ABSTRACT
Curtiz’s sole contribution to Warners’ 1946 releases was Night and Day, filmed in the war’s closing stages. Jack Warner had first met famous composer Cole Porter on 10 June 1943 to discuss a possible screen biography to follow up Yankee Doodle Dandy. Porter had agreed in principle a month later and signed a contract on 29 December. By April 1944 producer Arthur Schwartz had come up with an outline screenplay close to the final film, based upon the idea that Porter’s achievements, despite having been a near-cripple since 1937 as the result of a riding accident, would serve as a morale booster to wounded servicemen facing civilian adjustment problems. At that time the war had been expected to last for several more years, Jack Warner in August trying to hurry things along by selecting Curtiz as director with Porter’s approval. At the end of September, Porter had agreed to Schwartz’s outline script and the choice of Cary Grant to play him, after consultation involving Curtiz. By the end of the year, Warners had borrowed Grant from Columbia, but his marriage to heiress Barbara Hutton was crumbling and he had refused to be tied down to a definite date for starting work on Night and Day. Curtiz, whom Grant had accepted as director in August 1944, had meantime been diverted to Mildred Pierce and temporarily took little interest in the Night and Day script, although he was present on 28 January 1945 when Grant and Schwartz had agreed upon the basic story outline.
