lee_eisenberg

Vilma Bánky had appeared in some movies in Europe when Samuel Goldwyn brought her to the states. She appeared in some movies for him and proved popular.

But guess what happened as soon as talkies came along? Audiences heard Bánky's Hungarian accent and couldn't understand her, which pretty much ended her career.

Nonetheless, she had a good appearance in "A Lady to Love". Victor Sjöström's movie turned out to be the launchpad for Edward G. Robinson's career, casting him as an immigrant vintner in the Napa Valley who seeks to marry a waitress (Bánky), only he sends her a photo of someone else.

Being a pre-code movie, it has some scenes that probably would've gotten banned just a few years later. The sound is a little funky, but that's excusable since Hollywood was still figuring out how to record it. Overall, it's not a great movie, but worth seeing as a relic of Bánky's all-too-short career. As for comparisons with Sjöström's other movies, I've only seen "He Who Gets Slapped", so I can't really assess.

I first learned of Sally Potter when I saw her "Ginger & Rosa" at a film festival. I later saw her "Orlando". "The Roads Not Taken" takes a similar approach to its topic that "Run Lola Run" does - different ways that everything could turn out - but drags too much. It barely manages to hold the viewer's attention as the dementia-affected protagonist ponders the directions that his life could've gone.

I'd like to see the rest of Sally Potter's movies, as I liked the other movies of hers that I mentioned. It's just that nothing significant happens in this one. Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek and Laura Linney give it their all, but there's nothing to work with.