gridoon2024 Review of The Trial of Mary Dugan

The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929)

Unbelievably stagy and mind-bogglingly overlong

[3/10 · 19 March 2017]

Anyone who sits through the entirety of "The Trial Of Mary Dugan" deserves a medal. I understand that in 1929 the studios, even the mighty MGM, were still adjusting to the new sound era - but who was the genius who decided that this movie should run 113 (!!!) minutes? (112 of which are spent inside a courtroom). The director, Bayard Veiller (who also wrote the play this was based on), has one inventive moment near the start, when he presents the world through Mary Dugan's eyes, as splintered shards of glass; the rest of the time, he probably left the camera "ON" and went for a nap. Norma Shearer (it must have been cold in that courtroom - she never takes her fur off) and Raymond Hackett frequently give to terrible histrionics; H.B. Warner is a little better, even if he sometimes fumbles his lines. Only an amusing French maid offers momentary relief from the unbelievably stagy and mind-bogglingly overlong proceedings. * out of 4.