The most interesting thing about this surprisingly static movie is the difference between a silent movie vet like Richard Dix and newcomer Joel McCrea. Whereas Dix still stands, moves, emotes and talks like he's appearing in a mid-20s silent movie, McCrea moves and speaks so fluidly, he's 10 years ahead of his time. It's quite jarring.
The third member of our flying troika is Robert Armstrong, another wooden statue from silent films, spending most of the movie acting drunk (badly). I was hoping he'd crash, frankly.
Mary Astor, on the other hand, was natural, gorgeous and super-talented in any era of movie-making. She seems woefully overlooked these days.
They all end up in Hollywood making motion pictures. None of them were Wings, far as I could tell.
Then we have Von Stroheim, who some reviewers have suggested plays himself as a tyrannical director. I submit he's playing Michael Curtiz, who never met a horse he wasn't willing to sacrifice or a stuntman he wasn't willing to put in harm's way to get a good shot. Von Stroheim's makeup is very clearly meant to make him look like Curtiz. Either way, his shouty act grows old in a hurry.
This script is so simplistic it could have been written by Player Piano. I found the love quadrangles boring but the action sequences would have given audiences their 5c worth in 1932.
The third member of our flying troika is Robert Armstrong, another wooden statue from silent films, spending most of the movie acting drunk (badly). I was hoping he'd crash, frankly.
Mary Astor, on the other hand, was natural, gorgeous and super-talented in any era of movie-making. She seems woefully overlooked these days.
They all end up in Hollywood making motion pictures. None of them were Wings, far as I could tell.
Then we have Von Stroheim, who some reviewers have suggested plays himself as a tyrannical director. I submit he's playing Michael Curtiz, who never met a horse he wasn't willing to sacrifice or a stuntman he wasn't willing to put in harm's way to get a good shot. Von Stroheim's makeup is very clearly meant to make him look like Curtiz. Either way, his shouty act grows old in a hurry.
This script is so simplistic it could have been written by Player Piano. I found the love quadrangles boring but the action sequences would have given audiences their 5c worth in 1932.