For years believed to be a lost film, Night World suddenly resurfaced in the early 1980s, revealing itself to be an undiscovered gem, as well as a garden of delights for movie buffs. Clearly inspired by
Grand Hotel, this 57-minute extravaganza takes place within the walls of the swank nightclub owned by affable racketeer Happy MacDonald (
Boris Karloff). In the course of a single evening, MacDonald is set up for murder by his faithless wife (Doris Revier) and choreographer Ed Powell (
George Raft); the philosophical black doorman (
Clarence Muse) learns that his beloved wife has died in childbirth; alcoholic socialite Michael Rand (
Lew Ayres), the son of an acquitted murderess (
Hedda Hopper, playing one of the nastiest mothers in screen history), finds true love in the arms of hard-boiled chorus girl Ruth Taylor (
Mae Clarke); and Michael and Ruth are saved from a pair of psychotic mob torpedoes by the timely arrival of beat cop Robert Emmet O'Connor. There are also a few marvelous pre-Code jibes at homosexuality and drug use, not to mention a full-blown musical number by
Busby Berkeley (overhead camera angles and all). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide