Although this is an "A" movie with loads of production values and a magnificent performance by Alice Brady in a dual role, it's also pretty boring. Two gents are to blame for this unfortunate state of affairs: Travers Vale (the director) and Philip Hahn (an actor). Vale was quite a busy and indeed a popular director in the silent period. Heaven only knows why. I'm sure at the start of each shoot, he asked the cameraman, "Got plenty of nails? I want that camera bolted to the floor. I don't want it to wobble. I don't want it to move an inch! I want it to be totally inconspicuous." The idea, of course, for people like Vale, was that a photoplay is exactly that -- a series of photographs of a stage play, complete with hammy actors like Philip Hahn. (I'll admit that it's not 100% Hahn's fault that he is so bad. His make-up is terrible).
It's a tribute to Alice Brady's beauty and skill that despite the hokey plot, the staid and deliberately unimaginative direction, plus the distracting efforts of Mr Hahn, she is able to keep our interest in the movie -- if not at a high level -- at least to a watchable degree.
It's a tribute to Alice Brady's beauty and skill that despite the hokey plot, the staid and deliberately unimaginative direction, plus the distracting efforts of Mr Hahn, she is able to keep our interest in the movie -- if not at a high level -- at least to a watchable degree.
