Midnight Message

Mary Carr, Hollywood's favorite "martyr mother," does her usual in The Midnight Message. Carr plays the widowed, impoverished mom of Western Union messenger boy John Fox Jr. Dispatched to deliver a night telegram to millionaire Otis Harlan, Fox is overpowered by a gang of burglars. Soon, however, he turns the tables on the crooks, earning a huge reward for his efforts. Fox spends the money on a new sewing machine for her mother, a gift she accepts with unbounded gratitude -- though frankly, the money could have been better spent on a new wardrobe. Midnight Message was directed by Paul Hurst, better known for such acting roles as the Yankee Deserter in Gone with the Wind (1939).