Les amants fugitifs

Chorus girl Madge Evans collects money from her associates and leaves New York for California. She hopes for a Hollywood career, but she also wants to get away from gangster Nat Pendleton. He says he'll make her a star. She won't pay the price. He gets on the bus and hounds her. She takes refuge with Robert Montgomery. He's just escaped from prison, and everyone is looking for him, especially detective C. Henry Gordon.

'Bus pictures' were a drug on the market when this came out, and you can see why; the scenes set in the bus are static, enlivened a bit by cameraman Ted Tetzlaff's sharply lit, Dutch Angle shots, alternating with foggy or snow-driven exteriors. The story is likewise raised above average by the supporting players working near but out of their usual roles. Pendleton doesn't talk out of the side of his mouth, but sounds human; Ted Healy is a friendly guy; his stooges don't interact with him at all, and look like normal show biz people discussing work. Montgomery seems bewildered and desperate. Miss Evans is still a nice girl, but wise to the ways of the world.