Night Inn is based on the Chinese theatrical adaptation of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths by playwright Ke Ling. The play and the film were both banned in China during the Cultural Revolution but were popular in the post-Mao period.

1949 film

A New York City businessman meets a window washer hoping to commit suicide and decides to market his grief to the highest bidder in this acidic satire on American capitalism, one made even more memorable by the fact that the entire “American” cast are Chinese actors in whiteface. The greedy Mr. Butler (Shi Hui) convinces the suicidal “Charley” that he might as well endorse some cigarettes as he jumps out of his office window, and maybe wear a particular suit too. A true cinematic oddity, this Korean War–era propaganda piece is a satire that Frank Tashlin could envy.