This black and white, (almost) entirely silent film has been winning rave
reviews. Dare I call it artsy-fartsy? Nah. You might think I'm unsophisticated.
George Vatinin, (no resemblance intended, so they say, to anyone else
such as Rudy Valentino), is the swashbuckling star of silent films, but his
wife complains he can't talk to her. He won't talk in several situations, a
point that is made over and over. The most important reticence is refusal to
speak for the new 'talkies' just coming out, which leads to his career tanking.
Then, the stock market crashes, leaving him jobless and penniless. Peppy Miller
is a young actress whom George helped start her upward climb. As George's fortunes
fall, hers rise, and she becomes a romantic star. When George hits bottom and
attempts suicide, she nurses him back to health, and gets him back into movies
through dancing, though he still doesn't speak.
This movie is full of cliché's, melodrama, and predictability--by the
second half, you know she will rescue him from his plight. It has so much schmaltz
(literally, rendered chicken fat), I grieve for the flocks of poultry that must
have been killed for this cinematic production. And, I suspect it's all
deliberate, that the film's creators were intentionally spoofing early silent
films.
But in spite of all the above, the movie is fun to watch. The music is
cute, though not stirring, and the characters are enjoyable.
Rating - +++ it gets your pulse up as much as a jog. If
you've been planning to see it anyway, while you're working out is a good time.
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