The Midnight Lady (DVD)

Mother love, mystery and murder mingle in this dramatic tale of a notorious speakeasy hostess courageously taking the rap for a murder she didn't commit.

Nita St. George can be hard as nails on the outside but she takes a strong maternal interest in Jean Austin, the beautiful girlfriend of one of her patrons. Jean, whose mother disappeared when she was a baby, finds herself mysteriously drawn to the older woman. Nita witnesses Jean leaving the scene of a fatal shooting and jumps to the wrong conclusion, She allows herself to take the fall to protect the young woman to whom she has grown so attached. How can justice prevail when an innocent woman is CONTENT to serve time?

The Midnight Lady was Poverty Row's answer to the era's major-studio soap operas (such as the perennial favorite Madame X) featuring noble older women for whom no self-sacrifice is too great where their children are concerned. Midnight Lady gives us the often uncredited minor player Sarah Padden who shines in this rare opportunity to flex her acting muscles and tug at the heartstrings.

• drama