High Voltage

This starts out with a fairly interesting story idea, and it also offers Carole Lombard (it always seems strange when she is billed without the 'e') in the role of a young convict. The rest of it, though, is undistinguished, with parts of it being of rather low quality. Even while making allowances for it being an early sound-era movie, there is a lot of dead time that makes it hard not to notice the low production values.

The story starts when a bus and its passengers get stranded in a snowstorm, and they take refuge in a church building, only to find that someone else is already there. The situation focuses on the strained relationships that develop when the varied personalities are thrown together for an indefinite period. It could have led to some tense, even memorable drama, but it never really develops more than an occasional moment of suspense.

Lombard's character gets most of the attention in any scene that she is in. As the bus driver, Billy Bevan gets a couple of good moments of comic relief, but some other lines that were probably intended to be funny just fall flat. Owen Moore and William Boyd have characters who are natural rivals for one another, but their scenes never pack the punch that they could have. Neither of them shows enough presence to make a formidable foe for the other.

While "High Voltage" does have a few worthwhile moments, most of it is just too routine to be anything more than a typical feature of its era and genre.

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.

OK the movie is none too clever, but I did enjoy one or two things. I was impressed that the filmmaker allowed off-screen dialogue although obviously hampered by the difficulty in being unable to have different sound levels. I guess I was most impressed by my first encounter with William Boyd. I guess his hokey, folksy voice went a long way in his future career as "Hopalong", but I must say that I was bowled over by his assured performance and his naturalistic style which for the late twenties was a breath of fresh air. He was particularly impressive in his reflective and thoughtful facial expressions. I sense that his style was ahead of its time and that he could have been a great actor in the Gene Hackman mould in the modern movies.

A bus, with four passengers, gets caught in the snow as it crosses Nevada's Alkali Flats. Those on board take shelter in a remote church they see in the distance. A man named Bill is already there and he doesn't seem too pleased to have company. The passengers include Billie, a female fugitive; Dan Egan, the detective taking her back to jail; a young woman going to see her boyfriend in Chicago; and a banker... there is also the driver who's overconfidence got them into the predicament. Tensions rise somewhat when Bill starts paying more attention to the ladies than Dan would like... it seems Dan has his suspicions about Bill. Not knowing when they might get out the characters divide their limited food and even joke about who will get eaten first!

Considering this film is now ninety years old I think it has aged reasonably well. It probably helps that even though it was set in the present, for the time, it has a western feel... the travellers stuck in a remote building in the American West during a snowstorm, not to mention a lawman and his female prisoner, immediately reminded me of 'The Hateful Eight' even though other aspects are obviously very different. The film established the setting well and did a solid job of introducing the characters on the bus before putting them in peril. Once in the church there is a decent sense of mystery about Bill and the tension feels genuine. The setting is effective; it certainly looked as if we were in a frozen landscape miles from anywhere. The acting might feel a bit stagy by modern standards but I thought it was pretty decent considering it was one of the earlier films where actors' voices were heard. Overall I'd say that this is well worth watching if you enjoy old films... if you don't like it you'll only waste just over an hour.

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!