busby Berkeley number and Happy's run-in with the suppliers of his bootleg whiskey and you have a very fast moving little precode. The film is visually interesting too, with an introduction similar to 1929's "Broadway", also by Universal, minus the silver-skinned giant calling the city to awaken and join him in his debauchery. Highly recommended, that is, if you can ever find a copy.

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.