The Shield of Honor

It was a privilege and pleasure to screen this long lost Universal Pictures silent for an audience on January 27th., 2011. The print is considered to be the only surviving element on this title known to exist. Tinted in sepia for daytime, blue for night and red for fire and explosions, this film is enjoyable and brisk as it runs just an hour.

Neil Hamilton, best remembered for the television series Batman, takes the lead as Jack MacDowell, a young officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, following in the footsteps of his father, played by Ralph Lewis. Along the way, they have to stop a crime ring and this takes Jack to the air in an LAPD plane for a nice fight with the enemy in another plane.

Playing a secretary and a bad girl is Thelma Todd, as beautiful as always. The cast is very good and the story is intriguing with much of the film shot on location all around Los Angeles.

At the screening was an executive from Universal and cards were exchanged so this may very well be used for preservation. We shall see and maybe you will as well.

Neil Hamilton is the police officer piloting the LA Police's first airplane, and as proud as paint. Meanwhile his father, Ralph Lewis, has just celebrated his 65th birthday, which calls for his mandatory retirement from the Force. Fortunately, the chief has secured him a job as night watchman at Fred Esmelton's swanky jewelry store. This works out nicely, since Hamilton seems to use the plane to fly to picnics with Esmelton's daughter, Dorothy Gulliver.

But there are dirty dealings afoot. Esmelton's right hand, Nigel Barrie, has been stealing diamonds from the store's customers, and is selling them back to Esmelton, with the aid of decorative secretary Thelma Todd. All of this leads up to an exciting finish, with planes chasing trains, firebombing each other, a daring race to rescue Miss Gulliver who's trapped in a safe that's about to be blown open in a building that's ablaze.

Oh boy! Director Emory Johnson runs this as a boy's adventure, with some nice family warmth, some decent comedy bits, and lots of thrills. It was probably considered a superior programmer in its day. To me it's just an indication of how fluid and graceful silent movies had become just before they vanished from the Hollywood scene.

Ralph Lewis is an officer turning 65, and is aged-out of the force. His son Neil Hamilton is an air patrol officer. A recent string of jewel robberies has the police investigating corruption within the O'Day Jewelry Company.

The film feels like a serial; it is full of action and intrigue and convenient discoveries. There is a scene where fire fighters rush to a fire which reminded me of the sequence in The Fire Brigade that Kevin Brownlow used for the Hollywood documentary series to illustrate how impressive silent cinema could be.

The movie is dedicated to police officers, who are sometimes misunderstood. After the first introduction we get a second one saying basically the same thing, which is awkward.

I saw this movie screened at Capitolfest in 2021.