New York Nights

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.