The Mating Call

Leslie Hatten (Thomas Meighan) goes away to fight WW1. He secretly marries beautiful Rose (Evelyn Brent). He returns 2 years later to find their marriage annulled and she's married to Lon (Alan Roscoe). She still wants to sleep with Leslie but he refuses her. However Lon thinks she IS sleeping with him and is a member of The Order--a Ku Klux Klan-like organization who punish everyone they think isn't "moral" enough.

There's more but that's the gist. Fast-moving, pretty racy (Brent flashes some nudity), well-acted and directed drama. It brings up multiple themes--WW1, marriage, adultery, suicide, murder, secret organizations punishing people--and mixes them all up and throws them at the viewer in an entertaining way. This doesn't seem to be making any sort of statement (although it does strongly suggest that The Order is wrong) but just gives the viewer a fast-paced entertaining drama. This was thought to be lost for many years but was discovered and lovingly restored. We should all be happy for that. I give it a 7.

This movie is a unique glimpse into the culture of the period. One outstanding item is the depiction of a clan-type organization who acts more as a community secret police (seriously flawed in their self-righteous and heavy handed rule) in general than as a specifically racist group. I had always heard about this being their main historic role because in many parts of the country where these groups existed, there were simply not sufficient numbers of minorities around to pick on and by their nature these groups had to pick on someone.

The film's treatment of sexuality seems far more erotic just in the suggestion of nudity and intimate touching than today's practice of "anything goes" sexual contact and the full nudity of multi-millionaire, artificially enhanced actors. I know old-timers and conservatives have been saying this for years but seeing this movie proves the point.

I was so interested in the acting that I really didn't care about the plot. Also, the film is so well restored that it is almost in 3-D.

Fell in love with Renee, just so beautiful, so sad she died so young.

A soldier (Thomas Meighan) returns from the war to find that his secret marriage has been annulled and his sweetheart has re-married. That doesn't stop the ex-wife (Evelyn Brent) from directing her attentions toward him while her current husband sees other women. But these associations with a married woman get the soldier in trouble with the local Ku Klux-type Order.

THE MATING CALL (1928) really is a solid silent film. I watched it on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. TCM host Robert Osborne assured viewers that James Cruze was a top-tier director of the silent era, and his direction here is solid. This is one of the rare Howard Hughes- produced silent films that had been considered lost before turning up in Hughes's private collection in recent years. The restoration looks great, the photography crisp and clear.

The lovely Evelyn Brent is terrific as the town belle turned vamp. What a screen presence! I recall seeing her with William Powell in HIGH PRESSURE (1932), but she really makes an impression with this sexy, seductive performance. She has a real charisma on screen. There's also a great scene where a bitter Meighan, unmoved by her advances, forcibly removes Brent from his home as she battles back.

Renée Adorée is very cute as an immigrant girl and reluctant bride. Her sweet and innocent character is in stark contrast to Brent's character and gives the film a love story. There's a scandalous skinny dipping scene, but the distant nudity is innocuous enough.

The masked Order pose a dangerous threat and add a darker drama to the tangled web of small-town romance. The performances and the underlying darkness (including an eerie riverside discovery) raise this movie above other, more soapy melodramas and make THE MATING CALL one to check out.

Rennee stole the picture. She was the most photogenic of all the players. The discretion of the censors to allow the swimming scene was a real plumb. I was certainly interested to see the interactions of the supposed "Order" and the principle players. A good amount of tension was generated in the last half of the picture. Helen Foster played a small part. I don't recall seeing her before and she was very photogenic as well. Although some of the scenes were dark, the version I watched on TCM was a remastered copy and the quality was quite good in fact, it was excellent. Very unfortunate that Renee Adoree tragically died so young. She was a real beauty.