Road to Paradise

"I could never understand this desire for respectability. It always seemed kind of morbid to me."

So says one of two crooks who raised respectable, honest "Mary Brennan" (Loretta Young) as an orphan girl and can't understand where they went wrong in raising her! Poor Mary, though, winds up out of work and needs something, and winds up joining these guys in a scheme after they discover has an amazing twin, a rich woman named "Margaret Waring" (Young, playing two roles in this movie). These guys also discover that Mary has amazing mind-reading talents.

This movie turned out to be disappointing because it got more and more ludicrous as it went on. I found the last 25 minutes extremely frustrating and an insult to anyone's intelligence. There are so many holes in this story it would make your head spin. It reminded me of the old Superman TV series, with one thing after another that had no credibility. Unlike Superman, which was fun to watch for a number of reasons, there was only one thing to keep my interest here: a young and beautiful Young.

However, after admiring her looks for about a half hour, I needed the story to make some sense and keep my interest....and this made NO sense. Also, "Mary," who was supposed to be so honest, lied throughout the film. I wonder how Loretta viewed this role in latter years.

Road to Paradise (1930)

** (out of 4)

Incredibly far fetched drama about a young woman (Loretta Young) who helps two criminals rob from her look alike. This is certainly a film you'd have to see to believe because the story is so far fetched that you can never take it serious. The screenwriter made the mistake of making this a drama when it probably would have worked better as a screwball comedy. The ending is so out there you can't help but laugh when it's supposed to be dramatic. Young gives a good performance in her duel role but the rest of the cast is pretty dull. Directed by William Beaudine.

Mary Brennan (Loretta Young) hangs out with her unsavory friends, Nick (Raymond Hatton) and Jerry (George Barraud). She's an orphan who doesn't know her past and seems to be a mind-reader. Socialite Margaret Waring (Loretta Young) and clinging suitor George Wells (Jack Mulhall) arrive at the same Chinese restaurant as Mary and her friends. Jerry spies Mary and Margaret are lookalikes. Jerry and Nick convinces Mary to impersonate Margaret so they can rob her mansion.

What a fascinating and unusual premise. I don't think that it would work now. Twins don't have identical fingerprints. During this earlier era, people don't usually get fingerprinted. The psychic ability is a little odd. Otherwise, this is an interesting puzzle box of circumstances. I couldn't guess at where the story is headed. The ending is a little rushed. At the very least, I expect Mary to be taken to the police station after Jerry gets identified.

Ten stars for a double dose of Loretta Young, one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the silver screen. Now deduct one star each for the awful script, dialog, acting, directing, cinematography, sound, and plot.

It seems as though Hollywood thought audiences would be so enamored with the new addition of sound in these early talkies that they wouldn't notice the exclusion of all else a movie needs to hold their attention.

No action, combined with a feeble plot and too many implausible coincidences and plot holes simply adds up to a complete boor. Except - and this is a massive exception - except when the screen is filled with images of the lovely Miss Young, albeit at a still tender age and not quite yet adjusted to the pacing of the new form nor yet yet displaying the artistry she would develop just a few years later. Still, she is the ONLY reason to watch this stinker. And that is reason enough to give it a peek even though you've been warned not to expect much else.

Completely bonkers story, weird hammy acting but on the plus side, two Loretta Youngs! Even as a comedy - which I hope this is meant to be - this is a dreadful pile of nonsense. It shouldn't be but inexplicably it's quite a fun watch.

Although director William Beaudine is best known for the Will Hay comedies, his main body of work was churning out literally hundreds of cheap quickies like this. Clearly the maker of WINDBAG THE SAILOR must have had a sense of humour and that permeates all the way through this. The only way for Beaudine to turn such a ridiculous story into a picture without dying of boredom must have been to subversively make it as an absurdist comedy. Either that or he was just a terrible director?

No, he's not a terrible director - the visuals, the fluidity and even the sound recording is pretty reasonable. Considering this was made on Warner's cumbersome old sound on disc equipment, you have to concede that he showed quite some skill. Despite these excuses, it's still a pitiful story.

Because nobody really takes this seriously you can simply enjoy the fun everyone clearly had making this. With a plot where a bunch of armed robbers shoot a guy's girlfriend then that guy instantly falls in love with one of the gang who tried to murder his girlfriend because she looks like the her, how could anyone imagine this was a proper film? .....but gentlemen , if Loretta Young robbed you and was responsible for the attempted murder of the love of your life, wouldn't you fall in love with her? Come on - it's Loretta Young!

Don't let your brain stop you from watching this, just lower your expectation bar to zero and you might just enjoy it.