The Racket

I am watching it right now on TCM. It has been digitally restored and a new soundtrack added. The music is excellent. I was sure it was 'period' until I saw the credits, which are rolling as I type.

Marie Prevost is amazing, she dominates every scene in which she appears. Her expressions and body language are astounding. It helps you understand what silent movie acting is all about.

This was a Howard Hughes production. I believe the picture is longer than 60 minutes, though.

The University of Nevada at Las Vegas is credited with this restoration project. They did a great job. I love this movie.

If you've read some of my other comments, you'll know that I'm in the middle of watching all movies that received Academy Award nominations in the Academy's very first year, 1927-28. "The Racket" was one of three nominees for Best Picture, along with "Seventh Heaven" and "Wings," and though it's by far the least ambitious and "important" of the three, it's the one that I found to be most satisfying.

It's a quick, speedy little gangster thriller from Lewis Milestone about one committed cop's determination to see a crime lord brought to justice. It was based on a play, but Milestone does a terrific job of keeping things cinematic -- this movie moves, and that plus the fact that it's not long to begin with makes its running time go racing by.

Thomas Meighan, who apparently was a big name at the time but who is unfamiliar to me, plays the cop, while Louis Wolheim plays the gangster. Both are terrific, but both are upstaged, as is everyone else, by Marie Prevost (playing a character named, of all things, Helen Hayes) as surely one of the first memorable gangster molls. She gets a really good pre-Code line (if silent films can be said to have lines) about babies and storks that gives you one of those "could they really say things like that back then" moments that pre-Code movies always have.

As far as I know, this movie isn't available anywhere for legitimate viewing. I had to see it the same way I saw "Wings," by watching it in pieces on a site whose name I won't mention. Better catch it soon before someone takes it down.

Grade: A

Tough cop Thomas Meighan (as James McQuigg) versus underworld kingpin Louis Wolheim (as Nick Scarsi). In a subplot, blonde gold-digger Marie Prevost (as Helen Hayes) pursues Mr. Wolheim's "bad boy" brother George Stone (as Joe Scarsi). This Howard Hughes piloted film was considered for "Best Production" at the first Academy Awards, as "the most outstanding motion picture considering all elements that contribute to a picture's greatness." Although it understandably lost to "Wings", it does posses elements of "greatness".

Mr. Meighan, one of the biggest and most beloved stars of the era, brings considerable presence to his role; with a script that offers him surprisingly few opportunities for characterization. Wolheim and director Lewis Milestone are always a fun to watch match. Ms. Prevost and the supporting cast do their best with the "love story" and gangland activities. And, the production values are high. If only more focus and characterization were on the personal stories and conflicts concerning McQuigg and Scarsi! Curiously hesitant to show much depth; still, "The Racket" exposes, while inadvertently glamorizing, the gangster lifestyle.

******* The Racket (6/30/28) Lewis Milestone ~ Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim, Marie Prevost

This has been resurrected courtesy of Turner Classic Movies, the University of Nevada, et al. (in pretty good shape, too) in a nicely done digital restoration, complete with a good score. If you get a chance to see it, you might want to take a chance: in spite of it being a silent (I consider that a handicap), it's an entertaining film, with a lot to like.

There's fine acting, especially by Louis Wolheim as the main gangster, whose face is so expressive you don't miss the sound as long as he's on screen. Marie Prevost and 'Skeets' Gallagher turn in solid supporting performances. There's clever dialogue: very good given the constraints silent films inherently have.

Personally, I thought the best feature is the wonderful cinematography. Rarely does the camera technique look dated or technically primitive, and many scenes are as well done as any since. The use of dissolves and interesting angles was delightful, and there are even a couple (surprising, to me) attempts at zooms that come off alright. Obviously a good director/cinematographer team. The overall look of the film is fresh and clear.

The story is pretty entertaining and the characters are brought to life, making me glad this film was brought back to life as well.

I watched this in anticipation of Josef von Sternberg's UNDERWORLD (1927), a film that revolutionized the gangster genre – which THE RACKET is as well (I am already familiar with its 1951 remake from the same producer, Howard Hughes). Playwright Bartlett Cormack helped adapt his own work to the screen; interestingly, the chief hoodlum during the original theatrical run was essayed by Edward G. Robinson – who would achieve movie stardom with a similar role in LITTLE CAESAR (1930)!

Though the original was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, ultimately, I still think that the later version is superior (even if nominal director John Cromwell ended up getting replaced by Nicholas Ray!) – principally because there the antagonistic relationship at its core was formidably filled by Roberts Mitchum and Ryan! In this version, we have forgotten star Thomas Meighan as the quintessential (albeit over-age) Irish cop and burly but suitably smarmy Louis Wolheim (who would re-unite with director Milestone for his Oscar-winning masterpiece ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT [1930]). From what I can recall, the plot is pretty much identical between the two versions (for the record, I own Warner's SE DVD of the 1951 movie, while the earlier one was restored for DVD release by Silent-movie specialists Flicker Alley but it somehow never hit stores!): the gangster not only muscles in on a rival (the entire mob's come-uppance in a speak-easy, during a party thrown in honor of Wolheim's younger brother no less, is superbly realized by Milestone) but even seems to have authority figures under his thumb (recalling in this way the recently-viewed THE GLASS KEY [1935], down to a car-accident-turned-murder-rap which sends a ripple through the already murky waters) – so that, no matter what he or his associates do, they are sure to get away scott-free!

In both, there is also a girl – pretty but spirited Marie Prevost in 1928, sultry-yet-dull Lizabeth Scott in 1951 – who first gets embroiled in the villain's schemes and, then, becomes a pawn in the protagonists' struggle for supremacy (which sees Meighan transferred to a precinct far removed from the center of activities and Wolheim tripping himself up by personally exacting revenge upon the cop who arrested his sibling). On the side-lines are a trio of reporters, two vaguely comical (though their antics only seem to exacerbate the feud between policeman and criminal!) and the other a rookie (who becomes involved with Prevost, and is actually the one to bring the villain to book) – his eventual demise, then, emerges to be heavily tinged with irony!