Give this film a chance
Once you get past the first 15 minutes, it's smooth sailing from there. It starts out rather rocky (you might be be tempted to give up), but hang in there. You will be rewarded with an excellent story of love between the "races" and the often mindless sanctity of honor.
Madge Evans is fine. She's quite believable. In the first 15 minutes, I winced while watching Ramon Navarro in the title roll; however, as the minutes wore on, I grew to like his performance and ultimately thought he was quite good.
For 1931, the camera movement is fairly free. During a shot where the camera is following Evans and Navarro walking down a long hallway in Navarro's palace, a chair can be seen lifted out of the advancing camera's way by a grip. This minor error precedes the "rocking hat" mistake witnessed in "Citizen Kane" by 10 years. People often comment how inventive Welles was (he most definitely was), but they mistakenly cite his habit of moving objects in front of and away from mobile cameras as one of his clever tricks. If it's one of "his" tricks, he learned it from Hollywood.
TCM's print and sound quality were generally excellent.
This film is a fine example of one aspect of pre-Code films that is often overlooked, miscegenation. It's well handled by a major Hollywood studio. The strict enforcement of the Hayes Codes prevented this subject matter just three years later.
Madge Evans is fine. She's quite believable. In the first 15 minutes, I winced while watching Ramon Navarro in the title roll; however, as the minutes wore on, I grew to like his performance and ultimately thought he was quite good.
For 1931, the camera movement is fairly free. During a shot where the camera is following Evans and Navarro walking down a long hallway in Navarro's palace, a chair can be seen lifted out of the advancing camera's way by a grip. This minor error precedes the "rocking hat" mistake witnessed in "Citizen Kane" by 10 years. People often comment how inventive Welles was (he most definitely was), but they mistakenly cite his habit of moving objects in front of and away from mobile cameras as one of his clever tricks. If it's one of "his" tricks, he learned it from Hollywood.
TCM's print and sound quality were generally excellent.
This film is a fine example of one aspect of pre-Code films that is often overlooked, miscegenation. It's well handled by a major Hollywood studio. The strict enforcement of the Hayes Codes prevented this subject matter just three years later.
- mbrindell
- May 19, 2013