The strong phony accent of silent star Betty Compson takes time to calm down to something believable. Not as bad as El Brendel but pretty ridiculous sounding early in the film as her native Swedish character gets settled in the U. S. and even starts to disappear then suddenly return. She's involved in a triangle with two men: fiancee Conrad Nagel and his supposed friend and co-worker, Robert Ames, who schemes to seduce the naive Compson while Nagel commits corporate fraud and implicating Ames.
There's a promising start with light situation style comedy, but the melodramatic atmosphere tends to get rather overwrought. Turn one of these men into the walking dead and add a phony psychic, and you'd have the movie "Ghost". This starts off as very stagy but gets better as it goes on, turning later into serious crime drama. Unfortunately, it never completely succeeds although Ames is a great villain. Child star Dickie Moore plays the young son but doesn't make much of an impact. For pre-code conosieurs only.
There's a promising start with light situation style comedy, but the melodramatic atmosphere tends to get rather overwrought. Turn one of these men into the walking dead and add a phony psychic, and you'd have the movie "Ghost". This starts off as very stagy but gets better as it goes on, turning later into serious crime drama. Unfortunately, it never completely succeeds although Ames is a great villain. Child star Dickie Moore plays the young son but doesn't make much of an impact. For pre-code conosieurs only.