Night Parade (1929) User Reviews

There is nothing particularly good or bad about this film...

[AlsExGal · 4/10 · 28 November 2009]

... and that's why I'd recommend you skip it, even if you're an early sound film buff, as I am. Neither the script nor the acting are particularly bad for an early talkie, it's just that everything and everyone in this paint-by-numbers film about the boxing world is so completely conventional and forgettable. Bad films I'd recommend from the early sound era would be "Golden Dawn" or "Lights of New York" because they are so horrid in places that they wind up being fun for the early talkie fan.

There are, however, a few interesting facts involving this early talkie film:

1. There is no parade in this film, although a good portion of the action does take place at night. The film was renamed "Night Parade" to capitalize on the success of some other films of the time that had the word "Parade" in the title.

2. Aileen Pringle, who plays Paula Vernoff, the bad girl that tries to lure the boxer down the wrong path, actually had a pretty good range as an actress, although she shows none of that here. She had some good roles in the silent era, but approaching 40, she got increasingly smaller parts as the 1930's wore on.

3. Famed dancer Ann Pennington actually shows up as herself and dances one number. The film is well-preserved enough that we get a good look at her talents and those famous knees of hers. This is a rare thing to have on film.

4. Male lead Hugh Trevor, who plays wayward boxer Bobby Martin, died in 1933 at only the age of 30 due to complications after an appendectomy. This is one thing I notice over and over in these old films - relatively young people dying of infections and car accidents that they most likely would have survived had they lived today. It really puts the passage of time in perspective.

5. Finally, for this to be such an old and a mediocre film it really is in excellent shape. The sound and video are largely unscathed from the passage of time, which is rare for the RKO film library in general.

Technical Failures

[boblipton · 4/10 · 18 April 2008]

I came in expecting to get some pleasure out of this picture; between the Mal St. Clair direction, the George Abbott script and some interesting talent in front of the camera, it looked pretty good on paper.

However, although the script still looks good -- the corruption of an honest boxer -- there are far too many issues to make it enjoyable.

Stagey Acting: a frequent problem of 1929 an issue of the relatively primitive sound equipment and non-naturalistic stage technique, this would be corrected in a couple of years. None of which excuses the fact that people at a party just stand around doing nothing.

Leaden Camera: It's about ten minutes into the film before the camera moves at all, and then it's moved very slightly to maintain composition, but in an incredibly clumsy fashion, like one man trying to move a sofa. Otherwise it's just cut and cut and cut, two shot, reaction shot, two shot, reaction shot. Compare the vast majority of these shots with the boxing sequence, which is shot MOS with very mobile camera and a lot of undercranking.

Mal St. Clair, after working with Chaplin, developed a reputation as a great director with a light touch -- certainly his Rin-Tin-Tin features are good. But he shows absolutely nothing here. Still it's an interesting story and that stops it from being unwatchable. It's just that you have a lot better things do with your time.

A Technical Knockout

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 26 October 2014]

Known all over the boxing world as a "straight shooter," boyish middleweight champion Hugh Trevor (as Bobby Murray) has become involved with sophisticated Aileen Pringle (as Paula Vernoff), an older woman with a secret agenda. She's working with racketeer Robert Ellis (as John Zelli) in an effort to get Mr. Trevor to throw his upcoming big fight. His pretty childhood friend Dorothy Gulliver (as Doris O'Connell) is in love with Trevor, but he treats her like a "kid sister." With alcohol helping, it looks like Trevor is going to fall for quick sex and easy money. Hopefully, manager father Lloyd Ingraham (as Tom Murray) and Ms. Gulliver can save Trevor from temptation...

"Night Parade" was also seen in a "silent" version (with synchronized sound effects) starring Trevor, with all or most of the cast. That film's whereabouts is presently unknown, according to the "Silent Era" website. Too bad, because it very likely the superior version...

There are major "talking" performance concerns here, along with some questionable direction from Malcolm St. Clair. Still, Trevor is an appealing leading man and there are some good set-ups and sets. The final championship bout is inter-cut with an off stage fight and takes place outside, under a sudden rainstorm. Neither the inter-cutting nor the drenching could have been done in George Abbott's original Broadway play, "Ringside" (1928), which ended in a presumably less wet Madison Square Garden. It looks like producer William LeBaron and RKO had something good going with "Night Parade" which was lost in the "silent" to "talking" motion picture translation.

***** Night Parade (10/27/29) Malcolm St. Clair ~ Hugh Trevor, Aileen Pringle, Dorothy Gulliver, Lloyd Ingraham

Boxing Story that just lays on the canvas.

[WesternOne1 · 3/10 · 3 December 2021]

This is probably as basic a boxing story as was ever filmed. A highly unembellished tale of a young pugilist, who is honey-trapped by a high stakes gambler on the eve of his most important title match. The film has a complete entourage of stock melodramatic characters proscribed for this genré. It is relentlessly ordinary. The dialogue is predictable, the acting is uninspired, save for some hammyness. No surprises here.

It's been my experience in vieweing the first year or so of Radio pictures output, that they all have a cheap, soft focus, a usually dark look to them, mostly quiet tracks with no background music, though all have a more or less constant, faint, odd humming sound like the whirr of a camera. Their story picks are almost all low action, predictable, happy ending little time spenders like this one. The casting is imperfect, Miss Pringle's overmodulated speech makes her sound like Margaret Dumont, and maybe she's a bit too old for her part; Dorothy Gulliver, just out of her Universal contract, though cute, doesn't have the voice or acting talent for talkies. The title and promotion for it reflect maybe a lack of confidence.

The title is meaningless. The adverts are downright misleading, with lines like "R-K-O Sensational Pagent of Life and Love. Roaring Boasts of Broadway And Her Whispered Secrets!" There's nothing at all about Broadway in this film. Nothing, maybe save a strange, nonspeaking, quick cameo by stage star Ann Penington. I guess the hottest films of 1929 were "Gold Diggers of Broadway", The Broadway Melody" and "Broadway", so they lied and said this had something to do with it too.

Strange Film

[Michael_Elliott · 26 April 2008]

Night Parade (1929)

** (out of 4)

A boxer (Hugh Trevor), too stupid for his own good, falls for a girl (Ailen Pringle) weeks before a big fight not knowing she's connected to a racketeer (Robert Ellis). The night before the big fight the racketeer convinces the boxer to throw the fight in order to get a big pay out but will he go through with it? This early talkie from RKO is just like a lot of early talkies and that means a lot of static film-making. The movie appears like it was shot in 1910 because the camera never moves. The camera sits in one place during each scene and only slightly moves for what reasons I'm really not sure because it's certainly not moving for a close up or anything like that. The performances are also very weird and at times some of the characters appear like they're speaking in slow motion so that the camera can pick up what they're saying. On a technical side this thing is pretty ugly but it remains mildly interesting due to its story, which is pretty good, although predictable. There's nothing too overly special about this film and I'm sure most will find it boring so it's only real interest is to those who like seeing these early sound films.

Watchable, but just

[fredcdobbs5 · 4/10 · 20 October 2014]

Somewhat interesting curio from the early sound days, about a naive boxing champ who falls for a flashy "flapper" just before the big championship fight, not knowing that she's a gangster's moll setting him up to throw the fight so her real boyfriend can make a fortune betting against him. As another reviewer has mentioned, this film is actually in much better shape than a lot of surviving films from that era, which makes it not quite as frustrating to watch (no hisses on the soundtrack, no irritating jump cuts because footage is missing, no tinny sound, etc.) as many of its contemporaries. The script--co-written by the legendary George Abbott, who came a cropper on this one--is simplistic to the point of laugh-inducing, the acting by all involved leaves a lot to be desired, the camera-work is of the "bolt-the-camera-to-the-floor- and-crank-away" school. Director Mal St. Clair was much more at home turning out the light comedies at which he excelled and shows none of the flair and sense of humor he was noted for. Actors step on each others' lines, there are awkward pauses where, apparently, actors missed their cues and a few other technical shortcomings and gaffes, but it's still worth a watch just for its historical value. Another thing it's worth watching for is a minor actress named Marie Astaire, who has a small part as Florence, one of the "wild" girls in the party scene that takes place the night before the big fight. She's beautiful, sexy and makes more of an impression than the two female leads. She didn't have much of a career (her IMDb page lists 24 roles, most uncredited) and I have no idea if she's related to the famed Fred Astaire (her IMDb page makes no mention of it), but she's worth paying attention to, as is the famous Broadway star Ann Pennington, who makes an appearance at the party scene and does a very racy dance that shows off her spectacular legs, which is something else she was famous for.

Overall this film actually has more minuses than pluses, but it's still worth a watch. You could do worse.

It's difficult to rate this one, but compared to other 1929 productions, it's quite good

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 April 2008]

Please understand that my score of 7 is based on when it was made. Had this film appeared just a few years later, I would not have been as charitable. It's just that for an early silent is IS pretty good.

There were several reviews that complained about the sound, but actually compared to so many films from 1929, this was was excellent and the acting was actually pretty good. First, you could actually hear them talking without much straining--and this CAN'T be said of films like COQUETTE (also 1929). Second, while there isn't the incidental music, this is true of just about every film in 1929. Also, while a few of the actors were dreadful (particularly "the champ"), the film was far less static than most of the early sound era. The characters in some films made at that time stood almost wood-like and shouted up towards the microphones--this one never is that bad. Had you not known how bad most 1929 and even 1930 films were, then I could see you complaining about the sound. Believe me, though, the sound in this is excellent.

As for the film itself, many will find themselves laughing at the plot--after all, just about every boxing film cliché is present. However, please understand that most of the films featuring these clichés borrowed them from NIGHT PARADE. When it appeared in 1929, the clichés weren't yet clichés and this style of sports film was the rage. Today, though, it will seem pretty old fashioned and predictable.

If I would rate this film for historical purposes, it deserves an 8. If I write it for watchability today, then it probably deserves a 5. While predictable, there still was some charm and I liked the locker room fight scene with Pops. However, I will admit that as a true cinephile and lover of silents and early talkies, I am a bit biased and tend to overlook many of the problems with these transitional films. To see more technically competent films, you really won't see too many until 1931 or 1932. Heck, in Europe and Japan they were STILL making silents until the early to mid-30s.

The Shy Star

[kidboots · 8/10 · 27 August 2015]

There isn't a lot written about Hugh Trevor but back in the late 1920s, he was pretty popular, studios even put the word out to look for a "Hugh Trevor type"!! His biggest break was one that didn't eventuate - he was seriously considered as a replacement for Charles Farrell in "Sunnyside Up" when studio execs realised how bad Farrell's lack of musical ability was - Trevor was thought to be Farrell's equal in talent, looks and height but he had a better voice. In the end the box office drawing power of the Farrell/Gaynor teaming won through. The reason Trevor's career stopped was not to do with waning popularity but because he disliked being in the spotlight and couldn't wait to get back to being an anonymous worker.

Based on the Gene Buck play "Ringside" this was a pretty good film for fledgling Radio studios and certainly can't be accused of being static - really opening out with an initial outdoor scene at a training camp and a gripping boxing climax. Columnist Sid Dunham (Lee Shumway) has always admired the camaraderie of the father and son boxing team but feels young Bobby Murray (Trevor) is going to meet his match next bout as he is running with a pretty fast set. And Bobby's mind is elsewhere - with new neighbour Paula (Aileen Pringle). She is described as a young kid and vivacious but with Pringle in the part, who wasn't old but always appeared matronly, she comes across as a slumming society lady. Definitely no match for cute as a button Dorothy Gulliver who, as his childhood friend Doris, loves him from afar.

He is lured to a party, plied with 100% proof, then made to feel he doesn't have a chance at winning so he may as well take a dive - for $100,000!! Just when things are getting heavy along comes Ann Pennington playing herself and in a shameless bit of cross promotion (and the movie highlight) does a jazzy dance to "You're Responsible", a song she introduced in Radio's just released musical "Tanned Legs" and that's the song's composer, Oscar Levant, at the piano!!

Trevor shows he was a good find with his relaxed manner and delivery (being new to films he didn't have anything to unlearn) but the film really belongs to Lloyd Ingraham as Murray Snr. who has tried to instil in his son true and right values. There are quite a few speeches about "being straight", "playing the game" etc and the one about "Mother may not be here now but I can't let her down". Somehow Ingraham makes you believe. The ending features an exciting boxing match from Madison Sq. Garden with witty commentary that climaxes in a thunderstorm which has the boxers unsteady and slipping around on the wet canvas as the stadium is almost washed out. Worth a look!!