Creaky Talkies

[donnie]

And do you see a gray bar at the end of my last post? I'm trying to figure out what that is and how it got there.

[BettyLouSpence]

Speaking of which, I've wanted to see Lights of New York, but that one's hard to get hold of. It was on TCM one time, and I meant to record it, as I had cable TV and a video capture hardware and software setup at that time (now obsolete). But I ended up forgetting and missed it, anyway. Can't imagine that it would be any creakier than The Line-Up, though. That one's in a class by itself.

I found Lights of New York (1928) on archive.org.

https://archive.org/details/lights-of-ny-4-3

Also I don't see a gray bar, just the faint dotted line that accompanies an edit.

[donnie]

I found Lights of New York (1928) on archive.org.

Splendid!!

Also I don't see a gray bar, just the faint dotted line that accompanies an edit.

[BettyLouSpence]

Also I don't see a gray bar, just the faint dotted line that accompanies an edit.

Ah, that's a scroll bar. It appears every now and then, if it thinks the content of the post is wider than the established parameters + monitor/device width. An emoticon at the end of a single long line is often what summons it.

[donnie]

Thanks! Odd I've never run into it before. I guess I'm good at staying in bounds.

[donnie]

I've watched Lights of New York (1928). I enjoyed this one. In the first few moments, I thought, hmm, this isn’t really very creaky at all. But—as time went on…

The creakiness begins in right earnest

► Show Spoiler

in the scene in Hawk’s office, and is present later on in the barbershop, and in Kitty’s apartment—basically anywhere the detective is, as he is the primary source, although Hawk and his goons contribute their fair share. And there are some moments of awkwardness all round. I did think Helene Costello's acting was probably the most natural of the bunch. She was very pretty and likable as Kitty.

Molly had the clinker of the film, though: “I’ve lived—I’ve loved—I’ve lost.” Ouch. The detective should have charged for that line, even if she gets off the hook for the shooting. And did you notice how she was partially cut off on the edge of the screen all during her dramatic confession to Eddie and Kitty? I wonder if that was bad framing by the camera, or a later crop. I did like the happy ending, though.

The scene with Hawk’s body in the barber chair was pretty grisly. That Gene must have had nerves of steel. By the way, how smart was it of Eddie, with the police on the way, to go ahead and spill the beans to Hawk and accuse him right out—the man who just "bumped off" a policeman, and who wouldn't mind bumping him off, as well.

One thing that’s interesting about some of these very early talkies is the continuing presence of titles. They just didn’t seem to be able to wean themselves totally off them, though they were no longer necessary. However, I do like seeing them in talkies as an interesting relic, and they do serve to make a nice segue at times (so I guess I’m contradicting what I just said about their being useless ). How do you feel about them?

As opposed to The Line-up with no music at all, this one almost has too much background music and occasionally slightly inappropriate music for the action at hand. (Example: during the phone conversation at 14:40.) I also noticed a tendency of the music to almost partially drown out dialogue at times (balance problems?).

And did you notice the number of lines with stumbles that you would assume would have been redone? This being a major Warner Brothers production, that's a little surprising. I guess they just didn't consider it any big deal at that time. (Kind of like in some silents where you have obvious visual flaws like flies lighting on things, etc., and they didn't feel any need to retake it.)

I liked the nightclub scenes. They gave a good feel of what it might have been like to be in nightclub of that era, and I liked the hot jazz numbers.

By the way, have you ever noticed what a huge part of entertainment dancing apparently was in that era? I mean not just the twenties, but way on back all through the silent era, as well. So many films of all types feature nightclub and stage scenes, and there’s always dancing as the primary entertainment. When you think of it, it seems dancing was much more a part of life in general in former times. But that's another subject, so I'll stop there.

Thanks, Betty Lou, for locating this one.

[BettyLouSpence]

I just watched Lights of New York. This wasn't quite as creaky as I was expecting, but it definitely had its moments.

I called it from the moment that

► Show Spoiler

Hawk was killed that Molly shot him; yes, the Derringer was Kitty's, but while she had a motive, she just didn't strike me as annoyed with him to the point of killing him.

And Detective Crosby... why... does he... speak... so... lethargically...? Sounds like the detective could've used a Red Bull.

I enjoyed the street scenes of 1928 NYC. I spied The Big Parade on a theater marquee. That movie was a huge hit to be playing two years later.

Helene Costello... As though an illustration walked straight off the page of a Jazz Age magazine. And what a voice! I liked her hairstyle with the silk headband.

I looked forward to seeing Gladys Brockwell here. She would pass away in 1929; I believe this is her last film role. This makes her the second silent star I've seen in a talkie before a silent (first is Marceline Day). I always had a passing interest in Gladys since I first discovered silents; just something intriguing about her face, I suppose. Can't say I was too impressed with her acting here, however, and I must unfortunately agree about that clinker of a line. Ay ay ay...

One thing that’s interesting about some of these very early talkies is the continuing presence of titles. They just didn’t seem to be able to wean themselves totally off them, though they were no longer necessary. However, I do like seeing them in talkies as an interesting relic, and they do serve to make a nice segue at times (so I guess I’m contradicting what I just said about their being useless ). How do you feel about them?

I enjoyed seeing the titles. I wonder when they were totally dropped... I've seen talkies using titles into 1929, so maybe sometime into 1930? Although, arguably, they were never truly dropped; I mean, how many times has a film/TV show used them to indicate the passage of time, for instance? Including a show about a certain sea sponge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgxK5vm6lvk

And did you notice the number of lines with stumbles that you would assume would have been redone? This being a major Warner Brothers production, that's a little surprising. I guess they just didn't consider it any big deal at that time. (Kind of like in some silents where you have obvious visual flaws like flies lighting on things, etc., and they didn't feel any need to retake it.)

Maybe it took so many takes to get an audible line that they threw up their hands and just went with it.

By the way, have you ever noticed what a huge part of entertainment dancing apparently was in that era? I mean not just the twenties, but way on back all through the silent era, as well. So many films of all types feature nightclub and stage scenes, and there’s always dancing as the primary entertainment. When you think of it, it seems dancing was much more a part of life in general in former times. But that's another subject, so I'll stop there.

Yes! Compared to now, I think it was a much bigger pastime then compared to now.

[donnie]

I always had a passing interest in Gladys since I first discovered silents; just something intriguing about her face, I suppose.

You're right! She does have a very emotive and interesting face.

I must unfortunately agree about that clinker of a line. Ay ay ay...

In other words, what you're saying is: "I watched — I heard — I cringed." Is that about right?

Including a show about a certain sea sponge:

Ah, yes! The Bob of Sponge. I had forgotten about the frequent use of that device (and it was very frequent, judging from that compilation. )

Say, look what I found poking around the Internet Archive! Can you believe the amount of effort that went into this?
https://archive.org/details/pressbook-w ... k/mode/2up

[BettyLouSpence]

I must unfortunately agree about that clinker of a line. Ay ay ay...

In other words, what you're saying is: "I watched — I heard — I cringed." Is that about right?

That's one way to put it

Say, look what I found poking around the Internet Archive! Can you believe the amount of effort that went into this?
https://archive.org/details/pressbook-w ... k/mode/2up

Excellent find, and an invaluable resource! On page 15 you can see the lobby cards (called lobby stills here), window and insert cards, and heralds for the film. It's great to see these, and also their sizes.

Seeing the first lobby card made me realize - what on Earth happened to Eddie's mother in the film?? She just drops off after she's introduced and never makes another appearance. Well, she wasn't that integral to the plot, thinking back on it.

[donnie]

Seeing the first lobby card made me realize - what on Earth happened to Eddie's mother in the film??

I'm a little fuzzy on that first part since it's been awhile since I watched it.

The wording of the ad on page 13 kind of gave me a sense of how exciting an all talking picture must have been to audiences at that time, even if they'd seen partial talkies. This film seems so quaint to us, but it must indeed have been a thrill for them.