West of Broadway

"West of Broadway" is a fascinating movie for film buffs, an opportunity to watch two stars, John Gilbert and Lois Moran, who would soon vanish from the screen for totally different reasons. John Gilbert made "West of Broadway" after plummeting from silent screen stardom via a series of embarrassingly bad "talkies." The myth that it was Gilbert's high, squeaky voice that wrecked his career is palpably untrue. He had a rich, robust voice which he put to good use both in this picture and his dual role as a Houdini-like magician and a malevolent marquis in his other good "talkie," "The Phantom of Paris." But he couldn't overcome the hatred of Louis B. Mayer whom he openly ridiculed, a growing taste for booze and a heart condition -- and he died of cardiac arrest at the age of 39. Had he lived, he almost certainly would have found a second shot at stardom as a character actor. His co-star, Lois Moran, was also a silent screen player who'd made the transition to sound -- and made it splendidly. She was blithe, funny, winsome and charismatic. But she fell in love, married aviation pioneer Clarence M. Young, the assistant Secretary of Commerce under presidents Hoover and FDR, and "West of Broadway" was her last screen appearance for nearly 25 years. Otherwise, there's every likelihood that she'd have enjoyed a lusty career in screwball comedy. As for "West of Broadway," it centers on a wealthy young war hero who comes home, gets jilted, gets drunk, marries the first girl he meets and escapes to his ranch out west. That's where she shows up, smitten with him. Sure,the plot is pitted with potholes, but somehow Gilbert and Moran manage to make it remarkably entertaining and more than just a chapter in motion picture lore.