Swellegant and elegant. Deluxe and delovely. Cole Porter was the most sophisticated name in 20th-century songwriting. And to play him on screen Hollywood chose debonair icon Cary Grant. Grant stars for the first time in color in this fanciful biopic. Alexis Smith plays Linda whose serendipitous meetings with Cole lead to a meeting at the altar. More than 20 Porter songs grace this tale of triumph and tragedy with Grant lending his amiable voice to You're the Top Night and Day and more. Monty Woolley a Yale contemporary of Porter portrays himself. And Jane Wyman Mary Martin Eve Arden and others provide vocals and verve. Lights down. Curtain up. Standards embraced by generations are yours to enjoy Night and Day

The fictionalized biography of composer Cole Porter from his days at Yale in the 1910s through the height of his success to the 1940s. The film's attempted biography matches many public myths surrounding Cole at the time, despite its lack of relationship with truth. For instance, truth and movie are different in regards to: his sex life (he was a gay man in a marriage of convenience with a divorcee friend), his relationship with his wife, Monty Wooley was a contemporary (not Professor), and his French military experience was a hoax.

With Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) as director, Cary Grant in the lead, and wall-to-wall songs by Cole Porter, how could Night and Day lose? Why, by taking broad liberties with the composer's life story and failing to live up to expectations. If you can overlook such shortcomings, however, it's lively entertainment that doesn't completely deserve the scorn it has elicited. Grant is good as a bon vivant who had a way with words but lacked the discipline to pursue a career in law. As a singer, on the other hand, he's merely adequate. Curtiz wisely has the fine supporting actresses (Jane Wyman, Ginny Simms, etc.) handle the big numbers such as "You're the Top." Also, Porter's story was meant for black and white. The Technicolor process adds an unfortunate garishness to the tale of a man whose very name has become a synonym for elegance. With Mary Martin and Monty Woolley as themselves. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Cast

Cary Grant as Cole Porter

Alexis Smith as Linda Lee Porter

Monty Woolley as Himself

Ginny Simms as Carole Hill

Jane Wyman as Gracie Harris

Eve Arden as Gabrielle

Victor Francen as Anatole Giron

Alan Hale as Leon Dowling

Dorothy Malone as Nancy

Tom D'Andrea as Bernie

Selena Royle as Kate Porter

Donald Woods as Ward Blackburn

Henry Stephenson as Omar Cole

Paul Cavanagh as Bart McClelland

Sig Ruman as Wilowski

Carlos Ramírez as Specialty Singer

Milada Mladova as Specialty Dancer

George Zoritch as Specialty Dancer

Adam Di Gatano as Specialty Dancer

Jane Di Gatano as Specialty Dancer

Estelle Sloan as Specialty Dancer

Mary Martin as Herself

John Alvin as Petey

Gloria Anderson as Tall Showgirl

Valerie Ardis as Nurse

Robert Arthur as Customer

Lynn Baggett as Sexboat

Richard Bartell as Photographer

Edward Biby as Surgeon

Herman Bing as Ladisaus Smedick (second 'Peaches')

Betty Blair as Nurse

George Boyce as Stage Manager

Maurice Brierre as French Waiter

Harlan Briggs as Doorman

Edgar Caldwell as American Officer

Peter Camlin as French Lieutenant

Hobart Cavanaugh as Man in Hospital Corridor

Wheaton Chambers as Assistant Headwaiter

Joan Chandler as Bit Role

Jack Chefe as Headwaiter

Willis Clare as Husband

Pat Clark as Specialty Trio Member

Chester Clute as Music Publisher

John Compton as Student

Joyce Compton as Chorine

Dorothy Costello as Dancer

Ruth Costello as Dancer

Harry Crocker as Newspaperman

Frank Dae as Professor

Armba Dandridge as Bit part

Boyd Davis as Dean

Harold De Becker as English Workman

Fred Deming as Guest

Bernard DeRoux as Assistant to Giron

Henri DeSoto as Waiter

Jimmie Dodd as Red, a Student

Fred Dosch as French Waiter

Paula Drew as Specialty Trio Member

Adrian Droeshout as Man at Bar

Pierre Duval as French Officer

Dick Earle as Doctor

Fern Emmett as Secretary

Richard Erdman as Music Store Customer

Herbert Evans as Bobby

Frank Ferguson as Tina's Father

Sam Flint as Professor

Howard Freeman as Max Fisher

Rudolf Friml Jr. as Orchestra Leader

Lance Fuller as Bit part

Paul Garkie as Student

Eugene Gericke as Soldier

Pat Gleason as Dance Director

John Goldsworthy as Yale Gentleman

Ernest Golm as Foreign Gentleman

Lisa Golm as Foreign Lady

Buddy Gorman as English Pageboy

Marion Gray as Wife

Paul Gustine as Man in Theater

Creighton Hale as Man in Theater

Bill Hardsway as Surgeon

Jane Harker as Specialty Trio Member

Patsy Harmon as Young Customer

Edna Mae Harris as Nurse

Henry Hastings as Black Bartender

Hans Herbert as Headwaiter

Tom Herbert as Drunk

Emil Hilb as Orchestra Leader

Bill Hind as English Officer

Shep Houghton as Dancer / singer

Rune Hultman as American Lieutenant

Boyd Irwin as Professor

Gladden James as Doctor

Jack W. Johnston as Doctor

Eddie Kane as Head Waiter

Art Kassel Jr. as Student

Colin Kenny as Doorman

George Kirby as Cab Driver

Joe Kirkwood Jr. as Classmate

Mike Lally as Doctor

Leota Lorraine as Wife

Ellen Lowe as Nurse

Frank Marlowe as Army Driver

Jo Ann Marlowe as Tina

Gregory Marshall as Small Caroler

Caren Marsh as Young Customer

Alan Marston as American Officer

Ruth Matthews as Nurse

Tom McGuire as Surgeon

Fay McKenzie as Singer, "Easy To Love"

Claire Meade as Customer

George Meader as Minister

Marie Melish as Scrubwoman

John Miles as Student

Frank Miliott as Man in theater

Charles F. Miller as Professor

Jacqueline Milo as French Girl

Rene Mimieux as Man at Bar

Bert Moorhouse as Yale Alumnus - 1916

Jack Mower as Livery Chauffeur

Clarence Muse as Porter

Mayo Newhall as Bearded Man

Georgie Nokes as Wayne Blackburn as a boy

Vivien Oakland as Married Woman

Helen O'Hara as Chorine

Garry Owen as Joe the bartender

Michael Panaieff as French Officer

John Pearson as First 'Peaches'

Helen Pender as Pretty Nurse

Albert Petit as French Waiter

Louis Quince as Husband

Rebel Randall as Chorus girl

Dorothy Reisner as Young customer

Gordon Richards as Cochran

Jack Richardson as Surgeon

George Riley as O'Halloran

Cyril Ring as Married Man

Arlyn Roberts as Chorus Girl

Susanne Rosser as Chorine

Don Roy as Bandleader

Laddie Rucker as Student

Marshall Ruth as Yale Alumnus - 1916

Virginia Sale as Minister's Wife

Fred Santley as Yale Alumnus, 1916

Leonardo Scavino as French Officer

Allen Schute as English Officer

Wallace Scott as Chauffeur

Almira Sessions as Woman in Hospital Corridor

Harry Seymour as Clarence (piano player)

Laurie Sherman as Intern

Barbara Slater as Tall Showgirl

Gene Stanley as Classmate of Porter

Nick Stewart as Black Waiter

George Suzanne as Waiter

Laura Treadwell as Woman in Theater

Gladys Turney as Society Woman

Elizabeth Valentine as Matron in Hospital

Philip Van Zandt as Librettist

George Volk as American Officer

John Vosper as Bit part

Regina Wallace as Tina's Mother

Bobby Watson as Director

Crane Whitley as Commercial Artist

Charles Williams as Customer

Eric Wilton as English Officer

Joan Winfield as Nurse

Bertha Woolford as Servant