Hooked at the Altar

This is an indifferent film about the usual kind of marriage problems until the last ten minutes which I shan't reveal but which are excellent and well worth watching the film for.

I cannot resist saluting in passing a cute and funny performance (and not so terribly caricatural) by black actress Irene Allen as a romantically minded maid. Allen had a career that extended at least until 1938 and probably longer and acted in at least 15 films but almost invariably as maids (once as a mother). A lively, charming character actress, she deserved much better. But at least she did sometimes get credited.

Thelma Hill (with the help of Barney Hellum), just four years away from suicide, steals the show completely towards the end of the film (the part that is really worth watching) and Mary Ann Jackson (alias Baby Smith alias Mary Ann of Our Gang) as the obnoxious toddler also shows real star quality. One of the most important child stars of the twenties, she would later, in her words, be "discarded like a piece of rubbish".