The Squall

As Hollywood was making its transition from silent pictures to talkies, 1929 is left as a year full of oddities and curios. The Squall is a 100% talking picture and is one of the more watchable talkies from 1929. While watching The Squall or any other talkie from 1929 one must take into account the movie was presumably filmed with a camera in a soundproof box. It's evident the actors in The Squall have been heavily coached by diction experts and instructed to say their line as clearly and enunciated as possible - a scenario which anyone who has watched Singin' In the Rain will be familiar with. Likewise, none of the actors turn their heads when speaking to avoid going off-mike nor at any point do any of the cast simultaneously walk and talk.

So while none of the performances in The Squall bar one certain screen siren are anything to write home about, the production values are surprisingly very high. The Squall was directed by famed Hungarian-British producer and director Alexander Korda. I can only speculate if the director's heritage is the reason why the film takes place in Hungary whereas the play the film is based on is set in Granada, Spain. The sets and costumes are very detailed in this upper, middle-class Hungarian farm from what I assume is around the turn of the century. Complete with grand windmills, herds of animals, farm equipment and some nice miniature work, the film succeeds in creating an atmosphere. Just as significant in an unusual move for films right up until the early 1930s, is the use of a music score throughout the entire picture, suitably a heightened and melodramatic one to accommodate the sound effects of blustering storms.

However, the real reason to watch The Squall and the film's saving grace is the one and only Myrna Loy in the overacting triumph of her long and varied career as the scruffy, barefooted gypsy girl Nubi. The gloriously, melodramatic performance sees this seductress manipulate three men in the same household as she tears the once idyllic Lajos family apart. Particularly pathetic is the son Paul (Carroll Nye), an utter simp who buys jewellery for Nubi from money he stole from his parents. I can watch Myrna Loy in just about anything thus I can easily buy into the destructive charm of Nubi as she over emotes in broken English and always referring to herself in the third person - even in one early scene as Nubi proclaims "no more!", it appears as if Myrna Loy is trying to hold back her laughter. The contrast to the vampish Myrna Loy is the purity and innocence of a wide-eyed Loretta Young as Irma, a mere 16 years old at the time.

It should come as no surprise for a film as melodramatic at The Squall to play big with its use of symbolism and metaphor. The film's opening shot features a Christian cross overlooking the farm and during a dinner the family has near the film's beginning, the grandfather states that squalls are the work of God that he "gives us shadows that we may know light. He gives us sorrow that we may know joy. And perhaps he sends the squall that we may learn the beauty of a limpid sky". Nubi, of whom arrives at the family home during the midst of a storm, takes advantage of the Christian principle of sheltering the poor and homeless only to wreak havoc - an evil spirit if there ever was one.

I must say that I watched this film unexpectedly and was quite surprised by the seductive performance of Myrna Loy. I had not seen her in her earlier works, only the later ones, such as "Love Crazy," "The Thin Man," and their later additions, such as "Another Thin Man." To think that she ended her career as the perfect wife and started it as the temptress or villain is hard to believe. The character Nubi was, well, a stereotyped role, but to my satisfaction, she played it with such conviction and beauty. Altogether i thought the plot was a easy one. Men get mixed up and love crazy for the beautiful temptress while leaving their true loves behind in hysteria. I suggest that people see this film because it is a true classic and worth it to see Myrna in her earlier work. :)

I watched this film mainly because of Myrna Loy and Loretta Young. Although the storyline is rather silly and the acting seems over-emotional and trivial today, the movie still has its very own charm. It might not be a milestone in film history, but it has its funny moments, mostly unintentional, simply from the way it has been made - such as the idea of rural Hungary in the 1920s with open jewel shops in the middle of the night. But it is a true delight to watch Loretta Young and especially Myrna Loy in one of their early films. Myrna totally stole the show from the rest of the cast - even though her lines were as silly as the rest of the dialogue and her part of the gypsy girl is so stereotypical it seems sort of racist today. Still, she made the most out of it and kept me watching through the whole two hours runtime. I even felt kind of sorry that later on in her career she didn't play any sassy villains anymore. Surprisingly well done was the music score, far better than the dialogue. Perhaps they had better made it a silent picture. So if you watch this movie as one of the first talkies and don't focus on the storyline too much, you might still enjoy this old 'treasure'.

This movie has many things going against it. Among these are staginess, heavy-handed acting, a hackneyed "femme fatale" plot, and a stereotyped view of gypsies. And the story itself raises some questions. Would a family really keep a servant girl whose main duties seem to be turning off the lights at night, staying in her room, and seducing every male in sight? Did jewelry stores really stay open past midnight especially in early 20th century Hungary?

Yet from a cinematic history point of view, it is an interesting movie. It was one of the first starring features for then 23 year-old Myrna Loy who plays the gypsy girl and then 16 year-old Loretta Young who plays the neglected fiancee. It was also one of the first American efforts by director Alexander Korda, who would go on to later fame as a director and producer, and one of the twilight performances of silent screen star Alice Joyce.

The bottom line is: If you enjoy film history this might be worth watching, but if a good story and good acting are main concerns then take a pass on this one.

I only watched this film because it's an early film appearance by Myrna Loy, but it's a pretty embarrassing early appearance. Loy made this film before she got big and when she was frequently cast in "exotic" roles. Set in Hungary, Loy plays a gypsy girl who's taken in by a kind family after she's escaped from her abusive master. Loy then proceeds to seduce every man in the household and causes all sorts of upheaval. That story might have been fun if this film were and edgier of pre-code melodrama, but it's stagey and not all that compelling. There's a famous story about Algonquin Roundtable member Robert Benchley walking out on the theatrical play version of which this film is based upon. In the play, when Loy's character bursts into the kind family's household, she states "Me Nubi! Me good girl! Me stay here!" Benchley then supposedly got up and said, "Me Bobby. Me bad boy. Me go now." and left the theater. Still, despite the terrible script and ham-fisted direction, Loy is fun in her man-eater role and makes the film watchable. Loretta Young also appears in the film as part of the kindly family.