Laughing Boy

Though the title of the film is 'Laughing Boy' it is at least as much about the female character Slim Girl (Lupe Velez), whose story gives the film its considerable emotional force. It's a proper pre-Code film, with a very active female character, who seduces the innocent Laughing Boy (including by getting him to drink moonshine). She does plenty of "wrong" stuff, and yet much sympathy is extended to her - she's brought up in white society, but it's emphasised what a marginal place she and other Indians have in it, so she is a classic caught-between-two-worlds figure, and her entrepreneurial efforts to build a self-standing life with Laughing Boy apart from both communities is understandable, even if it involves a transgression that inevitably dooms her. There's also a brilliant early sequence mocking white tourists who come to gawp at the Indians (and get ripped off, as they deserve). I recommend looking past the casting of Mexican actors in the two leads, which would be unacceptable now but was the norm back then - the plot is far from run-of-the-mill, and Lupe Velez puts in a tremendous performance.

The combination of the two dynamic Mexican actors Ramon Novarro and Lupe Velez should have guaranteed a dynamite movie.

But someone at MGM, in their wisdom, cast them as Native Americans - a disastrous decision that doomed this film to failure even before it was begun.

Both struggle to make their characters even slightly believable, as they try to curb their Mexican passion into some sort of wise aboriginal spirituality. The spitfire in Lupe just can't help but surface, and all Ramon can do is try to maintain some dignity under that terrible wig. His singing is nice but anachronistic, and there is far too much of it.

Hard to believe this disaster was directed by Woody Van Dyke, who had made one of Ramon's best silent movies "The Pagan". Novarro was deeply ashamed of this film, and it's no wonder. What is saddest of all about it though is the way it wastes what could have been one of the most exciting star combinations of all time. Just imagine if Novarro and Velez were playing a pair of violently passionate Mexican lovers - what fireworks we would have seen!

Shame, MGM, Shame!

In viewing Laughing Boy today I counted elements of Camille, Romeo and Juliet and Duel in the Sun in the plot of this Indian love story.

Ramon Novarro plays the title role and he's a Navajo from way off in the rural part of the reservation. Lupe Velez is also a Navajo, but an orphan who is the live in mistress of William B. Davidson.

It's doomed from the start. Lupe's been living too long in the white man's world and Ramon's family simply will not accept her. It ends bad for both of them.

I've got a mixed reaction to the film. I've got to give some credit to MGM at that time for even attempting to make a film showing Indians as three dimensional people. They do in fact include some stereotypes, but give the studio credit for trying.

Both Lupe and Ramon were big stars in the silent era and did make the transition to sound. They both had pleasant speaking voices. But both led lives that given the times should have been more discreet. They were both descending into B films at a steady pace. In Ramon's case the vogue for Latin lovers which crested with Rudolph Valentino in the silent era with Ramon as one of his imitators had long passed. MGM had trouble casting him.

Laughing Boy might have been a better film if MGM had been trying to build Lupe and Ramon up instead of looking to be rid of both.

LAUGHING BOY loves Slim Girl, but she has lived too long among the white man and cannot fit in with her new husband's traditional Navajo family. What will happen when he discovers she has returned to being a prostitute to make them some extra money?

Ramon Novarro & Lupe Velez do the best they can with somewhat embarrassing material. Their performances alone elevate the film above the mundane.

Director W. S. Van Dyke, known for his vivid on-location films, tries to interject footage shot in the Southwest to lend authenticity to the plot, but the rear projection backgrounds only detract and annoy the viewer.

Singing silversmith Ramon Novarro (as Laughing Boy) attends his first annual "Great Sing Dance." He and other Navajo Natives trade and sell with Caucasian people. At night, Mr. Novarro becomes acquainted with seductive dancer Lupe Velez (as Slim Girl). She's also an American Indian, but was schooled and lived in the White Man's world (as Lily). After initial apprehension, the two become aroused and begin a relationship. Sadly, Ms. Velez is considered tainted by her past association with Whites. She has trouble being accepted as a squaw by Novarro's people, and ventures into town...

It's hard to believe this film was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (by Oliver La Farge). The story does have an intriguing conflict between the "Native" and "White" worlds, but it is not artfully brought to the film. Navarro and Velez have good screen chemistry, but do not impersonate their characters convincingly. Both were often given "ethnic" roles. One of Novarro's advantages in the "talkies" was his singing, and he is in fine voice, here. You will notice the "swastika" prominently displayed on Novarro's Indian blanket - of course, this has nothing to do with the Nazi symbol.

**** Laughing Boy (4/13/34) W.S. Van Dyke ~ Ramon Novarro, Lupe Velez, William Davidson, Harlan Knight