High Voltage

The screen's future Hopalong Cassidy William Boyd starred in this early talkie with Carole Lombard. High Voltage teams the two of them as they're stuck in an abandoned church during a blizzard in the High Sierras.

Lombard is a fugitive going back with Detective Owen Moore to face trial and imprisonment on a bus which would today just qualify as a van. Two other passengers are young bride Diane Ellis and banker Phillips Smalley. Driver Billy Bevan rather stupidly decides to push on and gets stuck in the snow drifts. Fortunately there's a church isolated out there that they can see and they make for it for shelter.

Where they find it's already occupied by William Boyd who is far from the cowboy hero of Hopalong Cassidy. In fact Boyd is a wanted fugitive and he's got a cache of food for himself alone and he's not looking for company to share it.

Of course being stuck the way they are nature takes its course and Lombard finds a way to melt poor Boyd in all that snow.

For a film entitled High Voltage not much electricity was being generated from the team of Lombard and Boyd. It looked to me like the whole cast was a bit nervous of the new sound motion pictures. Phillips Smalley in a voice that might have been dubbed sings a lyric tenor number to keep the group entertained and Billy Bevan who was a music hall entertainer in his native Australia as well as the United Kingdom did a couple of numbers as well on the church piano. They were the highlights of the film.

Fans of Carole Lombard might want to check this out to see her in a very early sound film and Hoppy fans might want to see Bill Boyd in another role, but High Voltage should not generate too much interest elsewhere.

In spite of the fact that this film stars Carole Lombard, I recommend that you pass on this one. The story is that a bus is trying to cross Nevada's alkali flats when a winter storm hits and forces the passengers to take refuge in an abandoned church miles from the nearest town. Carole Lombard plays Billie, a young woman being taken to prison. The other passengers include the cop that is accompanying Billie, a young girl, a banker, and, of course the bus driver. The group enters the church to find they are not alone. Bill (William Boyd) has found shelter there too, has a large stash of food, and wants to order everyone around.

This is one of those films in which a bunch of characters of diverse backgrounds are forced to sit through a crisis and talk about themselves. However, "Petrified Forest" this is not. Because it is an early sound film the director seems to think somebody has to be saying something all of the time, whether or not it is interesting or done in a non-monotonous tone. It will be the longest hour in your life. The only thing worse than boring stilted conversation is boring stilted conversation you can't hear well.

It's now 2021, 16 years since OP voiced his review, and I agree 100%. This film is 92 years old, and having just recently watched John Wick: Parabellum, I think I'd still rather watch hokey little films like this. Folks in 1929 were still in awe of moving and talking pictures, some called it a fad that wouldn't last. Imagine their shock that 92 years later we can watch the same film on a little screen that we can hold in our hand. I love the scenes of the stranded travellers playing on the frozen lake, even with the poor sound consistency.

And, that BUS! Wow! Wish I owned one of those babies!

Made in 1929 when talking films were still finding their feet, most of the action in this claustrophobic film takes place in an abandonded church.

Several people take shelter from a snow storm when their bus breaks down. Carol Lombard plays Billie, "the girl", who is being taken back to prison. Owen Moore plays "the detective". Diane Ellis (who tragically died in 1931 on her honeymoon) plays "the Kid".Handsome William Boyd plays "the boy", an escapee, who at first is gruff but then becomes a big help to the snow bound inmates. He and Lombard fall for each other and have real chemistry in their scenes together.

It is short on action and very long on talking (and corny dialogue at that) but at 70 minutes it is mercifully short.

Carole Lombard was at the start of a super career when she made this film. She had been in a few shorts including "The Campus Vamp" and "The Swim Princess".

William Boyd had been a successful leading man in the 20s and the next year (1930) would see him in his first western - "The Painted Desert" - after which he would have a long career as Hopalong Cassidy. He proves, in this film, he had a flair for dialogue and a very natural acting style. Both he and Lombard try hard to rise above the trite dialogue. It is clear that they are destined for bigger things.

Owen Moore, who had been in films from the earliest days and was Mary Pickford's first husband plays the detective.

Billy Bevan, a silent comic, was the bus driver.

Eighty six years before Tarantino made THE HATEFUL EIGHT, Pathé used a remarkably similar story to made this surprisingly modern claustrophobic study of what happens when five strangers take refuge together from a blizzard in an abandoned church.

OK, this is a very early talkie but it doesn't display the characteristic problems which a lot of 1929 pictures suffered from. The sound recording, the use of sound effects and the modern approach of hearing different people speaking at the same time and from different rooms makes this feel newer than most very early talkies. Similarly the acting, although still "old school" is so much more natural than you'd expect from a 1929 film. If you didn't know when this was made you might guess it was from the mid-thirties?

This isn't just something to watch out of academic interest. Whilst it's interesting to see what Pathé Exchange were doing before they were taken over by RKO, it's actually worth watching because it's entertaining. It's a little silly to compare this with THE HATEFUL EIGHT but the tension Tarantino created and the intensity and sense of immediacy is skilfully embroidered into this too. For such an old film it's refreshingly intelligent with a script that explores how real believable people (not lazy, one-dimensional stereotypes) interact. Imagine a 1929 version of the tv programme, Big Brother!

William Boyd gives a particularly impressive performance and had he not evolved into a cowboy actor, based on this, you could imagine him becoming a major star. Carol Lombard, although not quite there yet, isn't too bad either especially considering that this was her first talking role - however by 1929 standards, she's brilliant!