Review of I Cover the Waterfront

This museum piece will interest only rabid Claudette Colbert fans and dyed-in-celluloid film buffs. James Cruze's direction is totally and inexcusably routine, almost all his scenes shot in either long, static takes or monotonously intercut reverse angles. Worse, the action scenes are few and poorly staged. Cruze uses very little camera movement, though admittedly what little he does employ is very effective — the camera pulling back from the piano to Torrence; the lengthy tracking shot of Colbert and Lyon taking Torrence home. Also on the reverse side of the ledger, the script is overloaded with banal dialogue — though Hobart Cavanaugh's tippling reporter is allowed one really amusing riposte — most of it delivered at a rapid pace by an extremely wooden Ben Lyon. But, luckily for us, Miss Colbert is as entrancing as ever. Even a rotten vehicle like this cannot dim her charm. Her presence is undoubtedly the film's sole recommendation — a fact realized by the photographer who gives her many attractive close-ups. Ernest Torrence, on the other hand, over-acts.