The Man and the Moment

Rod la Rocque lives the carefree life of a millionaire, with a perpetual party on his yacht. He has made the mistake of writing love letters to Gwen Lee, who his arranged for her divorce so she can marry la Rocque. Then aviatrix Billie Dove crashes her plane into the water. Driving her home to her sour guardian, Charles Sellon, la Rocque has the sort of idea any nitwit might: a marriage of convenience will free him from Miss Lee, and her from Sellon. And so they are married. But la Rocque suddenly decides he loves Miss Dove. This horrifies the lady, who flees back to her guardian. Sellon casts her out. This leaves her to seek shelter with Miss Lee, and her nummorumophile brother, Robert Schable.

This was originally released as a talkie, but that version was lost. A silent version turned up in an Italian archive a few years ago. This resulted in a peculiar goat-glanded movie. The soundtrack is often more annoying than useful, with lots of annoying sound effects, and a musical theme that seems to be based on "The International", which only emphasizes the stupidity of the rich. Director George Fitzmaurice does his best, with a couple of dramatic scenes. The one in which la Rocque destroys a glass window, behind which lightly dressed women, including Miss Dove are swimming, causing a flood is excellent. Likewise, DP Sol Polito shoots the ladies, particularly Miss Dove, to their distinct advantage. There are also some amusing titles in the middle of the movie. But the general level of cupidity, destruction, and bad decisions makes me just want to enjoy "the International".

This is a delightful Part Talking film with a beautiful Synchronized Score. I especially enjoyed the theme song "Just a Lucky Moment" which is played and sung several times in the film. Even though the story is a little silly, Billie Dove makes this film a delight to watch. Gwen Lee is hilarious as the (married!) gold digger trying to take Rod La Rocque away from Billie Dove.

It's a shame that although so many of her early sound films for First National survive --- including Night Watch (1928), Adoration (1928), Careers (1929), Man And The Moment (1929), Sweethearts And Wives (1930), Lady Who Dared (1931) --- only two are readily available...Only Night At Susie's (1930) and A Notorious Affair (1930). Hopefully more of her work becomes available in the near future. The existence of a print of "The Man and the Moment" in Italy has been known for decades so I don't understand why some reviewers are claiming it was previously lost. No doubt when one of the others are listed are made available - they will again claim the same thing. Must be a marketing ploy. Prints exist for the above mentioned films in Italy, the Czech Republic, Wisconsin-Madison, UCLA and the Library of Congress.

Joan (Billie Dove), a novice aviatrix from a sheltered upbringing in the Nebraska heartland and Michael (Rod La Rocque), a feckless millionaire trying to escape the clutches of designing harpy, Viola (Gwen Lee), "meet cute" when she crashes her seaplane into his boat -- that's one plot point that didn't get repeated too often by Hollywood! Nor did the wild, opening scene of this film: soused, rich young people in speeding motor boats hitting a huge ball with sticks that look more like jousting lances back from when knighthood was in flower playing a very dangerous water polo game (though none of the participants seem to notice -- or care). Prohibition may be the law of the land but liquor is an ever-present lubricant of inhibitions for this circle of friends. At one point a party invitation advises the guests that the festivities will be held "from 8pm until blotto." All this may sound like the set-up for a serious moral drama - and you couldn't be more wrong. Although the film's director, George Fitzmaurice, is known for his many romantic dramas, this one is a comedy with a swift-running sense of merriment popping underneath the more serious aspects of the basic plot: a marriage of convenience between Michael and Joan to keep scheming Viola and her sponging brother, Skippy (Robert Schable), away from Michael's fortune. Of course love has a way of spoiling the best laid plans . . . and making the film lots of fun in the process.

Billie Dove, a former Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, well-known for her beauty in silent films, gets to show that off here plus a bit of acting range: first as the "good girl" who makes a bad bargain and then as a "bad girl", a flapper whose broken heart seeks revenge - or love - or maybe a bit of both; she keeps you guessing. In her second part-talkie (though I do not know if she was in any talking sequences in that previous film), Miss Dove's speaking voice is clear and natural-sounding, subtly emitting emotion that conveys her inner feelings. Rod La Rocque gives a good physical performance, brimming with exuberance but still seems to be finding his way when it comes to speaking. (It's his second talkie.) He enunciates well but at times his voice is devoid of the emotion the scene demands. It's not fatal; you still root for him to recognize the error he's made with Joan.

Long thought to be a lost film, the restoration of, "The Man and the Moment" (1929; directed by George Fitzmaurice, a part-talkie) was given its U.S. premiere at the George Eastman Museum's Dryden Theatre on January 5, 2016. A 35mm dupe negative nitrate print, without sound discs, was recently discovered at the Cineteca Italiana di Milano. After the Vitaphone discs with music, sound effects (a huge number as the movie unreels), and talking sequences were located at UCLA, the film was restored and first shown in Milan last year. The restoration process used resulted in something unusual: dialogue spoken as the inter-titles appeared on screen. As a gracious member of the Eastman Museum's Moving Image Department explained to me, this happened because the print used was intended for foreign distributors who would replace the English titles with the appropriate foreign language titles at the right point in the film. Had the restorers removed the titles, the sound discs would not have meshed up perfectly in sync with the images unless other footage - likely a black screen -- had been added which audiences would not have enjoyed. The restorers made the right call, in my opinion, even if it does seem initially strange. Actually it soon becomes intriguing as the written words and the spoken dialogue converge and diverge, often within seconds. Since the talking scenes are not too long, this doesn't prove a fatal distraction. Overall, it's a small price to pay to have this film back in the land of the living.

As sound became increasingly a part of the movies, filmmakers realized they had to develop additional film grammar so that the audience would understand what was going on. When Michael and Joan are at sea on his ship's deck enjoying a moonlight dinner, a song is heard on the soundtrack. No big deal now, but for viewers in 1929, not so. To help the audience accept the scene - my take on it at least -- the director fades in and out a couple of times with shots on land of a quartet playing instruments with someone singing. Needless to say the technique was soon deemed unnecessary but it's fascinating to see the transition from silent film to talkie evolving as we watch, even if this technique proved to be a dead end.

Not a missing masterpiece, this is a consistently entertaining little film with quirks for the film buff, smiles for fans of the stars, and fun for viewers who enjoy romantic comedies regardless of when it was made.

THE MAN AND THE MOMENT is a part-talkie silent film starring Billie Dove as a wayward pilot and Rod La Rocque as a hapless millionaire. She crashes into his speed boat in the middle of a bizarre "polo" match at sea and also crashes the plans of greedy Gwen Lee regarding La Rocque. Decent little comedy once on the lost list. This has been restored and reassembled using a silent version and matching it up with Vitaphone disks. The problem is in the talking sequences which were cut down for the silent version, so the people at Warner inserted intertitles during the talking sequences to "sync" the film. Works pretty well (although I spotted a few typos). As bizarre as the polo scene is (sound effects) there's an even more outrageous scene in a nightclub that features a giant water tank filled with swimming women. It doesn't look quite right either in proportion or speed (compared to the dancers) but creates a dazzling effect, especially once Billie Dove jumps in and swims around. Dove is very good and so is Gwen Lee as the blonde shark. I never liked La Rocque's speaking voice in early talkies and he sounds prissy here as well. Still nice to see another lost film restored and available!