New York Nights

New York Nights (1929) is no classic or even worth a repeat watching for the average movie-goer, but it does not deserve the toxic reputation it has amassed since its release.

I'm not a terribly big Norma Talmadge fan; she's a competent actress with a deep, powerful voice. For some reasons, rumors of her possessing a shrill Brooklyn accent have lingered for years, no doubt due to the claim that she was the basis for the unpleasant voice of Lina Lamont, the villainess of Singin' in the Rain, a movie which is not a terribly accurate depiction of the silent to sound transition to begin with, though many seem to believe so. Nonetheless, Talmadge is solid as the heartbroken chorus girl. The rest of the cast is fine. William Cameron Menzies's art direction is great and the cinematography is pretty good too. The plot is hokum, but it's entertaining while you're watching the picture.

I'd wager Talmadge's fall from grace was not caused by an inability to exist in sound, but by the cultural shift brought on by the Great Depression. Hard-nosed dames and working girls struggling to survive were more in vogue than the types Norma tended to essay during her 1910s/1920s heyday. Up and comers like Joan Crawford, possessing different images and fresh faces, held more appeal for audiences.

As the Buddhists say, times are always changing. Talmadge's day had passed on by. At least she retired a wealthy woman; as her sister Constance is said to have told her, the critics can't mess with those trust funds, honey!

I wanted to watch "The Lights of New York", searched it up on YouTube, clicked on the first thing that came up (which was this movie), realised thirty minutes in and then decided to finish it anyway.

It was okay? Well, a little less than okay. I was into it for a while but then when I realised that it wasn't what I had wanted to watch I kind of lost interest for a bit. The story was pretty standard but none of the dialogue really popped out and the acting was pretty good for the most part.

I still haven't seen "The Lights of New York".

Interesting film based on a Broadway play (TIN PAN ALLEY) that starred Claudette Colbert.

The film is famous as one of Norma Talmadge's flop talkie attempts but it's not bad at all and is a better film than her 1930 attempt (and final film) as Madame DuBarry.

Talmadge plays a show girl married to a song writer (Gilbert Roland) but everyone is involved in the Broadway night life and endless parties. Plus Talmadge is being pursued by a gangster. Talmadge leaves her husband after he spends the night with a floozie. She ends up as the gangster's moll but soon gets tired of the life.

She runs into Roland (on the skids) later and tries to rekindle her relationship but as they attempt to leave wicked NYC for the country they get involved in a botched gangland murder.

This film proves that Talmadge had a perfectly good voice (she even sings a little), not overly trained and unnatural as she was as DuBarry. She's also pretty good in a the part and it's fascinating to finally see this great star in a "modern" role. Roland isn't bad as the husband and has surprisingly little accent.

Lilyan Tashman is Norma's pal, Roscoe Karns in the music partner, John Wray is the gangster, Mary Doran is the floozie, Jean Harlow has a bit part as a party guest, and Al Jolson makes a cameo and sings a song but it's all cut from the short version of this film that I have.

Another curiosity from the transition era. Why would this film have flopped?

This was silent drama star Norma Talmadge's talkie debut, and it flopped at the box office. However, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why. Legend has it that Singin in the Rain's Lena Lamont was modeled after Norma, but I have to tell you that I really couldn't detect much of a New York accent in her voice, and her speaking was perfectly fine. She also seemed to understand how to integrate speaking and acting into a cohesive whole. Gilbert Roland was a bit hammy, but if you look at his performances just a couple of years later he improved very rapidly. In fact, the worst performance here - and it's really not that bad - is John Wray as the gangster that is after Norma's character. He plays it way over the top yet he had plenty of roles in talking films for years to come.

The story is pretty routine - Jill Deverne (Norma Talmadge)is married to Fred (Gilbert Roland), a struggling songwriter. Their domestic happiness is threatened by a gangster who is interested in Norma and by a chorus girl who is interested in Fred. Lilyan Tashman plays Jill's friend and does a great job with the catty lines as she stands up for Jill.

The only thing I can figure about the original failure of this film is that people had a certain idea about their silent stars and, for the most part, giving them a voice just took away the magic and made them seek out new faces - Cagney, Blondell, Tracy, and Hepburn among others. Very few weathered the transition and Norma Talmadge was among the many casualties. If you're a fan of the early talkies I recommend you check this one out if you get the chance. It's a rare opportunity to see Norma Talmadge in a film since so very few of her silent films survive. That's too bad since she was one of the most popular dramatic actresses of the silent era.

You feel guilty watching this because director Lewis Milestone was so upset with his final product that he didn't want it releasing. Since it was produced by UA supremo, Joe Schenck as a vehicle for his wife, Norma Talmadge, that was never going to happen.

The title NEW YORK NIGHTS and a story about gangsters and seedy nightclubs makes you think this might be a sort of proto-Warner gangster film. Sadly that's nothing like this. This is a pretty awful picture. It just doesn't work and you can almost feel the pain of disappointment Mr Milestone felt when he saw what he'd made. It was his first talkie which he realised weren't quite as easy to make as he thought... but he certainly learned by his mistakes to make his classic ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT a few months later. You can hardly believe these two films were made by the same person!

It can be partly excused by the fact that none of these people had made a talkie before and only a few filmmakers got it right first time. It's not dreadful - there are plenty of 1929 films much worse but it's hardly what you'd consider entertaining. Plenty of pictures from this dawn of sound age are engaging, enjoyable or even captivating. The only reason to watch this is.... no, sorry - can't think of one.

Silent superstar Norma Talridge acts like she's still in a silent film. Stage actor, John Wray plays possibly one of the most irritating and least convincing gangsters I've ever seen. And then there's Gilbert Roland whose acting is actually OK but he's hampered by a truly terrible script and a poorly written character.

Let's respect Lewis Milestone's wish to pretend that WESTERN FRONT was really his first talkie.