All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone) ****

Director: Lewis Milestone

Cast: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy, Ben Alexander, William Bakewell

Background: The film was based on the celebrated anti-war novel by Erich Maria Remarque. Lewis Milestone had already gained some notoriety for directing the films The Racket and Two Arabian Knights, the latter of which won him an Oscar for Best Comedy Direction.

Story: A group of German schoolboys are convinced by their teacher to enlist in World War I. The story follows one such soldier named Paul (Ayres) and how the war deeply affects him.

Thoughts: Simply put, this is among the greatest films ever made. Milestone does a terrific job in showing the horrors of war, managing to avoid the common hypocrisy found in war films where the action scenes are made to look exciting while at the same time decrying the very action they are showing. The battle scenes here are extremely unpleasant and show the true nature of trench warfare. There's a scene where German troops attack a trench and are picked off by machine gun fire that seems to have inspired Spielberg in Saving Private Ryan. However, the two scenes that really stick out to me are when Paul gets a furlough and returns home for a brief stay. He meets a group of civilians who attempt to tell him what needs to be done to win the war, and tell him he just doesn't see the big picture. Later, he goes back to see his old teacher who is giving a lecture to another group of kids, attempting to get them to enlist. When Paul explains the true nature of what the war is like, he is called a coward by the students. These two scenes really resonate because they eerily remind me of the chickenhawks that dominate current foreign policy debates. It's a shame that someone could ever be considered a coward for not wanting to kill people or be killed themselves and that to denounce a war could be considered unpatriotic. It's an incredible tragedy that 79 years later, we apparently haven't learned a damn thing.

Postscript: All Quiet on the Western Front won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, and also received nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. It was named on the first AFI top 100 list, although dropped off of the list in the 2nd edition.

Under the Roofs of Paris (Rene Clair) ***

Director: Rene Clair

Cast: Albert Prejean, Pola Illery, Edmond T. Greville, Bill Bocket, Gaston Modot

Background: Rene Clair had been directing movies since 1924 and this was his 6th film. and his first talkie. He preferred silents, but was forced to switch to sound for financial reasons.

Story: Albert (Prejean) is a street singer who falls in love with Lola (Illery), but their relationship is threatened when Albert is set up for a crime and gets arrested.

Thoughts: For the most part, this is a charming movie with romantic moments set against a nice musical backdrop. The problem is the lack of character development. The two leads are fine and have terrific chemistry, but supporting characters become important in the third act and the film does not properly develop them for us to swallow the ending it wants to sell us. The movie does have a strong mix of sound and visuals for an early talkie and a charming theme song sets the perfect mood . Clair is certainly a talented technical filmmaker, but there are too many holes in the plot for it to be completely successful. Still, it's paced well and has a light, breezy atmosphere that makes it a fun time.

Postscript: Clair continued directing movies through the 60s, including 1931's Liberty For Us and 1945's Agatha Christie adaptation And Then There Were None.

Min and Bill (George W. Hill) ***

Director: George W. Hill

Cast: Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Dorothy Jordan, Marjorie Rambeau, Don Dillaway

Background: Marie Dressler was in a diner contemplating suicide when she was rediscovered by a producer that recommended her to King Vidor, who cast her in 1928's The Patsy. The role reignited her career, which was still strong enough to land her a lead role here. Veteran character actor Beery teamed up with director Hill earlier the same year in The Big House.

Story: Min (Dressler) runs a dockside hotel and has been raising Nancy (Jordan) since she took her in as a young child. Min is forced to make difficult decisions when a truant officer and the return of Nancy's mother (Rambeau) threaten the mother-daughter relationship she has developed. Min is supported by Bill (Beery), the captain of a fishing boat who lives in the hotel.

Thoughts: On the surface, this is the story of a woman who will do anything to protect the girl she raised from childhood. But the movie itself is so much more interesting than that. what really makes the movie work so well is the awkward, sad, carefully studied relationship between the two title characters. This works so well because of the nuanced performances of veterans Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Dressler, free from the one note drunk caricature that doomed her in Anna Christie, creates a fascinating character, torn between her desire to be a mother to this girl and the desire to protect the girl at all costs. Beery has been a pleasant surprise in both of his talkies I've seen to date. I felt he ruined the Louise Brooks silent vehicle Beggars of Life, but his cheerfully gruff performance here is a delight. No matter how many insults Bill throws Min's way, he is there to support her in the end. It's a touching and insightful relationship. There are a few flaws in the film, including uneven performances in the supporting cast and a poorly done scene on a runaway boat, but for the most part this is a solid character study.

Postscript: Marie Dressler would win the Oscar for this role and Wallace Beery would go on to win an Oscar hismelf for his role in King Vidor's The Champ.

The Divorcee (Robert Z. Leonard) ***

Director: Robert Z. Leonard

Cast: Norma Shearer, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel, Robert Montgomer, Florence Eldridge

Background: Based on the novel "Ex-Wife" by Ursula Parrott. Robert Z. Leonard was a long time silent film director who made his first film in 1913. Norma Shearer had also been around for a while, with her most notable role being Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg.

Story: Jerry (Shearer) finds out her husband Ted (Morris) has been cheating on her, so she decides to get revenge and have her own affair.

Thoughts: A sophisticated drama that works for the most part thanks to the willingness to explore realistic issues in adult relationships and the fantastic central performance of Norma Shearer. The story also mixes in a touch of melodramatic tragedy, but in so doing lays the groundwork to examine what happens when you don't end up with the person you always wanted. The film generally works along these grounds, but runs into some problems during the third act. The script places Shearer's character in a position that she does not deserve at all. The completely one sided view of the what happened between her and her husband reflects the sexist attitudes of the day. It's really unfortunate, because the film at times feels very advanced (for 1930) in its treatment of gender roles, but then completely obliterates that with an awful ending where only one character says what needs to be said. Shearer's compelling performance still makes this a worthwhile film.

Postscript: Norma Shearer went on to win an Oscar for this role. She would end up being nominated four more times. The film was also nominated for Best picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

Earth (Aleksandr Dovzhenko) ***1/2

Director: Aleksandr Dovzhenko

Cast: Stepan Shukrat, Semyon Svashenko, Yuliya Solntseva, Yelena Maksimova, Nikolai Nademsky

Background: This was the third film in Dovzhenko's Ukrainian trilogy, following up the celebrated Arsenal from 1929.

Story: Earth follows the experience of collective farming and the lives that those farmers lead, particularly highlighting their battle with wealthy landowners.

Thoughts: I wasn't a fan of Dovzhenko's previous film Arsenal, because I felt that the director squandered his considerable talent by showing off when it wasn't necessary and making an absurd argument that he could not possibly support with his style. What changes here is that he takes a simple story of poor vs. rich farmers and infuses it with a beautiful lyricism. The film's narrative does not always make logical sense, but it sure makes emotional sense. The long expansive shots of the collective farms are breathtaking, and the brilliant editing provides many tremendously exciting moments such as the buildup that accrues while the farmers await a tractor. And this time Dovzhenko has a powerful, timeless argument to make and he makes it with considerable flair.

Postscript: Earth is the most highly regarded of Dovzhenko's films. He would give up directing after only making 7 films and turn to other pursuits such as writing novels. He would become disillusioned with the totalitarian nature of Stalin's regime.

Billy the Kid (King Vidor) ****

Director: King Vidor

Cast: Johnny Mack Brown, Wallace Beery, Kay Johnson, Karl Dane

Background: King Vidor was a highly regarded silent film director (The Crowd, The Big Parade) who made an interesting, but unsuccessful departure with his first sound film, Hallelujah! He followed that up with the stagey comedy Not So Dumb. This would be his third sound film. In the cast are relative newcomer Johnny Mack Brown and veteran character actor Wallace Beery.

Story: Billy the Kid (Brown) seeks revenge for the coldblooded murders of two of his friends, but must deal with Sheriff Pat Garret (Beery), a man who likes Billy but is still determined to do his job.

Thoughts: Vidor's film is one of the biggest surprises since I started the project. This is a western that mixes many different elements to make a fantastically entertaining story. Instead of presenting the entire life of Billy the Kid, Vidor keeps the focus to a short period of time and his battle with Pat Garrett. This keeps the story in a nice, controlled situation making for very tense shootouts and standoffs. A scene where Garrett and his deputies have Billy and his friends cornered in a small cabin is incredibly suspenseful. But what really makes the film so great is the considerable wit displayed in both the dialogue and the way the events play out. It almost feels as if Ernst Lubitsch had directed a western. Take for example Billy's repeated attempts to escape from prison while playing poker with Garrett, just barely missing several opportunities in hilarious fashion. Johnny Mack Brown gives a surprisingly reserved and completely cheerful performance as Billy. He resists the temptation to overact and instead lets Wallace Beery steal the show with a memorable supporting turn as the gruff sherriff who also has his own touches of wit. And Vidor gives us a lovely ending that is straight out of Lubitsch, if not straight out of history. What a brilliant surprise and another reminder of what makes this project so much fun.

Postscript: The film hel;ped make Johnny Mack Brown a western star and helped Beery make the transition to sound films. Beery would go on to win the Best Actor Oscar for 1931's The Champ.

The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh) **

Director: Raoul Walsh

Cast: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, Tyrone Power Sr., El Brendel

Background: Marion Morrison had appeared in movies over the last several years in small bit parts, often in films directed by John Ford. It was director Raoul Walsh who gave him his first starring role here, and producer Winfield Sheehan who helped come up with the legendary name John Wayne.

Story: Breck Coleman (Wayne) joins a group of settlers heading west, suspecting that the person leading the group is responsible for the death of a friend. During the long journey, he falls in love with one of the settlers (Churchill) and works to protect her.

Thoughts: Even in 1930, John Wayne had it. The amazing screen presence that would go on to fascinate audiences for decades was evident in one of his earliest roles. Director Raoul Walsh does him some favors with some stunning showing the barren plains of the trail out west and the very long line of stagecoaches and horses making the perilous journey. There's a particularly brilliant shot when they attempt to navigate a steep hill. It certainly helps that the modern print of this film looks amazing, perhaps the cleanest print I've seen of a movie this old. The problem with the film is that there's not enough material to support the 120 minute running time. As great as Walsh does with the visuals, he has issues with pacing. Perhaps the idea was to give the audience a feeling of what it was like for the people who made this long, tedious journey. If so, then he was all too successful. This film feels like a long journey, but the destination just isn't worth it.

Postscript: Wayne would of course go on to be one of the most iconic stars in Hollywood history, but it didn't happen right away. Wayne toiled away for most of the 30s, until John Ford cast him in Stagecoach. That is the movie that would make Wayne a star. Raoul Walsh would continue a long directing career, making several films with Errol Flynn and James Cagney. His last film was 1964's A Distant Trumpet.

Abraham Lincoln (DW Griffith) *1/2

Director: DW Griffith

Cast: Walter Huston, Una Merkel, Ian Keith, Kay Hammond

Background: DW Griffith is one of the most notable filmmakers in history. He got his start as far back as 1908, and directed many classics during the silent era such as Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, and Way Down East. This would be his first sound film.

Story: A biopic about the life of Abraham Lincoln (Huston), following his early romance with Ann Rutledge (Merkel) and his later Presidency and management of the Civil War.

Thoughts: Griffith was of course a legendary silent director able to paint considerable tragedy on to a large canvas and basically invented modern film structure. He was a director ahead of his time. That's why it's so shocking that here he appears to be a director way behind his time. This Lincoln biopic is told with little passion or wit. Hell, most of the second half of the movie is Lincoln sitting still waiting for battle reports. Sure, there are a few Civil War battle scenes at the end, but they certainly don't measure up to the fascinating large scale scenes Griffith has supplied us in the past. Aside from Griffith's uninspired direction, the biggest problem is Walter Huston's portrayal of the title character. Lincoln was one of the most charismatic presidents in history, but Huston plays him as a simple folksy guy thrust into a major role. He brings absolutely no gravitas to the role, and the considerable wit that Lincoln displayed throughout his Presidency is also missing.

Postscript: The film was not very successful and Griffith would only make one more sound film before retiring for good.

Animal Crackers (Victor Heerman) ***

Director: Victor Heerman

Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Lillian Roth, Margaret Dumont, Louis Sorin

Background: Animal Crackers is the second Marx Brothers film after the success of The Cocoanuts and was also adapted from their Broadway show.

Story: Famous explorer Captain Spaulding (Marx) attends a party in his honor at the home of Mrs. Rittenhouse and helps investigate the theft of a valuable painting during the party.

Thoughts: The Marx Brothers are hilarious here, mixing clever wordplay and oddball shenanigans to great comic effect. That is when they are actually on screen. The curious thing about Animal Crackers is how often that is not the case. The movie pauses frequently so the supporting characters can explain the plot, and none of the supporting characters are funny or interesting at all, even the wonderful Lillian Roth who was so great in Lubitsch's The Love Parade. It often ruins the comic momentum of the movie and prevents Animal Crackers from being as good as it really should be. Some of these problems also existed in The Cocoanuts, but that one hit some higher points, with the hilarious two room screwball sequence that is funnier than anything here. Still, there is plenty of funny material here to make this one a worthwhile effort.

Postscript: Animal Crackers is one of the Marx Brothers most well know films, and was very successful upon commercial release. Groucho himself would later say that this was the best of their movies.

Anna Christie (Clarence Brown) **

Director: Clarence Brown

Cast: Greta Garbo, George F. Marion, Charles Bickford, Marie Dressler

Background: Greta Garbo was one of the biggest stars of the late silent era, and the films she made with frequent leading man John Gilbert (especially Flesh and the Devil) were very successful. She decided to make her talkied debut in this adaptation of Eugene O' Neil's Broadway play. She reteams with Clarence Brown, the director of Flesh and the Devil.

Story: Anna (Garbo) visits her seafaring father (Marion) for the first time in 15 years, looking for a place to stay. While on his barge, she meets a sailor named Matt (Bickford) who immediately falls in love with her and asks her to marry him. However, her father does not approve, wanting her to escape the kind of life he lives.

Thoughts: Garbo's deep, thickly accented voice was not likely what audiences were expecting when hearing the silent film star for the first time, but it is appropriate for the lost, broken character she plays. What is not appropriate is the abysmal sound quality of this early talkie, much worse than even some of the films that were made a year earlier. This really causes a problem for the film because the thick accents used by most of the cast are sometimes indecipherable and I'd say at least 1/3rd of the lines spoken are almost impossible to make out. But the film also runs into problems with structure. Based on a Broadway play, the staginess is to be expected, but the long and simplistic scene structure skips through events too quickly for the audience to become emotionally invested. Garbo's performance is a bit awkward, wooden at times and overdone at others. She struggled to find the right balance in her first talkie. Marie Dressler also shows up in a supporting role, but the one note drunk she is forced to play does the usually wonderful actress no favors. Only George F. Marion as the father acquits himself well with a sad portrait of a man who has many regrets.

Postscript: The film received three Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Actress. Garbo would adjust to talkies nicely and continue a very successful career over the next decade, receiving two more Oscar nominations. Marie Dressler would win the Best Actress Oscar the next year for Min and Bill.

Feet First (Clyde Bruckman) ***1/2

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Cast: Harold Lloyd, Barbara Kent, Robert McWade, Lillian Leighton, Noah Young

Background: Lloyd's first talkie was the 1929 film Welcome Danger (changed after originally being shot as a silent). Harold was not happy with it, but audiences flocked to the theaters to hear their favorite star speak for the first time. This would be his first movie filmed with the intent of being a talkie, and harold borrowed inspiration from his most famous film, Safety Last! for the conclusion.

Story: Harold Horne (Lloyd) is a shoe salesman who falls in love with his boss's daughter (Kent) and pretends to be a wealthy tycoon to impress her. He sneaks on to a ship and has to work hard to hide his true nature. When her job is in jeopardy, Harold must take drastic measures to save the day.

Thoughts: Harold Lloyd proves that while his sound films might not have been very successful, he was just as funny in them as he was in the silents. This is a solid comedy that shows Lloyd's natural everyman charm wasn't hurt by the added difficulties of recorded dialogue. One of the best gags in the movie is when hungry stowaway Harold comes up with inventive ways of sharing his potential girlfriend's meal. There's some fun wordplay involving Harold's script for selling shoes and how it eventually causes trouble for him. The film ends with another of Harold's thrill sequences, and while this one essentially copies his famous sequence in Safety Last! (the very best silent film I have seen), he still manages to do enough new things with the concept to make it memorable. Two moments are particularly astonishing: 1) At the top of the building, Harold almost loses his balance on the edge of the building; and 2) a first person perspective shot with the camera hurtling toward the ground. Feet First does lose some points for the unfortunate racial stereotype embodied in the character of an African-American janitor played by Willie Best, but thankfully the role is extremely limited.

Postscript: Harold Lloyd's talkies would not be as popular as his silents, although it is commonly believed that it had more to do with Depression era audiences having difficulties identifying with his character than any difficulties adjusting to the new technology. Lloyd would make a few more films before retiring, only to reappear one more time in the 40s for the Preston Sturges satire The Sins of Harold Diddlebock.

City Girl (FW Murnau) ****

Director: FW Murnau

Cast: Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan, David Torrence, Edith Yorke, Tom McGuire

Background: Farrell and Duncan had previously worked together on the Frank Borzage lost film The River. Farrell is best known for the Borzage melodramas he made with Janet Gaynor.

Story: Lem (Farrell) goes to the city to sell his family's wheat crop. While there, he meets and falls in love with a waitress named Kate (Duncan). they get married, but when he takes his bride back home, she has trouble fitting in due to his father's (Torrence) strong disapproval.

Thoughts: One of the best things about Murnau's films is his gift for beautiful simplicity. The courtship between Farrell and Duncan in this film is one of the best examples of this. There's no huge, dramatic buildup to it. We just see two people enjoying each other's company and how that quickly turns into love. Farrell, well versed in the wonderful Frank Borzage melodramas, is as good as anyone at expressing pure love without a trace of cynicism. With Duncan, they create two convincing characters by refusing to overplay scenes for dramatic effect. In fact, the remarkable thing about the film is that no character in it is reduced to one note. Even the temperamental worker who tries to take advantage of Kate is portrayed as a three dimensional person. By doing this, Murnau allows these fully realized characters to interact in realistic and fascinating ways, as the distrust between two cultures comes to a head. Sure, the third act is melodramatic, but even the most melodramatic moments are still played with a fine touch of realism. Witness the scene when Kate is upset at Lem for not standing up to his father for her. Instead of a huge shouting match argument, Kate simply walks away from him. Murnau remarkably kept making silent films eventhough it hurt his box office grosses, but it's doubtful that a sound version of this film would have been able to achieve the kind of reserved romanticism that Murnau nails here.

Postscript: Murnau would only make one more film before dying in a car accident. Mary Duncan retired from films just 3 years later after getting married. Farrell continued acting throughout the sound era, but his most successful films were silent.

Up the River (John Ford) *

Director: John Ford

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, Warren Hymer

Story: Steve (Bogart) and Judy (Luce) are former inmates trying to make it on the outside. When they are blackmailed by someone who wants to pull a job, their convict friends Saint Louis (Tracy) and Dannemora Dan (Hymer) break out of prison to help.

Background: This was the first major feature length films for Bogart and Tracy. Ford was a very active director in the silent era, but had yet to really show his full potential.

Thoughts: It's amazing how much talent went into a movie that is just painfully awful in every single way. Ford had made some decent silent films at this point, but he was not ready for the talkies. The editing is just miserable, with jump cuts all over the place that don't make sense. A young, fresh faced Bogart certainly has some appeal here, and the film seems to be going for a nice, pleasant charm, but without any laughs it is patently boring. This one is a misfire for everyone involved.

Postscript: Ford, Bogart, and Tracy would all go on to become Hollywood legends. Tracy and Ford would work together again almost 28 years later in The Last Hurrah and then 4 years after that in How the West Was Won.

Morocco (Josef von Sternberg) ***1/2

Director: Josef von Sternberg

Cast: Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Adolphe Menjou

Background: Gary Cooper wasn't yet a huge star, but had a supporting role in Best Picture winner Wings and a breakout lead performance in The Virginian. Dietrich had already worked with director von Sternberg in The Blue Angel, but this was her major introduction to American audiences.

Story: The Foreign Legion arrives in the town of Mogador at the same time singer Amy Jolly (Dietrich) begins her nightclub act. Amy soon finds herself falling for legionairre Tom Brown (Cooper), but political intrigue threatens their romance.

Thoughts: Another solid effort from von Sternberg. He really has a knack for showing us complex characters, always uncertain about where they are and where they are going. Cooper and Dietrich take that concept and run with it to create memorable performances. Adolphe Menjou even shows up as "the other man" and is given multiple dimensions, refreshingly not a one note villain we're supposed to hate. Dietrich's opening night club sequence in a tux and top hat is unforgettable (including a same sex kiss), not to mention the follow up sequence where she sells "forbidden fruit" to the legionnaires. Despite not much happening in terms of story, the film evokes a nice mood of intrigue and gives you a great sense of the lives that these characters lead. Because of that, he's able to pull off an ending that probably sounded hokey as written, but is a wonderful cinematic moment.

Postscript: The film was nominated for four Oscars: Best Director, Best Lead Actress, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. Both Dietrich and Cooper would go on to become major Hollywood stars.

Monte Carlo (Ernst Lubitsch) ***

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Buchanan, Claud Allister, Zasu Pitts, Tyler Brooke

Background: Ernst Lubitsch had great success in his first talkie The Love Parade, a 1929 musical that featured Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette McDonald. He decided to mine that well once more by reteaming with MacDonald and enlisting Broadway star Jack Buchanan to play the male lead.

Story: Countess Helene (MacDonald) leaves her fiance (Allister) waiting at the altar and flees to Monte Carlo. While there, she catches the eye of Count Rudolph (Buchanan), who poses as her hairdresser to get close to her.

Thoughts: Another slight disappointment from Lubitsch, although it's still a really good film. Jeanette MacDonald is once again a perfect leading lady for the director, and she has a memorable music number early in the film while on a train, when she sings "Beyond a Blue Horizon" and Lubitsch includes outside sounds (like the train whistle) to complement the music. Part of the problem with the film is the odd choice of Jack Buchanan as a leading man. He just doesn't really have the right chemistry with McDonald and his hammy performance is at times highly annoying. I applaud the idea to get a less conventional leading man every now and then, but even then Buchanan really needed to dial it down a little bit. Also problematic is the lack of interesting supporting characters that we usually get in Lubitsch films (see: Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth in The Love Parade, Jean Hersholt in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg). Both the leads have servants and despite some early promise, neither of them develop as an interesting character. The film still works thanks to MacDonald and the trademark Lubitsch wit (most memorable is the running bit where a joke is passed around until one of the tellers figures out that the joke is about him).

Postscript: Buchanan never did break out into a successful leading man and his most notable performances would come as a supporting character in The Band Wagon and Penny Serenade. Lubitsch would reunite the Chevalier-MacDonald combo one more time for his last musical, 1932's One Hour With You. "Beyond the Blue Horizon" became a hit song for Jeanette MacDonald.

Hell's Angels (Howard Hughes) ***1/2

Director: Howard Hughes

Cast: Ben Lyon, James Hall, Jean Harlow, John Darrow, Lucien Prival

Background: Howard Hughes was ready to spent a lot of money (eventually $4 million) on a big budget action picture, hoping to outdo the enormously successful Wings. He alienated his first choice for director, so took over the directing reins himself. Halfway through the film, Hughes made the decision to switch the film from silent to talkie, as that's what audiences now wanted in the wake of The Jazz Singer. This forced him to replace Norwegian actress Greta Nissen (due to her accent) with a young Jean Harlow. Hughes brought in director James Whale to help direct the dialogue sequences.

Story: It is the start of World War 1, and two brothers, Monte (Lyon) and Roy (Hall) enlist in the Royal Flying Corps and fly dangerous combat missions against the Germans. Both are in love with the beautiful seductress Helen (Harlow).

Thoughts: What a film! This is certainly not without flaws, chiefly among them the mostly pedestrian dialogue, but what this film gets right, it really gets right! There is a stunning sequence depicting a zeppelin raid, which is by far the most impressive action scene filmed up to this point and still holds up today. The third act shows a large scale aerial dogfight involving over 30 planes that goes far beyond where Wings took us, including shots of a plane heading right at the camera and some spectacular crashes. But it's not only action scenes that are impressive. Jean Harlow makes her major film debut playing a fascinating woman that has a stunning sexual freedom that was very rare even in the pre-code days of cinema. See the scene where she seduces her man by asking if he would be shocked if she "put on something more comfortable". An impressive achievement despite its many flaws, this one will certainly stay with me for a long time.

Postscript: The expensive film would prove to be a hit and make back $8 million at the box office (equivalent to over $100 million today). The making of the film was detailed in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator.

The Bat Whispers (Roland West) ***

Director: Roland West

Cast: Chester Morris, Una Merkel, Maude Eburne, Richard Tucker, William Bakewell, Wilson Benge

Background: The story was adapted by West from a play by Avery Hopwood and Mary Roberts Rinehart. This was a remake of Roland West's 1926 silent film called The Bat. None of the original cast survive to this version, but West does reteam with his Alibi star Chester Morris.

Story: A criminal known as The Bat has been terrorizing police by announcing his intentions before his crimes and still managing to pull them off. His latest task is to go after $500,000 of stolen money from a bank heist that he knows is hidden in a secret room of a country mansion.

Thoughts: Roland West had already made one of the better early talkies with the previous year's Alibi. Once again, he's able to create a strong visual style and include some breathtaking camera tricks, including a breathtaking shot where the camera sweeps in to the house from far out. There are many eerie scenes taking place in almost complete darkness, with only enough light to see shadows of the effectively ominous presence of the Bat. It's a little disappointing then that this film doesn't quite live up to the promising beginning. The third act is the biggest problem, for when we fianlly see the villain in his bat costume, he's not scary at all and actually quite funny. Probably would have been better to never show the costume if they couldn't design a better one than that. Then there is an odd little final monologue that breaks the fourth wall and tries to be too clever. Still a pretty good horror movie, but it had the potential to be much better.

Postscript: This was the second to last film for director Roland West, whose career was hurt by rumors that he murdered his mistress. The villain in this film did inspire comic artist Bob Kane to create Batman (thankfully he changed the costume!).

Not So Dumb (King Vidor) **1/2

Director: King Vidor

Cast: Marion Davies, Elliott Nugent, Raymond Hackett, Franklin Pangborn, Julia Faye, William Holden

Background: After experimenting in his first talkie, Vidor returns to more familiar territory, teaming up with Marion Davies. The two had successfully collaborated on the silent films Show People and The Patsy. The story was adapted from a stage play written by Marc Connelly and George Kaufman.

Story: Dulcy Parker (Davies) wants to help out her fiance's business career, but all of her attempts backfire and threaten a very important business relationship.

Thoughts: After being forced to use a (very bad) French accent in her first talkie, Davies is allowed to let her spirited charm loose here, and she is an absolute delight throughout this film. She has an endless enthusiasm in every single scene that really lifts an otherwise stagey and dull affair. The rest of the cast just doesn't seem to be up to her level. But the real surprise is the clunky direction from King Vidor. This is the same man who made The Crowd, and even his misfire Hallelujah! showcased very advanced technique. Unfortunately, it seems like he chose to phone in this one. The camera barely moves at all and he does absolutely nothing visually. The dialogue itself isn't as clever or funny as the writers appear to believe. Without any support, Davies is left to carry the whole thing by herself, and to her credit she almost makes it work.

Postscript: The next year, Vidor would make The Champ with Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper, but it would be another 16 years before he made his most highly regarded classic, 1946's Duel in the Sun. Davies would continue making comedies, eventually breaking into musicals such as 1933's Going Hollywood with Bing Crosby.

The Silver Horde (George Archainbaud) **1/2

Director: George Archainbaud

Cast: Evelyn Brent, Joel McCrea, Jean Arthur, Louis Wolheim, Raymond Hatton

Background: Director George Archainbaud was a veteran of 60 silent films and was a very prodigious filmmaker, making 9 films in the previous two years. Evelyn Brent gained notoriety for a series of performances she gave in the Josef von Sternberg films Underworld, The Last Command, and The Dragnet.

Story: Boyd Emerson (McCrea) is a salmon fishermen fighting for control of the salmon business in Alaska, while his heart is torn between high society Mildred Wayland (Jean Arthur) and Cherry Malotte (Brent), a girl with a mysterious past.

Thoughts: The real revelation here is Evelyn Brent. While I found her to be a terrific actress in both Underworld and The Last Command, I'd never heard her speak before. Not only does her voice match the resourceful, tough-talking persona she showed in silent films, but she delivers her lines with a sparkling energy that betrays none of the problems that many actresses faced in the early sound era. In fact, a young Jean Arthur is completely wooden here, and it is she that would rise to fame throughout the decade. It's too bad the story, or the rest of the cast, just isn't strong enough to support Brent's wonderful performance. McCrea isn't interesting enough to be a leading man, and it almost seems like the director realizes this because much of the story is told from Brent's point of view. She creates a memorable character in Cherry Malotte, but she deserved a better script and cast to support her.

Postscript: Brent continued acting in many films over the next two decades, but it was Joel McCrea and especially Jean Arthur who would really become stars in the future. Arthur made a name for herself by playing the female lead in several Frank Capra classics, while McCrea would star in the classics Sullivan's Travels and The Palm Beach Story. Sadly, the modern DVD cover (see above) completely ignores Brent's presence in the film.

1930 - A New Decade Begins

The Depression had just hit the United States, but it also coincided with the invention of recorded dialogue in motion pictures. What started as an experiment in the Al Jolson vehicle The Jazz Singer was the standard in 1930. In fact, of the 27 films I am watching this year, only two of them are silents and both are foreign holdovers that just made it to the US. This new technology would spur a further interest in films, which were now a way for people to escape their economic despair.

The collection of films I have chosen this year include many from the great silent directors we've seen in the past, including King Vidor, FW Murnau, Frank Borzage, Ernst Lubitsch, and Josef von Sternberg. Future legends John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock would have some of their first sound films this year.

What will be really exciting is hearing some of the great silent stars speak for the first time, which was certainly also a great thrill for the audiences of the time. This year we will hear Harold Lloyd, Greta Garbo, Charles Farrell, Evelyn Brent, and many others. We will also witness the first major starring role for future Hollywood legend John Wayne in The Big Trail.

Here is the complete list:


Abraham Lincoln (DW Griffith)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone)
Animal Crackers (Victor Heerman)
Anna Christie (Clarence Brown)
Bat Whispers (Roland West)
Blood of a Poet (Jean Cocteau)
City Girl (FW Murnau)
Earth (Aleksandr Dovzhenko)
Feet First (Clyde Bruckman)
Hell's Angels (Howard Hughes)
Juno and the Paycock (Alfred Hitchcock)
L'âge d'or (Luis Bunuel)
Liliom (Frank Borzage)
Min and Bill (George W. Hill)
Monte Carlo (Ernst Lubitsch)
Morocco (Josef von Sternberg)
Murder! (Alfred Hitchcock)
Not So Dumb (King Vidor)
Song O My Heart (Frank Borzage)
Storm Over Asia (Vsevolod Pudovkin)
The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh)
The Blue Angel (Josef Von Sternberg)
The Divorcee (Robert Z. Leonard)
The Silver Horde (George Archainbaud)
Under the Roofs of Paris (Rene Clair)
Up the River (John Ford)

1929 Top 10, Year in Review, and Awards

1929 was a major year of transition for Hollywood. The last silent movies were being released and a new era of cinema would soon be born. But if the silents were ending in 1929, they would go out with a bang, as the top 6 films on my list were all silent films, and only two talkies made the top 10.

Problems with proper line delivery hampered many of the talkies, not to mention the stationary camera that was now required due to problems with moving sound equipment around. Best Picture winner The Broadway Melody is far from the best film of the year, but was actually one of the better early talkies and certainly better than the previous winner of the award (Wings).

We had some interesting debuts this year. The Coconauts was the first film from the Marx Brothers. Ernst Lubitsch made his first musical and introduced movie audiences to Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette Macdonald. Nina Mae Mckinney was dazzling in King Vidor's otherwise mediocre Hallelujah!, notable for being the first major Hollywood film with an all-black cast.

It will be exciting and interesting to see how sound films develop through the years, but it was great to see several great films that showcased the strength of silent cinema in its final year. Now here is my top 10 of 1929:

10. Queen Kelly (Erich Von Stroheim)

The Prince will do anything to see Gloria Swanson.

9. Lucky Star (Frank Borzage)

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in a heartbreaking romance.

8. Alibi (Roland West)

The memorable interrogation sequence.

7. The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch)

Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth steal the show.

6. Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst)

Louise Brooks as the resilient Thymiane.

5. Asphalt (Joe May)

Betty Amann (with her seductive eyes) makes a great femme fatale.

4. Pandora's Box (GW Pabst)

Louise Brooks is captivating in her most famous film role.

3. Napoleon (Abel Gance)

The memorable triptych sequence.

2. Spies (Fritz Lang)

Rudolf Klein-Rogge as the menacing Haghi.

1. The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan)

Fairbanks displays his acrobatic skill in this stirring goodbye to silent cinema.

Awards

Best Picture

Asphalt
*The Iron Mask
Napoleon
Pandora's Box
Spies

Best Director

Allan Dwan, The Iron Mask
*Abel Gance, Napoleon
Fritz Lang, Spies
Joe May, Asphalt
GW Pabst, Pandora's Box


Best Lead Actor

Maurice Chevalier, The Love Parade
Albert Dieudonne, Napoleon
*Douglas Fairbanks, The Iron Mask
Charles Farrell, Lucky Star
Chester Morris, Alibi


Best Lead Actress

Betty Amann, Asphalt
Louise Brooks, Diary of a Lost Girl
*Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box
Janet Gaynor, Lucky Star
Jeanette MacDonald, The Love Parade


Best Supporting Actor

Nigel De Brulier, The Iron Mask
*Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Spies
Lupino Lane, The Love Parade
Purnell Pratt, Alibi
Vladimir Roudenko, Napoleon


Best Supporting Actress

Bessie Love, The Broadway Melody
*Nina Mae McKinney, Hallelujah!
Seena Owen, Queen Kelly
Alice Roberts, Pandora's Box
Lillian Roth, The Love Parade


Best Screenplay

*The Iron Mask (Douglas Fairbanks)
The Love Parade (Ernest Vajda, Guy Bolton)
Napoleon (Abel Gance)
Pandora's Box (Joseph Fleisler, Ladislaus Vajda)
Spies (Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou)

Applause (Rouben Mamoulian) *1/2

Director: Rouben Mamoulian

Cast: Helen Morgan, Joan Peers, Fuller Mellish Jr., Jack Cameron, Henry Wadsworth

Background: This early talkie was director Rouben Mamoulian's first film. It was adapted from a novel by Beth Brown.

Story: Kitty Darling (Morgan) is a popular burlesque performer who sends her daughter April (Peers) to a convent to keep her away from a seedy lifestyle. Years later, April returns as her mother's popularity begins to fade.

Thoughts: There's definitely some positive stuff here. Mamoulian was ahead of his time in the way he utilized sound equipment, and the seedy, negative portrayal of burlesque clubs is refreshing. It's very similar to how you would see a strip club portrayed in a modern film. Helen Morgan gives a brave and realistic portrayal of a woman stuck in a lifestyle she knows there is no escape from. Unfortunately, none of that can make up for some ridiculously horrific performances by the other actors, especially Joan Peers as her daughter. It has to be one of the worst performances I've seen in a movie, with a dramatic sequence where her mother is consoling her that is unintentionally funny. Then when I thought it couldn't worse, they pair Peers up with the equally wooden Henry Wadsworth as a romantic interest. There is an incredibly long courtship sequence for the two that just destroys the entire movie.

Postscript: Mamoulian would go on to a successful Hollywood career, with notable entries such as 1931's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and 1933's Queen Christina. Morgan would continue a career on both stage and screen until 1940.

The Manxman (Alfred Hitchcock) **

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Carl Brisson, Malcolm Keen, Anny Ondra

Background: Hitchcock was a busy director at this point, making 8 movies in the previous two years. The story was adapted from a novel written by Hal Caine.

Story: Fisherman Pete (Brisson) and lawyer Phillip (Keen) grew up as best friends. Pete is in love with Kate (Ondra), but cannot marry her until he gets more money, so he goes off on a long fishing trip. While he's away, Philip and Kate begin a shameful affair, but soon find out about his death. However, their marriage plans are halted when they find out he's very much alive.

Thoughts: There's a decided lack of artistry in the telling of this story. You wouldn't be able to tell this was directed by Hitchcock, as it contains none of his signature touches or his skill as a storyteller. The film mainly plods along from event to event without much interest. Anny Ondra gives an emotional performance in the lead role, but she has no chemistry with Malcolm Keen. This is a huge problem, as we're supposed to feel for the complex moral dilemma faced by Phillip and Kate. Yet they just seem like horrible, selfish people and the only sympathy to be found is for poor Pete, who just gets horribly mistreated through the whole movie. This is a romantic melodrama without any romance that doesn't need to be seen by anyone other than Hitchcock completists.

Postscript: This film only has any distinction because it is Hitchcock's last silent film. He would follow it up the same year with the much better Blackmail (also starring Ondra).

The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan) ****

Director: Allan Dwan

Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Leon Bary, Tiny Sandford, Gino Corrado, Nigel de Brulier, William Bakewell, Marguerite De La Motte, Ullrich Haupt

Background: Douglas Fairbanks wrote the screenplay and spent a great deal of money on this sequel (with mostly different co-stars) to 1921's The Three Musketeers, knowing that it would be his last silent film (though he did film two short recorded monologues). Director Allan Dwan had over 300 films on his resume including a 1922 version of Robin Hood starring Wallace Beery.

Story: D'Artagnan (Fairbanks) attempts to get revenge against Cardinal Richelieu (de Brulier) for the death of his love Constance (De La Motte), but is forced to separate from his Musketeer pals (Bary, Sandford, Corrado) and serve the King's son Louis XIV (Bakewell) to prepare him for the throne, not knowing that the boy has a twin brother that was hidden by Richelieu.

Thoughts: While doing this project, I've seen alot of movies that I didn't care for, many of them out of duty (Wings, The Jazz Singer). So it's a great pleasure to come across something that makes me realize why I started this project in the first place. The Iron Mask is a supremely entertaining film of the highest order, incredibly exciting and fun (while maintaining a dark undercurrent) from beginning to end. Fairbanks crafted a fanciful script that changes many elements of the original story, but is still suitably complex and intriguing. Fairbanks was 46 at this point, but had not lost his marquee appeal or his ability to do fantastic stunts. It's pure joy to watch him dance around the screen, hopping over walls and doing backflips. His status as a screen legend was well earned. Allan Dwan directs this film with a breezy pace, managing to achieve a nice balance of adventure and despair. There is great support from the entire cast, especially Nigel de Brulier as the evil Cardinal Richelieu. The film concludes with one of the most memorable endings in film history, as Fairbanks wraps the story up in a way that makes it an incredibly moving goodbye to the era of silent cinema. Amazing.

Postscript: A re-issue of the film was done in the 50s for a TV release, with the intertitles removed and narration added by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. This is the same verstion available online in public domain, but I strongly recommend watching the original silent version that is available on DVD from Kino. Fairbanks retired from films in 1934, after a few unsuccessful attempts at talkies.

Queen Kelly (Erich von Stroheim) ***1/2

Director: Erich von Stroheim

Cast: Gloria Swanson, Walter Byron, Seena Owen, Tully Marshall

Background: This was a troubled production, as star Gloria Swanson was unhappy with Stroheim's direction and fired him after only one third of the film had been completed. Swanson then worked hard to complete the film with different directors, but von Stroheim's contract made this difficult.

Story: Prince Wolfram (Byron), unhappily bound to marry Queen Regina (Owen), falls in love with Kelly (Swanson), a student at a convent. He takes her to the castle to declare his love for her, but the Queen spots her and forcefully throws her out. Prince Wolfram promises that he will come find her one day.

Thoughts: What a crazy story! It plays out like an exciting prime time soap opera. I mean, you have a main character who fakes a fire to kidnap a girl that he loves. And this is treated as a great romantic gesture. You have an actress in Seena Owen that deliciously chews up so much scenery that it seems like she's auditioning for a 1929 version of Melrose Place. The movie was never fully completed, but if anything the choppy story progression, missing scenes, and bizarre ending add to the whole experience. The story is so ridiculous and moves at a surprisingly quick pace that it actually becomes quite exciting. Gloria Swanson is definitely an appealing lead and Byron acquits himself nicely as the prince. Who the hell knows what von Stroheim was going for, or how far away this is from his vision, but what is available to us on DVD today sure is a fun time.

Postscript: The film wasn't released in the United states because von Stroheim refused to approve any edited version of his work. Clips from the film were used in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, which starred Swanson and featured von Stroheim as a former director who worked with Swanson's character during the silent era.

Spite Marriage (Edward Sedgwick) **

Director: Edward Sedgwick

Cast: Buster Keaton, Dorothy Sebastian, Edward Earle, Leila Hyams

Background: Buster Keaton's recent films (particularly The General) had performed poorly at the box office and his distributor (United Artist) stripped some of his creative freedom, insisting on a production manager. He decided to switch to a new studio and signed for MGM.

Story: Buster is in love with stage star Trilby Drew (Sebastian), so much that he sees her show every night. When Trilby is dumped by fellow actor Lionel Benmore (Edward Earle), she decides to marry Buster (who she thinks is a millionaire) out of spite.

Thoughts: This one contains all of Buster's flaws from his previous films. The problem is it doesn't contain nearly enough of the brilliant comic bits that usually balance that out. The biggest flaw once again is that Buster plays a thoroughly unlikable character. He's kind of a jerk, actually. When we first see him, he's ruining the stage show for people who have already seen it. And he keeps his trademark stonefaced expression throughout the movie, making it hard to really care that he's being mistreated by his wife. Speaking of his wife, Sebastian plays leading lady that is just downright mean for the entire film, yet we're somehow supposed to root for them as a couple. There have been similar problems many of Buster's previous films, but there's usually memorable comedy to make you forget. All we have here is an amusing scene where Buster tries to put his drunk wife to bed, and a manic sequence on a boat where they try to dodge some villains (the best bit is the repeated trick where Buster hits a villain over the head with a bottle). That's not nearly enough to save this weak story.

Postscript: Despite this being a success, MGM began to exert even more control over Buster's movies during the transition to sound and his career as a leading man was over by the mid-30s.

Asphalt (Joe May) ****

Director: Joe May

Cast: Gustav Frohlich, Betty Amann, Albert Steinruck, Else Heller

Background: Joe May was one of the earliest German filmmakers, directing his first film in 1911. He was responsible for giving Fritz Lang his first job in film, employing him as a screenwriter. Gustav Frohlich gained notoriety for playing the hero in Fritz Lang's sci-fi epic Metropolis. This was Betty Amann's first major film role.

Story: Elsa Kramer (Amann) is a thief who gets caught stealing a diamond from a jewelry store, but successfully seduces police officer Albert Holk (Frohlich) to not turn her in. Their steamy romance now threatens to ruin his career.

Thoughts: Now, this is a wonderful film and Betty Amann is chief among the reasons, with her amazingly expressive eyes working magic on the camera. This is a film that would have been hard to do in sound. For example, the lengthy sequence where Elsa begs Albert to let her go may have grated a bit with spoken dialogue, as some of her histrionics would seem a bit ridiculous. Instead, the focus is simply on her facial expressions, and she woos him by suggestively batting her eyes. And what's really amazing about the performance of the two actors is that you'll find yourself actually hoping this romance can work out somehow, no matter how damaging that would be to Albert. Elsa is clearly wrong for him and sends him on a downward spiral, but Amann's performance is so deep and layered that you believe she might actually like him, too. The final scene might sound hokey on paper, but her eyes work that magic one more time for a memorable conclusion.

Postscript: Joe May fled Nazi Germany before World War 2 and had some success directing b-movies such as The Invisible Man Returns. Betty Amann made her way to Hollywood, but only made a few films before retiring in 1943. Gustav Frohlich would have a long career in German films.

Arsenal (Alexander Dovzhenko) **1/2

Director: Alexander Dovzhenko

Cast: Semyon Svashenko, Amvrosi Buchma, Georgi Khorkov, Dmitri Erdman

Background: Dovzhenko had only been directing movies for three years when he made Arsenal, and it was the second of his planned Ukrainian trilogy, the first being the previous year's Zvenigora.

Story: A Ukrainian soldier (Svashenko) returns after seeing the horrors of war, but when he gets back home he begins to challenge the local authorities who have claimed independence from the Soviet Union.

Thoughts: Like other Russian films of this era, such as The End of St. Petersburg, this is not a straightforward affair. Dovzhenko uses lots of symbolism and odd camera angles to make his point. The story is thankfully fairly linear once he gets down to telling it, but the real issue I had with this film is the message. Dovzhenko goes overboard in making the obvious answer that independence is a stupid idea for the Ukrainians. It's certainly understandable that there was no way he could come from another perspective while making a film in the Soviet Union, but he does himself a disservice in the way he makes his argument. The film has been praised for ambiguity, but there's nothing ambiguous about the contrast he shows between the heroic Marxists and the bald and bearded evil Ukrainian capitalists. Hell, Kerensky comes off better in Eisenstein's October than they do here. I would've preferred some more dimensions being explored. But sure, it's impossible to deny that the film is beautifully made. Dovzhenko is clearly a technical master with superior editing skill and understands everything you can do with a camera.

Postscript: Dovzhenko would complete the trilogy the next year with Earth, a film about collective farming that is even more highly regarded than this one.

Erotikon (Gustav Machaty) **1/2

Director: Gustav Machaty

Cast: Karel Schleichert, Ita Rina, Olaf Fjord, Theodor Pistek, Charlotte Susa

Background: This was Machaty's 4th outing as director, and he also wrote the screenplay.

Story: George (Schleichert) is a travelling salesman who gets stuck for the night in a small town. The railroad owner lets him stay at his house. George eventually meets and seduces the man's daughter (Rina). He leaves town the next day, but she can never forget him, even after she gets married to Hilbert (Pistek).

Thoughts: What an opening! The first 20 minutes or so of this film are just absolutely mesmerizing and showcase the true power of what can be accomplished by silent cinema. Machaty is able to build ample erotic tension just by the flirtatious glances between his two actors (who are fantastic), and the eventual consummation of this flirtation is directed in a provocative way (only a close-up of the female's face in complete ecstasy is shown) that would shame many modern filmmakers. That's why it is so painful that the rest of the film just descends into a standard melodramatic love triangle. Everything plays out in such a dull and obvious manner that it's hard to believe the same director also made the first twenty minutes. There is one really nice scene late in the film, where the two men competing for Andrea get locked in an intense chess match, obviously playing to win more than just the game, but that's the only bit of ingenuity we get. I also have major problems with the ending, which is a cheap copout from the filmmaker, allowing the main character an easy solution without having to make a moral choice.

Postscript: Machaty's most notable film would be 1933's Ecstasy, which starred Hedy Lamarr and where he once again broke sexual taboos. Ita Rina would continue acting in Czech films for the next decade.

Blackmail (Alfred Hitchcock) ***

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Anny Ondra, John Longden, Cyril Ritchard, Donald Calthrop

Background: Blackmail was originally intended to be a silent film, but the popularity of talkies convinced producers to film a sound version as well. Lead actress Anny Ondra's voice had to be dubbed for the sound version, as her Czech accent did not work for the character. Both sound and silent versions were released, as many theaters were still not equipped with sound equipment. The sound version is considered Britain's first all-talkie film.

Story: Alice White (Ondra) ditches her date, Scotland Yard detective Frank Webber (Longden), so she can meet up with a painter (Ritchard). When the man tries to rape her, she grabs a knife and kills him. Alice flees, but one of her gloves his found by Frank when he arrives to inspect the scene. His attempt to hide the evidence is discovered by a thief (Calthrop), who tries to blackmail the pair.

Thoughts: As in many other early talkies, there are some problems with the line delivery, especially absurdly long pauses in between each actor's lines. Ondra is a wonderfully expressive actress, but the dubbing makes some of her moments feel awkward. Having seen some of the scenes of the silent version, her performance (not to mention the film) was much better there without the added distraction. Still, this is a pretty good early Hitchcock film that showcases some of the skill that would make him a legend in the coming years. The offscreen rape and murder is brilliantly handled, as Hitchcock makes it clear what happened by only showing two different arms appear in the frame. The extended sequence where the thief blackmails the couple is top notch stuff, maintaining a strong tension eventhough not much is happening. With this film and The Lodger, you can see the skill of the young Hitchcock that would eventually be fully realized in later films.

Postscript: Anny Ondra's acting career was over in England, so she moved back to Czechoslovakia and in 1933 married boxing champion Max Schmeling. She was portrayed by Peta Wilson in the 2002 tv-movie Joe and Max. It would be another six years before Hitchcock would make what is regarded as his first classic, The 39 Steps.