In the 1927-29 period, American movie studios were making the only sound pictures in the world. Because of this, there were no guidelines on how to make such pictures--just a lot of trial and error. For example, in most early sound pictures, the accompanying sound was NOT inserted into the strip of film which soon became the standard. And, adding music to films literally meant having a band immediately off-camera doing the music live! Another standard practice that they had to work out was making films too talking. After years of making silent films, too often studios had folks talk and talk and talk-- with very little action. Why? Well it wasn't only making up for lost time but because microphones needed to be VERY close to actors...and many times they stood practically still because of this. As a result, most films made during this era are pretty terrible when you see them today...and most were remade a lot better only a few years later. This is DEFINITELY true of "Nothing But the Truth"--a decent idea for a film but one that is severely hindered by primitive sound movie techniques. Folks talk way too much, the action a bit stilted AND Helen Kane's routine grew VERY tiresome very quickly. She was the inspiration for Betty Boop...which is fine in an 8 minute cartoon...but imagine a woman talking just like this character throughout a live-action movie! Now this in not saying the film is all bad. Star Richard Dix is more natural on camera than the other actors in the film...and it is very easy to understand how he was a big star in the early 1930s.
As to the movie, as I said above, it is very dated and doesn't work very well today. The story, while a bit hard to believe, is enjoyable and the film still worth seeing provided you are able to see it in context and cut it some slack! After all, the idea of a man making a bet he could ONLY tell the truth for 24 hours and how difficult this could be might make for a good film. Here, despite many problems, it's still a cute idea.
