Der Galgentoni

This was shown at the Phoenix today.Two songs were included,the rest silent with piano accompaniment.Great photography but silly story with overwrought dramatics

The first 'talkie' from the then 'Czechoslovakia', the majority of this film is silent, with a few songs and sound effects thrown in. Overall this one was fairly good. As with a lot of silent movies, to really get the emotion across without dialogue, the acting and storyline really does tend to lean towards the melodramatic, but that is a side-effect of the limitations of the era, and shouldn't really be seen as a negative the way it would be today.

It was a little drawn out, especially the second half, where we see Tonka's past revealed and her subsequent fall from grace. The ending of course is utterly predictable, as these kinds of romantic dramas always are, for a guy with such strong morals, he sure did change his mind quickly.