The Valiant

The organ music announcing the credits fades, the sound tracks buzzes and hums, and the camera focuses on a door at the end of a bleak hallway. A shot rings out, and Paul Muni stumbles out holding a gun. He says not a word, as he stumbles down a noisy street, tries to get the attention of a cop. While everyone around him chatters on (in the aimless way sometimes one finds in the early talkie), and life goes on, Muni is a man apart, in his own silent world, his motives a mystery, his identity a mystery, but his guilt written all over him. Muni, through the operation of the rather simple and simplistic plot, will prove himself one of THE VALIANT, but will remain almost a total mystery as he goes willingly to the electric chair.

This is a movie with a dynamite opening sequence -- which takes superb advantage of the primitive state of movie-making technology circa 1929 -- that, alas, does not live up to the opening. Paul Muni is good enough to deserve his Oscar nomination (and a heck of a lot better than the guy that got the Oscar that year -- Warner Baxter), but everyone else is wedded to the over-enunciated acting of 1929. And, as is the case with so much of the 1929 product, the pace is so verrrry slow, with the overlong scenes that suggest a filmed play. Any scene that does not feature Muni is downright terrible. He is the one that makes the movie work.

So, this is a movie you might want to see, but you might want to give up on halfway through. It is exceptionally brave plotting though, that while we do sort of settle the mystery of who Paul Muni is, we never quite find out why he did what he did, or even if the story he tells at the end has some element of truth. It's a pity this play does not seem to have been remade, when talkie acting styles had improved.

Paul Muni's (1895>1967) initial role in film earned him a Academy Award nomination for 'Best Actor' in a understated performance. He plays his role without the 'bravura' or 'historonics' that would mark most of his later roles the rest of his career. Just for that, THE VALIANT (1929) is worth watching.

Muni plays 'James Dyke' a alias to protect his Family back in Ohio. He is a self-confessed murderer who killed a Man for a undisclosed discretion with his only explanation 'he deserved it and God will understand'. Later suspected as a long lost Son he concocts a story to put his Family at ease which his Sister (first) and Mother buys. He is their Son's Friend who witnessed him get killed during the GREAT WAR (WWI) by a direct hit from a artillery shell, a '5.9'. For the historically interested that would be a German 15 Centimeter.

Running only 66" it will not tax the modern viewer. Like most early 'talky' films it is relatively static. Even though it is made at the FOX STUDIOS who used the advanced 'sound on film' technology from Western Electric. Marguerite Churchill (1910>2000) best know for Dracula's DAUGHTER (1936) and JOHNNY MACK BROWN (1904>1974) 'B' Westerns are also here for the ride. It is Muni though that will hold your interest. Recently restored, it is a fine illustration of the early sound Cinema.

The Valiant (1929)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This is a rather bizarre film that has been forgotten over the years but it does have some historical importance to it as it earned Paul Muni his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. As the film starts off we witness him killing a man and then turning himself into the police. He refuses to give his real name, defend himself or explain anything so he is sentenced to die. On a farm in Ohio, a mother sees his picture in the paper and believes that he is her son that went missing over a decade earlier so she sends her daughter (Marguerite Churchill) to see. THE VALIANT really isn't a good movie but there are some interesting things going on in it that makes it worth viewing for film buffs. The biggest reason are for the performances, which are all fairly good. This includes Muni who looks so incredibly young here. It's rather fun to see him in a performance like this because it's so different from what we'd see later in his life and especially in stuff like SCARFACE. What really caught me off guard was how laid back Muni was in the part and the restraint he showed by not going over-the-top or reaching for some sort of melodrama. Churchill is also very good in her role as the possible sister. DeWitt Jennings does a nice job as the warden of the prison and we even have Johnny Mack Brown playing the sister's fiancé. On a technical level the film is also rather impressive and especially the audio, which is among the best I've ever heard from an early talkie. The cinematography is also quite impressive for the time and especially some tracking shots that are seen early on. With that being said, the story itself really isn't a very strong one and you can't help but grow somewhat frustrated that there's not a better pay off to the story. There are also a few scenes that come off way too stagey and this here takes the film down a few notches. With that said, fans of Muni or early sound films will want to check this out and at 61-minutes the thing never gets boring.

If ever you ever wanted a definition of melodrama then this is it but don't let that put you off - it's is also a unexpectedly intelligent, grown-up and by 1929 standards, a well-made little film. A man kills another man - we don't know why, we don't know who the killer is, we don't know whom he killed. He's sentenced to death - is he resigned to his fate, does he want to die, is he planning an escape? By not giving anything at all away your curiosity is instantly engaged. It's such a clever little device - and one you wouldn't expect from a 1929 Fox Film.

In 1929 a handful of directors hit the ground running when it came to switching from silents to talkies. Most however, as was amusingly shown in the Margot Robbie film BABYLON hadn't a clue resulting in so much unwatchable awfulness. Although William Howard wasn't one of those up there with the likes of De Mille, von Sternberg, Mamoulian or even Roland West, he wasn't one the worst either. There's nothing wrong with this at all it simply doesn't have the 'wow factor' some of his contemporaries managed to achieve. He clearly knew how to make a silent film and especially his 'film parts' as opposed to the main 'stage play part' at the end (this picture is an expanded version of a very popular one-act play) are excellent. His skill is shown in the first scenes where he perfectly captures an authentic feel of pre-depression America as Muni traipses down some tatty street past tatty kids born a hundred years ago playing out their ordinary lives. He gives us a real time-machine moment.

The acting is also miles better than a lot of the very early talkies but it's still far from natural.... except for Paul Muni. His portrayal of detachment, hopelessness and quiet resignation is outstanding. Although this gets crazily melodramatic, Muni's stoic performance is both intriguing and really rather moving. He easily makes up for the shortcomings of his fellow actors....apart from Johnny Mack Brown who cannot be forgiven on any grounds. Fortunately he's not in this too much. You almost feel embarrassed for him. Whereas MGM and Paramount targeted those who considered themselves sophisticated, Fox's audience were more blue collar. Presumably Mr Brown was picked to appeal to Fox Film's rural audience in middle America but I'd imagine even the humblest of farm hands back then must have found that patronising.

I know people looked older in the past but Edith York, playing the mother looks about two hundred years old. She must have given birth to her daughter when she was about 90 which can only be explained by her daughter Mary being some sort of miracle you read about in The Bible. That's actually feasible and confirmed when you look at Marguerite Churchill because if you had to imagine what an angel looked like, you'd imagine her. She's almost too pretty to be real! You can easily forgive her slightly uneasy performance doing something completely new to her simply because she's so pretty but even so she's not just a (very) pretty face - she really can act - her emotional longing, purity and positiveness actually blends really well with Paul Muni's mysterious self-sacrificing moodiness.

Directed by William K. Brown. Starring Paul Muni, Marguerite Churchill, DeWitt Jennings, John Mack Brown, Edith Yorke, Clifford Dempsey, Richard Carlyle.

After killing a man who "deserved to die," Muni turns himself in to authorities under a false identity to protect his family; when Churchill sees his picture in the paper and believes it to be the brother she hasn't seen in years, she travels to the prison to meet him before his execution. Simple, unfussy drama, clocking in at just over an hour, has moments of quiet power emerging from the often stiff, static presentation. In his screen debut, Muni establishes an intuitive, naturalistic acting style, avoiding nearly all the industry-wide creaky performance tricks that severely date most early talkies (Brown, on the other hand, inspires giggles just about every time he opens his mouth). Even at its short length, signs of padding when Muni is offscreen are apparent, while other aspects would have benefited from deeper development; sentimentality during the final reel is earned.

61/100