As Flies To Wanton Boys, So Are We To Women
Life is good. Ivor Novello, "The Rat" is now an accepted member of the Parisian elite, thanks to Isabel Jeans' sponsorship, and able to keep his old friends afloat. When he makes a bet with Miss Jeans that he can win the heart of Nina Vanna, he doesn't understand that he will lose either way.
This movie's predecessor, THE RAT, was apparently so wildly successful that it made everyone rich and famous for a while. It didn't last, of course, except for producer Michael Balcon; Novello was out of the movies in eight years -- although he certainly didn't suffer as a writer-performer on the stage -- and director Graham Cutts would make one more "Rat" movie (1929's RETURN OF THE RAT) and then a three year hiatus. He would discover that the people he had alienated when he was on the top -- among them Alfred Hitchcock -- were not anxious to help him out of the Quota Quickies.
In the meantime, of course, he had everything he needed to make a fascinating picture, full of the late-silent floating camera effects that would vanish for a decade when sound came in.
This movie's predecessor, THE RAT, was apparently so wildly successful that it made everyone rich and famous for a while. It didn't last, of course, except for producer Michael Balcon; Novello was out of the movies in eight years -- although he certainly didn't suffer as a writer-performer on the stage -- and director Graham Cutts would make one more "Rat" movie (1929's RETURN OF THE RAT) and then a three year hiatus. He would discover that the people he had alienated when he was on the top -- among them Alfred Hitchcock -- were not anxious to help him out of the Quota Quickies.
In the meantime, of course, he had everything he needed to make a fascinating picture, full of the late-silent floating camera effects that would vanish for a decade when sound came in.
- boblipton
- Apr 14, 2019