One Romantic Night

Very rare film based on Molnar's THE SWAN (an alternate title), ONE ROMANTIC NIGHT tells the story of a princess who must choose between a romantic tutor (Conrad Nagel) or a rascally prince (Rod La Rocque). Getting in the way and making things difficult is the princess' mother (Marie Dressler).

A terrific cast makes this watchable (although my copy is bad), but the story is rather dull. Gish (in her talkie debut) looks and sounds great; Dressler of course steals every scene she's in. Nagel is OK, and La Rocque is handsome but somewhat prissy.

At age 37, Gish was probably too old for the part of the princess, but it's the kind of character that fit her screen persona. Gish herself did not like the film and considered it slow and dull. She also didn't like the director, whose work she was unfamiliar with. She had not made a film since 1928's silent THE WIND and wouldn't make another film for 3 years. La Rocque, Nagel, and Dressler had all made talkies before this film.

Oddly, this story was filmed again in the 50s as THE SWAN and starring Grace Kelly and Alec Guinness.

Lovely, demure Lillian Gish (as Princess Alexandra) is expected to marry randy, royal Rod La Rocque (as Prince Albert). Instead, Ms. Gish is attracted to someone out of her societal class, her brothers' tutor Conrad Nagel (as Nicholas Haller). Gish's dalliance with Mr. Nagel puts her "arranged" royal wedding with Mr. La Rocque in jeopardy. As he finds his prospective bride slipping away, La Roque finds himself falling in love with Gish. Who will the Princess choose?

This re-titled version of Molnár's "The Swan" was certainly an unsuitable talking picture debut for Gish. Although she speaks well, the script and direction offer Gish little opportunity to show her considerable dramatic skills. Reportedly, the legendary actress clashed with director Paul L. Stein; and, George Fitzmaurice was called in to complete the film. The supporting cast, including Marie Dressler and Philippe De Lacy, and cinematography (Karl Struss), are attractive. La Rocque is unusually weak as the winning man; probably, his performance suffers due to the lack of direction (un-unified Fitzmaurice, Gish, and Stein). The unhappy experience resulted in Gish concentrating her energies on stage work.

***** One Romantic Night (5/3/30) Paul L. Stein ~ Lillian Gish, Rod La Rocque, Conrad Nagel, Marie Dressler

One Romantic Night (1930)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Screen legend Lillian Gish made her talkie debut in this rather static (?) comedy about a love triangle. In the film she plays a princess who is promised to a man (Rod La Rocque) but of course she's in love with another (Conrad Nagel). This film was filmed once before in 1925 and again later with Grace Kelly but I haven't seen either of those to make a far comparison. I'm certainly hoping that either one is better than this film because sadly this film is quite poor. I love Gish and always have but this film here is pretty poor from start to finish and even her lovely grace can't save it. In fact, I'd say she's part of the problem because she's way too old (37 at the time) to be playing the part, which is clearly mean for someone in their early twenties, if not younger. Having her squeeze into a role like this is certainly unfair and especially considering this was also her first talkie. Her talking sequences are really bland, which took me by surprise. I thought she would have handled the jump a lot better than she did because she had a lovely voice but it seems she's trying way too hard to push her voice. Just watch her in a number of scenes where she actually looks like she's trying to "push" her voice. She wouldn't make another film for three years and apparently hated making this movie, its director and had an overall negative opinion on the film but after seeing this you could understand why. Both La Rocque and Nagel are rather stiff and bland as well. Supporting players Marie Dressler and O.O. Heggie fair somewhat better but they can't save the film either. The entire film is poorly directed and I'd question whether anyone knew if they were making a comedy or drama because I honestly couldn't tell. Things are that flat from start to finish so there's really no one to recommend this to unless, like myself, you're a Gish fan and want to say you've seen her first talkie.

A common misconception about the decline of silent film stars at the dawn of the talkie revolution is that their subsequent unpopularity came from bad voices or an inability to recite dialogue. This idea ignores how much society in general was shifting during the late 20s and early 30s, what with the Great Depression puncturing Roaring Twenties decadence and optimism, as well as the usual shifts in audience taste that had always been occurring among moviegoers. These shifts had a lot more to do with the decline of old favorites than squeaky voices.

Lillian Gish's decline as a movie star was already in effect before moguls accepted sound was more than a fad. Her last few silent films had either underperformed or flopped. Gish was a phenomenal actress, but her tragic ingenue image was falling out of favor, even with attempts to complicate the persona with madness (THE WIND) or innocent sexuality (LA BOHEME and THE SCARLET LETTER). Stars rise and fall on the whims of their public, and the public was losing interest in Gish.

ONE ROMANTIC NIGHT is Gish's first talkie and it's often purported to be a showcase for how bad early sound filmmaking could be. I've seen it twice and honestly, there are way worse early sound films than this one. The acting is largely stiff and the action stagebound, but the script is a diverting trifle. Gish was too old to play the princess, but she had the proper patrician look and the ability to play girlish characters well. She's certainly better than Rod La Roque as the rakish prince, who comes off way too nasally and foolish to strike one as a properly enticing bad boy. Conrad Nagel, Marie Dressler, and OP Heggie all give Gish proper support and there's enough modest entertainment value in the whole affair to keep the film from being a bore.

This film begins rather slowly, but gets more interesting as one progresses through the film. The Swan, later retitled One Romantic Night, was the talkie debut of silent film giant Lillian Gish. The criticism that Gish was too old for this part are baseless because Gish still looked quite young at this point (she certainly didn't look 37). She was also very dolled up and beautiful, looking every bit like a princess. Her talkie debut was great. She spoke well, she had great facial and bodily expressions, and she captivated the audience during her scenes just as she did in her silent films. This role was also a welcome change for Gish fans used to seeing her play the vulnerable, frail, nice girl roles, as she was strong, defiant, and independent in this role. Marie Dressler was great too. She owned her lines expressively without overdoing it, and it was nice to see her in a nobility role, much different than her previous roles. Rod La Rocque and Conrad Nagel could be stiff at times, but there were scenes where they shined as well. The two teenage boys had small roles, but performed them very well. Overall, the film has a rather slow start, and at some point the acting seems quite "stagey," but overall it is an enjoyable film, and it's very worth watching for Lillian Gish fans to see her in her first talkie.