One Night at Susie's

This film is just full of tired movie tropes - the tough - in this case older - retired gun moll with a heart of gold (Helen Ware as Susie) and the foster son who is everything to her who becomes the unjustly imprisoned man (Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Dick), the girl who loves the convict and does what she must to keep his soul alive (Billie Dove as Mary), etc. If that was all there was to it I'd say don't bother.

However, the photography is to die for. Cinematographer Ernest Haller includes shots of elevators shafts that actually express dread and a nightmarish courtroom scene in which a judge presides from a giant bench and its shadow is cast upon the defendant who looks tiny in comparison. The two women in his life sit in individual chairs in the darkened room and look on. No lighting, no lawyers, no spectators. A giant modified lady justice sits behind the judge, blindfold off sword drawn. Absolutely breathtaking.

I don't know why Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is second billed here, because he is barely a supporting player. Instead this is the tale of two women. First there is Susie - Fairbanks' foster mom and apparent widow of a gangster who helps gangsters she knows settle their differences and go straight. BUT she is not absolutely religious about the straight part. The gangs live in a tough world with tough realities, and she realizes sometimes bad apples must be dealt with by meting out the ultimate penalty. After all lady justice is not blind, as signified in the courtroom scene. The other woman is Mary, the chorus girl that John loves and via her profession doesn't run into the most honorable guys around.

There is some unintentionally fun stuff here courtesy of early talking Warner Brothers. For one, there are some scenes that WB is just too small yet to handle. They don't have the cash to show big theatre scenes, and they do their best, but the lack of budget shows. Then there is the choreography. These are bored chorines. They basically look like they are playing a continuous game of Hopscotch. Paging Busby Berkeley! Finally there are the gangsters. I have to give WB credit, they did come up with some "mugs" for the parts, but none of them leave a lasting individual impression. Not exactly Bogart or Cagney. But it's a good start.

Finally the precode material. On the serious side, the aftermath of a rape. On the humorous side tough bird Susie trying to get into an evening gown assisted by...her butler??? You won't see THAT after the production code era begins!

And finally, what really makes this film stay with me. How DID that last act that the screen does not show but is relayed via a telephone call get done? Are the gangsters and Susie telepathic or something? She never did call them and tell them to do anything. Perhaps it was something that the usually lax production code insisted upon. Watch and see what you think.

The criminal underworld respects matronly landlady Helen Ware (as Susie). Several ex-gangsters live in her New York City boarding house. After negotiating a truce among a group of visiting crooks, Ms. Ware receives some happy news. Her handsome adopted son Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (as Richard "Dick" Rollins) has become engaged. Ware has raised Mr. Fairbanks to be a "good boy" and avoid criminal elements, so she is shocked and horrified to learn his fiancée is common chorus girl Billie Dove (as Mary Martin). Considering the company Ware keeps, we wonder how she reared Fairbanks in relative purity...

In its present condition, "One Night at Susie's" runs just over an hour, normal for lower range productions of the period. However, the running time given most often is that of just under 90 minutes - more of a top "Warner Bros-First National" production. The personnel suggests the longer running time, which would indicate substantial missing footage. Since Helen Ware appears to be the star, rather than Billie Dove, it could be that Ms. Dove's part diminished. Dove has a fly crawl on her white hat and coat during her character's first visit to "Sing Sing" prison; since nobody ordered re-takes, perhaps Dove and/or the film got demoted...

A "box office" star during the late 1920s, Dove was improving after a tenuous transition from "silent" pictures. The very busy namesake son of superstar Douglas Fairbanks gets make-up and lighting help. Veteran character actor Tully Marshall (as Buckeye Bill) has fun playing with Ware. Most renowned on stage, this is Ware's story. Director John Francis Dillon moves the play around Ware's mysterious character. Kicking the film up a notch is photographer Ernest Haller. Beginning with Fairbanks' solo work scenes, Mr. Haller engages the viewer with interesting angles and focus. The courtroom scene is a most unusual highlight.

****** One Night at Susie's (10/19/30) John Francis Dillon ~ Helen Ware, Billie Dove, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Tully Marshall

Dick (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is the foster son of a woman who runs a sort of rooming house for crooks. However, Dick is dumb. When his girlfriend, Mary (Billie Dove), kills a guy after he nearly rapes her, Dick inexplicably plants evidence to make it look like HE was the killer and he's sent to Sing Sing. During this time, he works on his play 'Triumph' and when it's finished, Mary shops the play all over town. But no one is interested except for a rich pervert and she agrees to put out for him in order to get the play produced. Soon she's a star on Broadway and Dick is, eventually, ready to leave prison. What's next--especially when someone is waiting to send Dick right back to the big house?!

This is a bizarre film. Much of it is because the plot really doesn't make a lot of sense...even for an early talking picture. Additionally, the ending is VERY abrupt and not executed terribly well. As a result of these things and a bit of overacting, it's certainly not an especially good movie. Watchable but that's all.

Billie Dove was a former Broadway showgirl, a famous beauty who broke into films in 1921 at age 18. She made about 50 films, about a dozen after the talkies hit Hollywood.

In ONE NIGHT AT SUSIE'S she plays a showgirl who gets involved with a young man (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) despite his mother's disapproval. The real trouble is that the mother (Helen Ware) is head of a mob although she has kept her son out of the rackets.

He writes a sketch that Dove gets into a show but she falls into the clutches of a lecherous producer. In an attempted rape, she kills him, but Fairbanks takes the rap to protect her. She goes free and becomes a minor star in the show. Fairbanks writes a full play and she hawks it all over town. When she realizes that his writing is the only thing keeping him alive in prison, she makes a tawdry deal with another producer to get the play into production. She becomes a star.

The mother, of course, is fully aware of all this but realizes that Dove's motives are good. When Fairbanks is finally released from prison, the mobster mother decides to clear the way for her son and daughter in law to have a happy life.

The three stars are good. Dove has a pleasant voice and never overacts. Co-stars include Tully Marshall, John Loder, and James Crane. Dove retired from films in 1932 after finishing BLONDIE OF THE FOLLIES with Marion Davies and Robert Montgomery.

Early, Early Talkie that has some very Interesting Moments. The Opening as a Motley Crew of Gangsters encircle a Table as a Matronly Moll, Played by an Imposing and Grim Helen Ware, a Post-Rape, a visually Battered and Brutalized Billie Dove, and an Expressionistic Courtroom Scene that is Stunning.

The Remainder of the Film is Not so Exciting as it Clunks along with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Stiffly going about His usual Non-Acting Performance. Miss Dove is a Curvaceous Creature and Her Wares are on Display but even Her Beauty can't stop Helen from Stealing the Picture.

Heavily Melodramatic as these Embryonic transitional Movies Tend, it is still Worth a Watch for its Fancy Cinematography and a Powerful Central Figure of a Female Mobster.