Post by rmichaelpyle on May 3, 2009 5:31:40 GMT -6
I watched a film which I personally really, really liked, although it is thought of critically only in very mediocre terms evidently. The film is called "The Mighty" (1929) and stars George Bancroft when he was riding the crest of his huge wave of success from 1927 when he made both "White Gold" and "Underworld" through 1928's "Docks of New York" and "The Dragnet", 1929's "Thunderbolt" and this film and up until 1933's "Blood Money", the last of his major starring roles. He continued till 1942, but only as a second banana when his ego evidently got into the way of a few producer's ways. He's simply outstanding in this film where he begins as a tough hoodlum before WWI, then tries to get out of going to war when he's drafted, then is forced to go, becomes an outstanding fighting man, then a hero's hero, and comes home a changed individual from the brute and bum he'd been before the war. The plot involves the story of another family, one of whom had been in his platoon during the war. Esther Ralston, "the girl" of the film, is part of this other family. The old life Bancroft had led catches up with him and that's the story, which I won't give away. It's very well told, and the acting is as convincing and well done for 1929 as I've ever seen. Also, the film continuity, fluidity, sound, and so forth is seamless. Others in the cast are Warner Oland (for a change not playing an Oriental sleuth!), Raymond Hatton, Dorothy Revier, Morgan Farley, O. P. Heggie, Charles Sellon, and one or two other minor leads. Uncredited are both Ernie Adams and Mischa Auer in roles which have lots of screen time, though neither speaks. This is a little gem which needs to be shown a lot more! It is a wonderful example of film that made the transition from silent to sound without a hitch. It also showcases a giant of a man, Bancroft, who, even in this film, is called "the yard-wide man". He's not your everyday good-looking Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise, or 1930's Clark Gable or Gene Raymond. He played his parts to represent both pre- and contemporaneous WWI, roaring twenties, and Depression people, and he did it well. If you have the chance to see this film, run to see it. You will not be disappointed one jot!
