The Racketeer

Stiff early talkie shows its age and some of the growing pains of the transition from silent to sound. Like many early films it packs a lot of story in its brief running time, sometimes too much. The story is run of the mill but moves at a breakneck pace so it never drags.

You can see some of the difficulties encountered in the switch over to sound in the setup of scenes, often people are right on top of each other when they speak and the lack of natural movement of some players. Even the usually loose and animated Lombard seems constrained. A small piece of trivia: this was the last time she was billed as Carol rather than Carole. When the film opened she saw her name misspelled on a marquee liked the look of the alternate spelling feeling it made it more distinctive and adopted it from that point on.

The film is an ordinary programmer but it you're a fan of Lombard it's worth seeking out once.