The Live Wire

Sailor Richard Talmadge sold a pot to a pawnbroker a year ago. Now some professors track him down. It seems it came from an extinct civilization on a tropical island. They want him to help them in their expedition to find the ruins. Alberta Vaughn sneaks her way onto the ship disguised as a man, because it's too dangerous a trip for a woman. Along the way, some of the sailors mutiny.

It's an awkwardly paced action comedy. Talmadge enlivens it a bit, with his usual acrobatics, including some interesting leaps and swinging from ropes. Talmadge first came to notice as Douglas Fairbanks' stunt double. By the middle of the 1920s, he was starring in his own movies, featuring his stuntwork. He made the last of his starring vehicles in 1936, then resumed his work as a stunt man and second-unit director. He last worked in 1967, and died in 1981, aged 88.

Talmadge's performance is hampered by his German accent, the awkward pace of cutting and the clumsily performed fight sequences. It was fairly typical of the Poverty Row movies of the era.

"The Live Wire" is simply horrible--a low-budget film from start to finish. The acting is bad, the writing is bad and the direction is bad...and there is nothing positive I can say about the film. Yes folks, it IS that bad!! The film begins with a couple egg-head professors approaching a guy in a pawn shop about a pot for sale there. Apparently it's valuable and might lead them to some more cool ancient stuff--so they go in search of the sailor who sold the store this artifact. Eventually, when they do find him, they convince the guy to go with them on sea voyage in search of the island on which this was found. Along the way, a Bluto-like character leads a mutiny and the good sailor (who SHOULD have been named Popeye) almost single-handedly beats up the mutineers--and could have stopped the mutiny a lot faster had he had his spinach!! Believe it or not, when you watch the film you start to realize that it's actually a bizarre reworking of "Treasure Island". So, despite the stowaway girl posing as a male seaman, the black man who is the embodiment of every negative stereotype known in 1935 and a miraculous escape, the film is the Stevenson story---as played by Popeye!! It's dumb and my favorite dumb moment is when a sailor tosses a match carelessly next to cans clearly marked 'gasoline'!! Not only is this unbelievable but it takes seemingly forever for the cans to explode! Sloppy but that's par for the course in this dumb and horribly racist film.

The sound and picture quality are pretty shaky, giving this the look of a much older film. Richard Talmadge is Dick Nelson, a sailor who had found an antique vase on an antique island. Henry Roquemore and Jim Aubrey are the professors who see it and realize just how valuable it is. So they head out with Nelson to try to find more treasure. One interesting observation... you'd think the captain would want to know where they were going BEFORE leaving port... how much food and water would they need for the trip?? Alberta Vaughn is the captain's stow-away daughter. Captain King walks and talks quite slowly; he's a carry over from the EARLY silents, so he had been around a while. It's a pretty good story, but towards the end it loses steam. Will they get rescued? Will they find the ruins? It's all B movie stuff. It's okay. All very linear and predictable. Directed by Harry Webb, who had started in silent films. Story by Leon Metzetti, who was actually Talmadge's brother!

Richard Talmedge plays Dick Nelson a sailor who was once shipwrecked on a uncharted island. While stranded he found an old vase which he brought back with him and sold at junk shop. A professor who finds the vase and knows what it is looks up Nelson and asks him to take him to the island. Thrills, chills and the right touch of comedy make this a breezy fast moving adventure. Where many cheap-o films of this time are hurt by lack of music this one moves so fast you don't notice it. The only real complaint is that the film ends much too quickly, surely they could have had a bit more happen once they reach the island, after all this film only runs 56 minutes.

Lots and lots of fun.