In some ways, this is like "La Chienne." The characters are simple, Everyman-types. The characters are basically a guy, a girl, the guy's buddy. The plot seems inevitable.
Tod Browning directed "Freaks" at just about the same time. How different from that this is! And Robert Armongstrong, very appealing as a kind of goofy loser here, played Carl Denham in "King Kong" the same year! Mae Clark, though she plays a tough, hard woman, is appealing. She is costumed interestingly against type. She doesn't look like a siren or a bad girl. She always wears a hat and an innocent looking suit. Though she is not kind of Armstrong, I don't think we're meant to dislike her.
The star is John Gilbert. He was such a good actor, too. He looks dissipated and considerably older than he was. But he is fully up to the admittedly somewhat rather minor demands of the role. What a shame that his career ended so badly and so soon after this came out!
Tod Browning directed "Freaks" at just about the same time. How different from that this is! And Robert Armongstrong, very appealing as a kind of goofy loser here, played Carl Denham in "King Kong" the same year! Mae Clark, though she plays a tough, hard woman, is appealing. She is costumed interestingly against type. She doesn't look like a siren or a bad girl. She always wears a hat and an innocent looking suit. Though she is not kind of Armstrong, I don't think we're meant to dislike her.
The star is John Gilbert. He was such a good actor, too. He looks dissipated and considerably older than he was. But he is fully up to the admittedly somewhat rather minor demands of the role. What a shame that his career ended so badly and so soon after this came out!