Brothers

"Brothers" (1929) is a very good late silent programmer with Cornelius Keefe, Barbara Bedford, George Chesebro, Arthur Rankin, Richard Carle, Paddy O'Flynn, Dorothy Vernon, and one or two others. Begins around 1912 or so with two young brothers being orphaned with death of their mother. One runs away and the other is sent off to an orphanage where he grows up to about age fourteen or so, then is taken in as ward of shady lawyer (Carle). His brother has become a notorious thief and front man to a gang of crooks. Keefe is the older brother, but his motive in thievery is to have money to give to Carle to pay for an education (Harvard University!) for his younger brother (Rankin). The two have never met since the death of their mother. It's now up to 1929, present day, and Keefe sharks a couple of young men who've got some money in a game of high stakes poker. One of Keefe's people is Barbara Bedford - and, o-o-oh, is she BAD - and they take all the young men's money. One of the young men is Keefe's brother - of course. Things go from bad to worse. Eventually Rankin is accused of a murder which neither he nor Keefe did.

This was really a decent little programmer. It's a Trem Carr Production directed by Scott Pembroke. Acting is very good, with Barbara Bedford coming off as a nasty, nasty moll. You wouldn't want to be her friend, or even an acquaintance! George Chesebro has finally become a secondary bad guy by this time in his career, eventually ending in Westerns for 35 more years. He ended up in over 400 films in a very long career. Arthur Rankin as the younger brother kept reminding me of Lew Ayres. Same kind of screen personality. Keefe's a big guy, good looking, but rather a block on screen, not enough charisma to whammy the viewer. But he's fine in secondary programmers like this one.

This is an Alpha print, but it's in fine condition. It's tinted all the way through, though there are certain scenes where it almost looks as if the film was done in two-strip technicolor, though I know it wasn't. Original tints are very nicely preserved, but they're beginning to fade, so it fools the eye. Still, I enjoyed the film and the tints.

With the best will in the world, it's impossible to award more than four stars to this firmly-set-in-Poverty-Row crime drama. Cornelius Keefe is Tom Conroy, the handsome leader of a gang of "hi-jackers" (sic). The lovely but none-too-flatteringly-photographed-here Barbara Bedford is his mistress, Doris La Rue. His goodie-goodie but none too bright younger brother, Tom, is played by Arthur Rankin. His lawyer, Thomas Blackwood, mostly along for comic relief, is enacted by well-known character player, Richard Carle. Listed fifth in the cast, George Chesebro is Randy, a member of Tom's gang who seems to have a minor role but really comes into his own in the last reel or so. I loved Blackwood's secretary, but her role is small and she, alas, is not credited. Almost all the action occurs off-camera, giving the effect of a strictly minor, poorly produced, statically directed and slowly paced stage play. If you're not a fan of Barbara Bedford and/or George Chesebro give this Trem Carr production a miss! (P.S. Although the credits list a song, "I'm Dreaming" by Dan Dougherty, this is a silent film from start to finish. Presumably the song sheets were rented out with the movie and played by the theater pianist or orchestra).