Jun. 08, 2002 - 11:36 pm
this one was the second Best Picture. after Wings (1927). this one was not silent, however. it was actually a musical. well i'd say more of a melodrama, but it's referred to as a musical. this was one of the films i was referring to previously as one of the two "lost" Best Pictures. meaning i couldn't seem to find them anywhere. turns out the public library had this one. and it wasn't that great. so i can see why it's rather hard to find.
it's the story of two sisters trying to make it on Broadway of course and the man they both love. wicked love triangle that goes haywire at a couple of points in the film. will they tear each other apart or find happiness in some way or another? and do we care?
the music in this was not very good. the acting wasn't very good. especially one of the female leads, Anita Page, was simply terrible. and cinematography? what? apparently the cinematographer for this film did not agree with the common film concept of what we call "headroom." because there often was not any headroom. and his framing was just terrible in general. letting the action slide off the edge of the frame and filling the rest with useless background that wasn't even interesting to look at. yeah, that sucked. but overall, 3/10.