The Smart Set

WILLIAM HAINES was Hollywood's early "out of the closet" gay star who became a well-known decorator after he "retired" from his budding film career, thanks to the help of his friend Joan Crawford who had him design her home and led to his successful designer career.

He's at the center of this amusing comedy about a polo player who can't resist grandstanding all the time and showing his high opinion of himself, much to the annoyance of the girl of his dreams (ALICE DAY) and her boyfriend JACK HOLT.

The bulk of the story is energetically played and there's lot of physical comedy as he pursues the girl (mostly in an auto chase that is delightfully filmed) and at a swanky dinner affair where he pulls all sorts of stunts to attract her attention, always with the effect of alienating her affections.

But the last twenty minutes devoted to polo sequences gets a little stale and you begin to miss the comedy aspects that distinguished the first part of the film. The story turns serious with the game about to be lost unless our hero can get in there and play, and there's a stable fire that almost takes the life of his favorite horse during which he becomes the man who leads the horse from the stable.

All in all, a very diverting piece of entertainment, thanks to the presence and charm of WILLIAM HAINES. He does a lot of mugging and isn't afraid to show his gayness by way of gestures and movements that are quite obvious and even daring by today's standards for a leading man. But he radiates cheerfulness and charm in huge doses throughout.

Well worth watching, even if there's too much of the polo game on display toward the end.

Smart Set, The (1928)

** (out of 4)

An obnoxious polo player (William Haines) thinks he's God's gift to everyone so he starts bothering the girl of his dreams (Alice Day), which doesn't sit too well with her boyfriend (Jack Holt). While the polo player gets on everyone's nerves, nothing really happens until he's kicked off the team, which makes the man think about his ways. This comedy isn't too good and is only really remembered for its actor Haines. Haines, an open homosexual, had his career ended by MGM when he refused to break up with his boyfriend but he went on to find fame as an interior decorator. I had heard mixed things about this film but it certainly didn't work for me. Haines' character is so damn obnoxious and mean you want to see him get the hell beat out of him and his "change" comes so quick that it's not believable for a single second. Alice Day doesn't lend much to her role either but Holt is pretty good in his small, supporting role. The comedy is pretty light and mainly relies on Haines bothering everyone, which again is annoying and not funny.

... but this time the movie disappointed and it was due to Haines' performance. His mugging and manic energy were over the top; who would do more than tolerate this person, if even that? Yes, he's handsome and phenomenally talented with polo, we are told per the movie, and I was prepared to enjoy this movie despite its formulaic plot. What I came away with was, of all things, an appreciation of Jack Holt and polo playing! Holt showed his horse mastery well, and since the sport of polo is intriguing and one I enjoy watching without understanding much of it at all, that entertained me. Sorry, Mr. Haines, but your leading lady's attraction to you mystifies me and it never had before in your films. I am rating this 6 stars because of the high production values and, well, polo.

The Smart Set is the only film I know based on polo. It's not a sport that attracts popular attention, the care and feeding of the animals needed to play polo puts it far beyond the means of the average working person to participate. It's not like bowling.

Not too many people today could tell you who the name polo players are, me included. But in the Golden Age of Sports that the Roaring Twenties was categorized as the Babe Ruth or Jack Dempsey of polo was one Thomas Hitchcock, Jr. who was one colorful character himself. From the horsey set on Long Island, Tommy Hitchcock was among other things a member of the Lafayette Escadrille in World War I, joining as a teen. He was killed in a plane crash in 1941 piloting a test plane for the RAF before America got into that war. Between wars he played a mean game of polo and was quite the society party animal.

And it's his character that William Haines's character of Tommy Van Buren is based. Most of the clichés involving sports films are present here, it's just that they're new for polo. It's a triangle with Haines and fellow polo player Jack Holt in love with Alice Day, a débutante from Long Island. Of course it all ends in the big championship polo match between the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Guess who comes in and saves the day? One guess per reader.

Haines is cocky and brash, Holt is strong and silent, and Day is sweet and demure. That about sums up their characters. Oh, and Haines plays a mean game of footsie at parties. The stars pretty much fit into the stereotyped characters they normally played. Haines even has a horse he loves like a western cowboy normally does, a crack pinto polo pony called Pronto.

It's not a bad film and most typical of the parts on the silent and early sound films that William Haines did. But I can't believe that polo would have too wide an audience today.

THE SMART SET (1928) is a typical late silent era feature that M.G.M. cranked out to fulfill their quota of fifty (50) plus features a year. Even though a 'small' film it clearly shows that it was made by a major studio and has all the standard M.G.M. gloss.

THE NUTS; BlowHard and Egocentric Polo Star Thomas 'Tommy' Van Buren (William Haines) is selected to join America's Big Four championship polo team. Upon arrival he manages to put off his teammates starting with team Captain, Nelson (Jack Holt). He promptly moves in on Nelson's intended love interest Polly Durant (Alice Day) who he had met earlier in a failed pickup. Tommy also offends her Father, Mr. Durant (Hobart Bosworth), who he has replaced on the team. Story continues with his suspension from the team an act of heroism and finally redemption in the championship match against Great Britain, winning the girl. Standard stuff all around.

The main problem with the film is with its Star, matinée idol WILLIAM HAINES. His constant mugging and upstaging of his costars is more appropriate to Mack Sennett then M.G.M. He performs antics in this film that would endear him only to his Mother and only if she was addle headed. Some have commented on that his career failed because of his homosexuality. That may have been true but it was more likely his style did not translate well to the sound era. Not the era of JAMES CAGNEY, GARY COOPER, CLARK GABLE, WILLIAM POWELL, SPENCER TRACY, etc. They defined how a man was to act in sound. In fact his acting in silent films is hard to take today, especially compared to his contemporaries RONALD COLMAN, LON CHANEY, JOHN GILBERT and RAMON NOVARRO. Whos films do hold up well in the 21st Century. As hard to take as HAINES was the rather ordinary looking ALICE DAY. The rest of the cast did the best they could with what little they had to work with.

Though we gave it a relatively low rating of four (4) stars**** it is still worth a watch at least once. The print on TCM is in fairly good condition and it is interesting to see a film revolving around the sport of Polo. Which appears to be like Hockey on Horses.

ADDENDUM; Went back too this film today (04/08/09) on TCM too see if a second look would alter our opinion. No, HAINES still comes off as a 'Prissy Ham' with none of the charm he showed in SHOW PEOPLE (1928), the first of his films we had seen.