Two for Tonight
| Two for Tonight | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Frank Tuttle |
| Produced by | Douglas MacLean |
| Written by |
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| Based on |
Two for Tonight by J. O. Lief and Max Lief |
| Starring | |
| Music by | |
| Cinematography | Karl Struss |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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61 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Two for Tonight is a 1935 American musical comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby, Joan Bennett, and Mary Boland. Based on the play Two for Tonight by J. O. Lief and Max Lief, the film is about a songwriter who composes a full-length theatrical piece within a few days.
Crosby is cast as Gilbert, one of three half-brothers, Gilbert, Buster and Pooch, sons of the much-married. debt-ridden, widow Mrs. Smythe. While the broker's men are removing the furniture he sings a song he has composed 'Takes Two to Make a Bargain' (including parody lines, 'Did you ever see a piano walking' and 'Pianni doesn't live here anymore').
In an endeavor to sell the song to Alexander Myers, a song publisher, Gilbert hides in a tree beneath which Myers is resting. Gilbert is unaware that the publisher is completely deaf and, to add to his troubles, when he starts singing a plane circles above and then crashes into the tree. He is injured but after a few days, whilst pushing him in an invalid chair, his mother tells him that she has sued the pilot who is to pay 50,000 dollars compensation for preventing Gilbert from completing his musical play. He protests that he never had any play and they then encounter the pilot, Bobbie, who says she will pay the money at 15 dollars per week from her salary as secretary to Harry Kling the theatrical producer.
Bobbie arranges an appointment for Gilbert to see Kling who, when they arrive, is having trouble finding a suitable play for his actress girlfriend Lilly. Gilbert tries to explain to him the details of the accident but Kling thinks he is outlining a play and tells him to have it finished by the time Kling returns from Paris in seven days. With a group of actors Gilbert takes over Kling's Long Island estate to write a musical play called 'Two for Tonight'. He sings 'From the Top of Your Head' to Bobbie but running out of ideas for the play is advised by Homps, the butler, to 'go out and meet life' to get material for the second act. Homps is an ex-theatrical producer from Budapest who is waiting for money that will come to him on the death of his Uncle Ludwig.
To follow Homps' suggestion, Bobbie tries to persuade Gilbert to take her to dinner but Lilly intervenes and after he sings 'Without a Word of Warning' to Bobbie, Lilly takes him to the Purple Cafe. He becomes impatient with waiting for something to happen which can be introduced into his play and, after tripping up a waiter, rings the police and tells them to come to the Purple Cafe. They mistake him for a crazy fellow, Benny the Goof, who Gilbert meets at the cafe and together they start a battle with soda-water syphons which eventually involves everyone, including the police, in a riot. Gilbert lands in jail where Bobbie visits him and is serenaded with 'I Wish I Were Aladdin' by Gilbert and a chorus of prisoners.
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