My main reasons for seeing 1930's 'Redemption' was for silent film star John Gilbert in the lead role, in his second talkie, and once again to see if his talkie films deserved the bad reputation they have as many felt and still feel that he didn't transition well from silent to talkie. His voice, as already said, also didn't have a good reputation, with many feeling that it didn't match their expectations of what he would sound like looking at him.
Watching his talkies overtime, my feeling is that, while one can see why the reputations of some of them are not great or even good not all of his talkies are bad. Actually liked 'Downstairs' a lot which also boasted one of Gilbert's best performances in my view, and 'Phantom of Paris' also had a good deal of good points despite completely falling apart in the last third. Do think as well that his personal problems and financial difficulties played a major part in his decline and hurt his strong reputation he had in silent pictures, an opinion also felt by a good deal of people now. 'Redemption' is his second talkie as said already, have not been able to find his talkie debut though 'His Glorious Night' (which seems like it is in obscurity), and to me it's one of his weakest talkies.
'Redemption' has its moments. It is well shot and designed, not looking too over-static.
Gilbert does his best with what he was given to work with, which was well below his abilities and not meaty at all, and compared to everything else he's pretty decent. The best and most genuine performance, with the only character that feels real, comes from Conrad Nagel.
The rest of the cast are not good at all, either being exaggerated or bland. They also evoke the strong feeling of not being bad at all in silent film but transitioning badly into talkies and being ill at ease in it. Have seen much better from Eleanor Boardman. The direction is similarly stiff and uncomfortable, it was Fred Niblo's first sound film and the inexperience and self-consciousness in sound shows.
Sadly that is not all. The story creaks badly and has an already old-fashioned feel, on top of being predictable and dull. The chemistry is static and the more romantic moments are more unintentionally funny than sweet. The script is too wordy and over-flowery, not to mention that it flows awkwardly throughout. Next to none of the characters ring true or feel like real people, the only genuine character is Nagel's.
Concluding, very mediocre at best and while the overall reputation of Gilbert's talkies was not that bad this was proof that it was not entirely undeserving. 4/10
