At the Midnight Hour (1995)

Pretty cute!

Now I've watched four Harlequins Romance (Broken Lullaby, Diamond Girl, Hard to Forget) I thought At the Midnight Hour had a very cute story and solid acting from everyone. Richard sorta wasn't my type (he looked like a mix of Jeff Bridges, Kurt Russell and Nick Nolte) I guess Ilike dark haired guys, but we was still good. Liz was definitely good looking. I believed the chemistry between them. The story was pretty cute, and that whole mystery. All in all very enjoyable and cute! April 15, 2006

My Favorite Of The Harlequin Movies!

At the Midnight Hour is a wonderful made for television movie that is based on a Harlequin romance novel and personally this is my favorite of the Harlequin movie adaptations. The movie stars Patsy Kensit as a young woman who takes a job as a nanny to take care of a wealthy older man's young son and so has to move into their spooky old castle like mansion and she finds herself falling for her boss who is played by Simon McCorkindale and the character he plays is a man who has alot of painful secrets from his past but she also finds herself catching the attention of his con artist brother and there is also the snobby creepy and bitchy female family friend who is jealous of the growing attraction of Simon McCorkindale and Patsy Kensit's characters. The acting by both Simon and Patsy is good and there is a lot of chemistry between the too that makes the romance believable and Simon McCorkindale is handsome and I could definitely see him as the romantic hero! October 6, 2005

Mary Poppins With Sex

Charles Jarrott, who helmed the nearly forgotten studio fiasco THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT, followed up years later with another "Midnight Movie," AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, this one a different kettle of fish entirely but one marked with the good taste and understatement that have long been a hallmark of Jarrott's films but which deserted him on THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT. This movie was produced by Harlequin-the romance company, trying to break into the profitable Lifetime For Women oligarchy with some productions of their own. It's a shame the Harlequin movie studio didn't last longer than a year or two, but during that time they made some interesting productions, including the unforgettable CHANGE OF PLANS in which twin sisters tried to bamboozle the eternally sexy Rick Springfield of "Jessie's Girl" fame.

AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR goes way, way British. They couldn't get Hugh Grant so they went with aging matinee idol Simon MacCorkindale, whom I have never forgiven ever since DEATH ON THE NILE, and here he plays a sort of Rochester type character (from Jane Eyre) who hires Elizabeth Guinness as nanny for his young tots. It's not Mary Poppins, for instantly sparks strike between aristocratic Richard and slightly repressed Elizabeth, who spends much of the first twenty minutes pursing her lips tightly, as though she'd just swallowed a lemon whole, but then she softens up as love, and the children, bring them together. Poor Elizabeth has to suffer as she finds out that Richard had another woman in his life, though not half as seriously as she imagines, and a touch of jealousy haunts her dreams. This part is played by Patsy Kensit, who has made 65 movies and still looks younger than springtime. I don't know how she does it; such profligacy harkens back to the glory days of the 1930s when a star like Myrna Loy or John Wayne might make ten or eleven movies a year. I look forward to everything Kensit churns out, even when it's soapy dreck like this one, just because she's so beautiful and so set in her ways.

If you liked REBECCA you might like this one. It's corny, but well played by two attractive stars, no longer in their first youth, but with the skills born of long practice at make believe and falling in love in front of the cameras. And the mansion that it all takes place in is fetching indeed. You can just imagine the Plantagenets throwing people's heads off of its battlements into the moat. September 7, 2005

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