Despite such a dubious reputation, to me not all of John Gilbert's solo sound pictures are bad and actually don't consider any of them awful. 'Dowstairs', which was actually very good in my view, being his best, though others such as 'Redemption' are definitely not good. Also don't think that Gilbert's negative reputation in talkies is entirely deserved, in all his talkies he actually has never been one of the numerous problems almost all of them have (always a redeeming quality even).
'Gentleman's Fate' sadly is one of the worst of his talkies, second worst perhaps behind 'Redemption'. 'His Glorious Night' also has a negative critical reception but have still not been able to find it. 'Gentleman's Fate' also contains his weakest talkie performance, but even then there are great moments (just that his other talkie performances, especially in 'Downstairs', were very good and this performance just lacked their spark). There are far bigger problems though and one cannot believe that this was directed by Mervyn LeRoy in a strong contender for his worst film.
There are things that stop it from being a complete disaster. The cast actually do not do too badly with what they have, which already puts it above 'Redemption'. Do agree that Louis Wolheim, with the most energy and personality, gives the best performance. Marie Prevost and Anita Page are also fun in their roles, Prevost providing some levity. Leila Hyams is charming. Gilbert is not as warm or as engaging as in his other solo talkie performances, and he does have one of his most unlikeable characters in all his films, but his charisma hasn't gone and he doesn't look out of his depth in any of the moods he has to act out.
Some of the photography is quite nice. The film starts off quite well.
Before sadly going downhill quite quickly. Gilbert does do his best, but at times there was a sense that he knew that his material was bad. His character is impossible to feel anything for, let alone root for him, which made the various character interactions not believable and hard to swallow. That between him and Page has moments but generally the attraction isn't there. 'Gentleman's Fate' is not a good representation of LeRoy in one of his earliest films, he didn't seem comfortable at all with the material and fails to bring any life to it. Found it uncharacteristically stiff and indifferent, good goodness he went on to better things. The sets look rather under-budgeted and claustrophobic and the editing is awkward in movement throughout.
Worst of all are the script and story. The script is far too over wordy and too flowery, and is also like a hodge-podge of half baked ideas cobbled together with little done with them. The story is heavily contrived, and this is including trying and failing to accept Gilbert and Wolheim as brothers, is deadly dull, has no tension whatsoever and is very jumbled structurally so coherence was an issue. The ending is not just rushed and abrupt but even worse is jarringly downbeat and cruel, while 'Gentleman's Fate' fails utterly in giving us characters worth caring for.
Overall, very lacklustre and one of Gilbert's weaker talkies. 4/10
'Gentleman's Fate' sadly is one of the worst of his talkies, second worst perhaps behind 'Redemption'. 'His Glorious Night' also has a negative critical reception but have still not been able to find it. 'Gentleman's Fate' also contains his weakest talkie performance, but even then there are great moments (just that his other talkie performances, especially in 'Downstairs', were very good and this performance just lacked their spark). There are far bigger problems though and one cannot believe that this was directed by Mervyn LeRoy in a strong contender for his worst film.
There are things that stop it from being a complete disaster. The cast actually do not do too badly with what they have, which already puts it above 'Redemption'. Do agree that Louis Wolheim, with the most energy and personality, gives the best performance. Marie Prevost and Anita Page are also fun in their roles, Prevost providing some levity. Leila Hyams is charming. Gilbert is not as warm or as engaging as in his other solo talkie performances, and he does have one of his most unlikeable characters in all his films, but his charisma hasn't gone and he doesn't look out of his depth in any of the moods he has to act out.
Some of the photography is quite nice. The film starts off quite well.
Before sadly going downhill quite quickly. Gilbert does do his best, but at times there was a sense that he knew that his material was bad. His character is impossible to feel anything for, let alone root for him, which made the various character interactions not believable and hard to swallow. That between him and Page has moments but generally the attraction isn't there. 'Gentleman's Fate' is not a good representation of LeRoy in one of his earliest films, he didn't seem comfortable at all with the material and fails to bring any life to it. Found it uncharacteristically stiff and indifferent, good goodness he went on to better things. The sets look rather under-budgeted and claustrophobic and the editing is awkward in movement throughout.
Worst of all are the script and story. The script is far too over wordy and too flowery, and is also like a hodge-podge of half baked ideas cobbled together with little done with them. The story is heavily contrived, and this is including trying and failing to accept Gilbert and Wolheim as brothers, is deadly dull, has no tension whatsoever and is very jumbled structurally so coherence was an issue. The ending is not just rushed and abrupt but even worse is jarringly downbeat and cruel, while 'Gentleman's Fate' fails utterly in giving us characters worth caring for.
Overall, very lacklustre and one of Gilbert's weaker talkies. 4/10