One Night at Susie's

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. has gotten engaged to Billie Dove, but mama Helen Ware doesn't like it. Billie is a showgirl and thus unfit to be a daughter-in-law to a decent mob boss like her.

This movie moves between comedy and melodrama a little uncertainly, but the way Miss Ware plays her role, along with henchman Tully Marshall, is a delight. Miss Dove is quite lovely and more than adequate to her role and Doug Jr. is still learning his craft. There's still a bit of a problem with the emphatic way everyone speaks their lines, but the hiss on the soundtrack points out that it's still 1929 and they're learning how to manage a sound system.

The most notable thing about this movie is the way Director of Photography Ernest Haller moves the camera a bit to maintain composition when the actors move. This is the essence of studio-era camera movement, but it was difficult for a few years because of the immobility of the sound equipment. I'm not sure how sound man Dolph Thomas helped arrange it, but its casual use here is interesting.

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.

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.

Billie Dove. whose profile photo on imdb looks a whole lot like Mae West. or maybe West was copying Dove? most of Dove's films were silents; she disappeared right after the start of talkies. Here, Dove is Mary, soon to marry Dick (Doug Fairbanks Junior), but Mary is a chorus girl. Dick's mother runs a boarding house for mobsters. and she's determined to turn them into ex mobsters, and find other occupations. so when Dick takes the blame for a murder, everyone's plans are turned upside down. off to prison! but while he's in, he keeps writing projects for Mary to perform on the outside. although she spends a lot of time with the mobster, who's more available now than Dick is. and when bigshot producer (aussie Claude Fleming) takes an interest in her, she spends a lot of time with him too. what's going to happen when he gets out? can they go back to just depending on each other? story by Fred Brennan; appears to have stressed out and offed himself at age 60. directed by John Dillon, who died young at a heart attack at 49. this one is your typical mobster film. no surprises here.

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.