Although Roy DelRuth made his pretty decent version of THE MALTESE FALCON just a few weeks after this, he gives the impression here that he hadn't quite yet mastered how to make a talking picture. This one does creak a bit!
Maybe the sound recording equipment he had for this was particularly primitive or maybe William Wellman 'had borrowed' the decent stuff to make his OTHER MEN'S WOMEN (a much, much better film than this) on the next sound stage - which also featured Joan Blondell. Whatever the reason, the result is that it's one of those pictures where everyone waits their turn to speak - very slowly and carefully as though they're speaking to their bank's automated voice recognition system. This is a major frustration; it really slows everything down giving an artificial and detached feel to the whole thing.
Despite the film's glacial pace, Bebe Daniels puts in a relatively good performance. When you get used to the weird slow motion in real time thing, you can appreciate that she could actually a very good actress. This however is not her finest hour but without her, this wouldn't be watching at all.
It's interesting to compare Bebe Daniels' performance with that of Joan Blondell. Although it was in the silents, Bebe Daniels had over a decade of experience making movies. Joan was a relative newcomer and that sadly shows. As Joan's biggest fan, it pains me to conclude that her acting in this is quite awful. If her future had relied on her performance in this, nobody would ever have heard of her today. Her performance however isn't all that matters, she's just so likeable and lovely that audiences just fell in love with her.
Ignoring the film's main shortcoming the overall look is very impressive and sophisticated - it feels more MGM movie than something from Warner Brothers (and about the rich not the poor). High quality production however doesn't compensate for the flimsy and trivial story and theatrical style script. In a nutshell, it's about a flighty, flirty flapper: Bebe Daniels who is torn between a lovely old (very old) man or younger (married) man. She wants to settle down but he only wants an affair.....is it love or is it lust? .......yes, that old story! It's quite interesting to see something contemporarily familiar in the context of 1930.
Although we don't get to see much of the world beyond the yacht and the posh hotels, as a trip on a celluloid Time Machine, it's a fascinating insight into the attitudes of 1930. Other than that or wanting to see a not very impressive young Joan Blondell in a fairly big supporting role, I cannot think of any reason to watch this. A pointless badly told story about uninteresting people.
Maybe the sound recording equipment he had for this was particularly primitive or maybe William Wellman 'had borrowed' the decent stuff to make his OTHER MEN'S WOMEN (a much, much better film than this) on the next sound stage - which also featured Joan Blondell. Whatever the reason, the result is that it's one of those pictures where everyone waits their turn to speak - very slowly and carefully as though they're speaking to their bank's automated voice recognition system. This is a major frustration; it really slows everything down giving an artificial and detached feel to the whole thing.
Despite the film's glacial pace, Bebe Daniels puts in a relatively good performance. When you get used to the weird slow motion in real time thing, you can appreciate that she could actually a very good actress. This however is not her finest hour but without her, this wouldn't be watching at all.
It's interesting to compare Bebe Daniels' performance with that of Joan Blondell. Although it was in the silents, Bebe Daniels had over a decade of experience making movies. Joan was a relative newcomer and that sadly shows. As Joan's biggest fan, it pains me to conclude that her acting in this is quite awful. If her future had relied on her performance in this, nobody would ever have heard of her today. Her performance however isn't all that matters, she's just so likeable and lovely that audiences just fell in love with her.
Ignoring the film's main shortcoming the overall look is very impressive and sophisticated - it feels more MGM movie than something from Warner Brothers (and about the rich not the poor). High quality production however doesn't compensate for the flimsy and trivial story and theatrical style script. In a nutshell, it's about a flighty, flirty flapper: Bebe Daniels who is torn between a lovely old (very old) man or younger (married) man. She wants to settle down but he only wants an affair.....is it love or is it lust? .......yes, that old story! It's quite interesting to see something contemporarily familiar in the context of 1930.
Although we don't get to see much of the world beyond the yacht and the posh hotels, as a trip on a celluloid Time Machine, it's a fascinating insight into the attitudes of 1930. Other than that or wanting to see a not very impressive young Joan Blondell in a fairly big supporting role, I cannot think of any reason to watch this. A pointless badly told story about uninteresting people.