Why is Midnight considered an important Mitchell Leisen film?

Midnight (1939) is considered an important film in Mitchell Leisen’s career because it stands out as an accomplished, complicated, and witty screwball comedy.1

The film’s significance is bolstered by its high-caliber creative team, as it was scripted by the notable writing duo of Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. The plot features Claudette Colbert as a showgirl in Paris who is hired by a millionaire, played by John Barrymore, to impersonate a Hungarian countess. This deception is part of a scheme to prevent the potential infidelity of the millionaire's wife, portrayed by Mary Astor. The film was regarded as being in an entirely different class from Leisen's other works of the period, and its impact was such that Leisen later directed a musical remake of the story titled Masquerade in Mexico (1945).123