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The Right of Way

  • 1930
  • TV-G
  • 1h 8m
IMDb RATING
4.1/10
243
YOUR RATING
Loretta Young in The Right of Way (1930)
DramaRomance

Snobbish attorney Charles 'Beauty' Steele loses his wife due to his drinking and his heirs at the same time that his brother-in-law absconds with funds belonging to one of Steele's clients. ... Read allSnobbish attorney Charles 'Beauty' Steele loses his wife due to his drinking and his heirs at the same time that his brother-in-law absconds with funds belonging to one of Steele's clients. In search of the thief, Steele is attacked and left for dead. He is rescued by a kind coup... Read allSnobbish attorney Charles 'Beauty' Steele loses his wife due to his drinking and his heirs at the same time that his brother-in-law absconds with funds belonging to one of Steele's clients. In search of the thief, Steele is attacked and left for dead. He is rescued by a kind couple, but suffers from amnesia. He starts life afresh and is happy, until the return of his ... Read all

  • Director
    • Frank Lloyd
  • Writers
    • Gilbert Parker
    • Francis Edward Faragoh
  • Stars
    • Conrad Nagel
    • Loretta Young
    • Fred Kohler
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.1/10
    243
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Frank Lloyd
    • Writers
      • Gilbert Parker
      • Francis Edward Faragoh
    • Stars
      • Conrad Nagel
      • Loretta Young
      • Fred Kohler
    • 17User reviews
    • 3Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos1

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    Top cast13

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    Conrad Nagel
    Conrad Nagel
    • Charley 'Beauty' Steele
    Loretta Young
    Loretta Young
    • Rosalie Evantural
    Fred Kohler
    Fred Kohler
    • Joseph Portugais
    William Janney
    William Janney
    • Billy Wantage
    Snitz Edwards
    Snitz Edwards
    • Luis Trudel
    George C. Pearce
    George C. Pearce
    • The Cure
    • (as George Pearce)
    Halliwell Hobbes
    Halliwell Hobbes
    • The Siegneur
    • (as Holliwell Hobbes)
    Olive Tell
    Olive Tell
    • Kathleen
    Brandon Hurst
    Brandon Hurst
    • Crown Attorney
    Yola d'Avril
    Yola d'Avril
    • Suzette
    Harry Cording
    Harry Cording
    • Rouge's Henchman
    • (uncredited)
    Louise Emmons
    Louise Emmons
    • Villager
    • (uncredited)
    Emmett King
    • The Judge
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Frank Lloyd
    • Writers
      • Gilbert Parker
      • Francis Edward Faragoh
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews17

    4.1243
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    Featured reviews

    1planktonrules

    Quite antiquated...even for 1931

    "The Right of Way" is the story of a glib lawyer (Conrad Nagel) who is also a mess outside the court. His brother-in-law is a thief and Nagel's character is beaten half to death. He has amnesia and ends up being cared for by some decent folks. And, as he recovers his memory, the lawyer realizes how bad his life was before his beating.

    I had a very hard time watching "The Right of Way" because the film was just terrible...mostly due to very antiquated dialog and horrible overacting. It also features the worst French-Canadian accent I have ever heard--making accents in "Dudley Dooright" seem brilliant by comparison! How anyone gave this film anything better than a 3 or 4 is shocking! Heck, how you could give it anything more than a 2 is ALSO shocking! Among the worst dialog and acting I can recall...much worse than Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space"!
    jpb58

    You people don't get it, this is a comedy!

    I am giving The Right of Way (1930 copyright date on the opening credits, not 1931) a perfect 10. Never have I laughed so hard and so prolonged through any motion picture. This movie is completely priceless and proves you don't have to see anyone slip on a banana peel in order to laugh until you are breathless and giddy from lack of oxygen.

    Conrad Nagel got his start in silent pictures and was a romantic lead in many B and A pictures over the years. Because of his politics Louis B. Mayer disliked him and often put him in silly vehicles which didn't show off his acting talents to their best advantage. Conrad is obviously hamming it up through this picture, maybe to get even with Louis B., maybe because he just wanted to have some fun with a deadly dull and stupid early talkie script.

    Conrad makes this picture. He's the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. Forget Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy and WC Fields. Conrad in The Right of Way is the right way to go for complete belly laughs until you drop.

    See this movie! But don't take it seriously or you'll miss the point!
    artman-8

    creaky....VERY creaky!

    A Bizarre, far-fetched, wholly unrealistic bit of nonsense! Conrad Nagel's performance is so overripe it is actually hilarious! And what the hell was with that mustache of his? As most of the other reviews have said, the one saving grace is the presence of beautiful Loretta Young, who was obviously adapting to making talking films much better than her co-stars! The film is so crudely constructed and acted that i cant help but wonder if it was made earlier and sat on the shelf for a while? I cant agree tho that one should avoid this film, it is def an early talkie curiosity and because of Nagel's outrageously overwrought performance, almost a must-see!
    41930s_Time_Machine

    I've found it - the worst film ever - and I loved it!

    It's so amazingly awful that it makes PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE seem like THE GODFATHER. This is so unimaginably bad - really bad that it's weirdly wonderful making it one of the funniest things you'll ever see.

    You've got to see this with your own eyes to believe it. Once you've experienced it you'll want to see it again because it's so bad it's hilarious. Some films are bad, some are terrible but this creates a whole new dimension of hell that Dante would be proud of. It's not one of those terrible stagey dull early talkies which are so lifeless that you can't be bothered to watch - this is anything but boring. If someone wanted to make a comedy about the early talkies they could just use this. It feels exactly like one of those parodies but although it's hard to believe, it's actually meant to be serious - well I think it is?

    Being made in 1930 is no excuse. There were plenty of films - or rather a few films made in 1930 and even in 1929 which were pretty good. OK, it was made on the horribly cumbersome Vitaphone system which certainly didn't help but again, others managed with it. This is just jaw-droppingly badly made.

    Everything about this is as worse as it could possibly be. The story is beyond stupid, the script is completely surreal as though written by aliens and it feels like it was directed by someone from one of those isolated tribes deep in the Amazon who'd never left the jungle or discovered fire yet.

    And as for the acting - you'll not believe what your eyes are telling you. You're not high - this really is happening! Conrad Nagel proves himself to be the worst actor in the history of cinema. I half suspect his remarkably utterly absurd performance was him trying to be funny but that would be too charitable. He's doing a sort of bizarre John Barrymore impersonation - indeed, were this a proper film, Barrymore might have been OK in this.

    Then just when you think you've never seen such bad acting in your life you're treated to Olive Tell as his wife - O. M. G! I challenge you to watch her and keep a straight face!

    Oh and there's sweet seventeen year old Loretta Young. Since she's betrothed to a sixty year old, I'm thinking that it's probably ok to find her attractive? Even she is rubbish in this which since she was ok in LOOSE ANKLES and a few other 1929/1930 movies, points the finger of blame at director Frank Lloyd - but he made MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY so what was going on here? Maybe Warners just wanted to close down their First National operation or maybe everyone was very, very drunk?

    If you've run out of drugs - just watch this instead!
    5Maleejandra

    A Spoiled Ham

    The Right of Way is a film that was made several times during the silent era and was based on a novel. It concerns a lawyer named Charles Steele (Conrad Nagel), a man whose marriage with a society woman (Olive Tell) is falling apart and whose brother in law is going down the wrong path in life. Steele goes to defend his family against a group of ruffians who beat him up and throw him in the river to die, but a man he defended in a murder trial finds him and takes him to his home in the mountains. Unable to care for the man alone, he enlists a young lady from the village named Rosalie (Loretta Young) to nurse Charles back to health. When he awakes, Charles has no recollection of his former life and begins a new one in the mountains.

    This film is short, but it is hardly sweet. Nagel is the biggest ham in this movie, constantly overacting in scenes that need subtlety. Young is beautiful but somehow and obvious novice in her scenes, which is strange because she made so many wonderful pre-codes. Perhaps the direction was not up to par.

    One might enjoy this film simply to make fun of the acting, but the dramatic story might make one uncomfortable in doing so. The movie isn't meant to be a comedy, but it was certainly made to be that way by the acting.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Completed in 1930, and reviewed in Photoplay Magazine August 1930 (on the newstands in July), release was delayed until February 1931.
    • Goofs
      In the opening intro card, the contraction "it's" is used twice where it should have been spelled "its" both times.
    • Quotes

      Charley 'Beauty' Steele: I'm very grateful for your invitation, Kathleen, even though shadows should never be invited. And, I am a shadow! Am I not? That has fallen across the serene sunshine of your life.

      Kathleen: A very beautiful speech. You're undoubtedly drunk again.

      Charley 'Beauty' Steele: No, on the contrary, I'm quite sober. But, I don't blame you for not recognizing it. You so seldom see me in that condition.

      Kathleen: I so seldom see you in any condition. And I'd prefer not to talk about that.

      Charley 'Beauty' Steele: That's very generous and Christian of you, my dear.

    • Connections
      Remake of The Right of Way (1915)
    • Soundtracks
      Nocturne No. 2 in E-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.2
      (1830-1) (uncredited)

      Written by Frédéric Chopin

      Played on piano by Olive Tell

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • February 7, 1931 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Filming locations
      • California, USA
    • Production company
      • First National Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 8 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White

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