Night Life in Reno(1931): Old School Sin in American CinemaNight Life in Reno is an exciting romp through seedy nightlife, as seen through the eyes of a disabused housewife in the nineteen thirties. Dealing with much darker subject matter than most of its contemporaries, such as divorce, infidelity, and nightlife, this film is a priceless look at the evolving values of the nineteen thirties. The film moves along at a brisk pace, beginning with a husband who’s messing around and busted by his newly married wife. She leaves him and goes to Reno because the divorce process is easier there (scary stuff for the thirties!). But while staying in Reno, she takes a stroll through the illicit scene in The Biggest Little City in the World. Plenty of smoking and gambling, with implicit sexual misconduct, are all on display to the eye-opening wonderment of our heroine. As she becomes embroiled in nasty affairs, her husband returns to attempt to pull things back together. Since the Night Life in Reno takes an honest and not morally righteous look at divorce, it was met with ...