Don't get me wrong. John Gilbert did a great job of acting in this one, because by the time it was over I was completely convinced he was the biggest heel in the history of the world. But then that seldom raises one's star, especially after you have been playing rather complex heroes for years, which is what Gilbert had been doing.
Gilbert plays Jerry Stevens, returning from WWI, and all he wants to do is find and marry his girl, Anne (Madge Evans), the thought of which has been keeping him alive and going through his wartime experiences and his injury. But at first meeting she firmly tells him it is over and there is somebody else. Jerry drowns his sorrows in alcohol and escort services. One night while out on the town with one of these escorts, Jerry runs into Anne and her fiancé. Jerry, drunk and angry, introduces the escort (Lois Moran as Dot) as his fiancée. They find a JP who marries them that very night, and the next morning Jerry apologizes for getting Dot caught up in his personal problems and offers to make a big settlement on her in their divorce. The problem is, Dot is in love and refuses any money or any divorce. This is the point where Gilbert's character begins acting like an unredeemable heel. He insults her, calls her an outright prostitute, and just leaves his NYC apartment for his ranch out west to not only ditch Dot but stop drinking.
Dot outsmarts him and follows him. The scenes out west are hard to watch with Gilbert being absolutely horrid to Dot, and Dot just letting him walk all over her like some bearskin rug. That may be why they brought the always likable and harmless El Brendel into all of this as Jerry's friend, so there is at least one character you cannot dislike. There are a couple of funny scenes - probably unintentional - where Brendel and Gilbert walk around dressed in the same western outfit, reminding me of a Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy short.
In a very early film appearance there is a ranch foreman, Mac, played by Ralph Bellamy who takes a true liking to Dot and shows some contrast to Jerry by treating the girl like a lady. When Mac intervenes when Jerry (Gilbert) gets rough with Dot, Jerry fires him.
Gilbert's character sinks to a new low though when shortly thereafter he seduces Dot, acts like he cares, and yet the next morning is STILL talking about divorce. But he has a consolation prize! He'll give her more money than he originally promised for the previous night's use of her private parts. Nothing makes a gal feel like a prostitute more than being treated like one. Well this is the final insult. Dot signs the divorce papers, and takes the next vehicle that comes by off the ranch and back to New York. But what's this? She tore up Jerry's check and gave it back to him? Why, she's a regular girl after all and Jerry goes back to New York begging her forgiveness. What happens? Watch and find out. If I'd been writing the script she would have put a shotgun shell right through his chest at next meeting, but that would ordinarily be murder IF the victim was human.
There are several things that just seem odd in this picture. At one point Jerry's society friends all show up at the ranch to tell him that Anne has broken her engagement. They might as well be talking about the weather because Jerry - who is on this self destructive course in the first place because Anne left him - never reacts to this news at all.
The other odd thing is that Jerry is supposed to be a severe alcoholic by the time he arrives at the ranch. Yet you will see Gilbert shaking sometimes as though he has the DTs when he is perfectly composed at other times. It makes you wonder how much of this is acting and how much of this shaking is Gilbert succumbing to his own alcoholism.
I'd recommend it just as a head scratcher for the film history buff. Why would Gilbert do THIS film after playing a part that was just perfect for him in "The Phantom of Paris"?
Gilbert plays Jerry Stevens, returning from WWI, and all he wants to do is find and marry his girl, Anne (Madge Evans), the thought of which has been keeping him alive and going through his wartime experiences and his injury. But at first meeting she firmly tells him it is over and there is somebody else. Jerry drowns his sorrows in alcohol and escort services. One night while out on the town with one of these escorts, Jerry runs into Anne and her fiancé. Jerry, drunk and angry, introduces the escort (Lois Moran as Dot) as his fiancée. They find a JP who marries them that very night, and the next morning Jerry apologizes for getting Dot caught up in his personal problems and offers to make a big settlement on her in their divorce. The problem is, Dot is in love and refuses any money or any divorce. This is the point where Gilbert's character begins acting like an unredeemable heel. He insults her, calls her an outright prostitute, and just leaves his NYC apartment for his ranch out west to not only ditch Dot but stop drinking.
Dot outsmarts him and follows him. The scenes out west are hard to watch with Gilbert being absolutely horrid to Dot, and Dot just letting him walk all over her like some bearskin rug. That may be why they brought the always likable and harmless El Brendel into all of this as Jerry's friend, so there is at least one character you cannot dislike. There are a couple of funny scenes - probably unintentional - where Brendel and Gilbert walk around dressed in the same western outfit, reminding me of a Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy short.
In a very early film appearance there is a ranch foreman, Mac, played by Ralph Bellamy who takes a true liking to Dot and shows some contrast to Jerry by treating the girl like a lady. When Mac intervenes when Jerry (Gilbert) gets rough with Dot, Jerry fires him.
Gilbert's character sinks to a new low though when shortly thereafter he seduces Dot, acts like he cares, and yet the next morning is STILL talking about divorce. But he has a consolation prize! He'll give her more money than he originally promised for the previous night's use of her private parts. Nothing makes a gal feel like a prostitute more than being treated like one. Well this is the final insult. Dot signs the divorce papers, and takes the next vehicle that comes by off the ranch and back to New York. But what's this? She tore up Jerry's check and gave it back to him? Why, she's a regular girl after all and Jerry goes back to New York begging her forgiveness. What happens? Watch and find out. If I'd been writing the script she would have put a shotgun shell right through his chest at next meeting, but that would ordinarily be murder IF the victim was human.
There are several things that just seem odd in this picture. At one point Jerry's society friends all show up at the ranch to tell him that Anne has broken her engagement. They might as well be talking about the weather because Jerry - who is on this self destructive course in the first place because Anne left him - never reacts to this news at all.
The other odd thing is that Jerry is supposed to be a severe alcoholic by the time he arrives at the ranch. Yet you will see Gilbert shaking sometimes as though he has the DTs when he is perfectly composed at other times. It makes you wonder how much of this is acting and how much of this shaking is Gilbert succumbing to his own alcoholism.
I'd recommend it just as a head scratcher for the film history buff. Why would Gilbert do THIS film after playing a part that was just perfect for him in "The Phantom of Paris"?