West of Broadway

This picture features John Gilbert who appears to have suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from WWI, and then marries Lois Moran on the rebound while drunk. She then pursues him across the US to prove she really loves him. El Brendel, "Swedish", not Hispanic as you might suppose from the name, is featured as ethnic comic relief. Perhaps more interesting for latter day viewers is the question of what was so charismatic about John Gilbert to silent screen audiences. While his acting (and voice) is adequate, it's certainly not outstanding, and while handsome, his appearance is leading-man ordinary (does anyone else think his nose is too big when seen in profile?).

You get the feeling this might have been a bigger picture. The tacked on ending ruins the preceding hour, which showcases John Gilbert, the great romantic idol of silent films. Certainly one of the most controversial figures of the dawn of talkies. Gilbert's great career crashed fast and fatally. His voice was fine, and he was a terrific actor. But he was never able to recover from the debacle of his starring talkie debut in His Glorious Night. Despite terrific performances in Downstairs and Queen Christina (with Greta Garbo) Gilbert made no headway as the 30s moved along. Several of his talkies were downright awful, but West of Broadway isn't bad at all despite the hacked up ending. Gilbert plays a cad who gets married to a woman because his fiancée jilts him. He then spends the rest of the movie trying to unload her. Lois Moran is quite good as the unwanted wife; Madge Evans is the snooty fiancée. El Brendel (playing his usual fake Swede) and Willie Fung as the Arizona houseboy have a funny scene trying to understand each other. Hedda Hopper, Ralph Bellamy, and Frank Conroy co-star. Gilbert was married to stage actress Ina Claire, who happened to be my grandfather's cousin, so I've always felt a connection to John Gilbert. What a tragedy. He should have been as big a star in talkies as he was in silent films.

"West of Broadway" is a fascinating movie for film buffs, an opportunity to watch two stars, John Gilbert and Lois Moran, who would soon vanish from the screen for totally different reasons. John Gilbert made "West of Broadway" after plummeting from silent screen stardom via a series of embarrassingly bad "talkies." The myth that it was Gilbert's high, squeaky voice that wrecked his career is palpably untrue. He had a rich, robust voice which he put to good use both in this picture and his dual role as a Houdini-like magician and a malevolent marquis in his other good "talkie," "The Phantom of Paris." But he couldn't overcome the hatred of Louis B. Mayer whom he openly ridiculed, a growing taste for booze and a heart condition -- and he died of cardiac arrest at the age of 39. Had he lived, he almost certainly would have found a second shot at stardom as a character actor. His co-star, Lois Moran, was also a silent screen player who'd made the transition to sound -- and made it splendidly. She was blithe, funny, winsome and charismatic. But she fell in love, married aviation pioneer Clarence M. Young, the assistant Secretary of Commerce under presidents Hoover and FDR, and "West of Broadway" was her last screen appearance for nearly 25 years. Otherwise, there's every likelihood that she'd have enjoyed a lusty career in screwball comedy. As for "West of Broadway," it centers on a wealthy young war hero who comes home, gets jilted, gets drunk, marries the first girl he meets and escapes to his ranch out west. That's where she shows up, smitten with him. Sure,the plot is pitted with potholes, but somehow Gilbert and Moran manage to make it remarkably entertaining and more than just a chapter in motion picture lore.

An alcoholic millionaire heads WEST OF BROADWAY to his Arizona ranch to shake off the paid date he married during a drunken binge.

According to cinematic legend, all the talkie MGM films starring John Gilbert were dreadful - the result of a bitter hatred between Gilbert (the highest paid star in Hollywood, with a $1.5 million contract) & studio boss Louis B. Mayer. A determination on Gilbert's part to fulfill the contract, and a campaign instituted by Mayer to destroy Gilbert's career - including spreading the rumor that Gilbert's voice was `high & feminine', culminated in several unwatchable movies.

Not entirely true. The Studio had a huge financial investment in Jack Gilbert and was not going to completely cut its own throat by showcasing him in nothing but dreck. However, of the 8 MGM talkies in which he appeared as solo star (1929 - HIS GLORIOUS NIGHT; 1930 - REDEMPTION; WAY FOR A SAILOR; 1931 - GENTLEMAN'S FATE; THE PHANTOM OF PARIS; WEST OF BROADWAY; 1932 - DOWNSTAIRS; 1933 - FAST WORKERS) most were certainly rather ghastly. WEST OF BROADWAY, however, was quite decent, and, indeed, fully representative of the material the studio was producing in 1931.

Gilbert gives a dignified performance, with the occasional flash of talent that shows what he might have been capable of had MGM worked harder to give him better material. He is given excellent support by pert Lois Moran, who puts real honesty into her portrayal of a poor girl who grabs her only chance of happiness.

El Brendel, popular dialect comedian of the period, gets some much needed laughs out of his pseudo-Swedish role, although his bizarre tickling sequence with house boy Willie Fung is sure to raise a few eyebrows. Lovely Madge Evans as the woman who jilts Gilbert, Ralph Bellamy as a noble cowboy, Hedda Hopper as a society snob & Gwen Lee as a floozy all do well with their supporting roles. Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited John Miljan as an obnoxious cad.

The film is helped immensely by outdoor location filming during the ranch scenes.

Finally, about The Voice. There was nothing at all strange or unnaturally high about Gilbert's voice. As a matter of fact, it was of medium range & rather cultured & refined. Which was the crux of the problem, of course. While it is possible that no voice could have ever matched the perfect one viewers heard in their minds while watching his strong, virile silent roles, the reality was very different from what they wanted to hear (imagine Robert Montgomery's voice coming out of Clark Gable's mouth.) Gilbert was doomed from his first scene in his debut talkie; his war with Mayer only intensified the agony. He would die in 1936, forgotten by most of his former fans, at the age of only 36.

West of Broadway (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A rather strange drama from MGM about Jerry Seevers (John Gilbert), a man returning from WWI where he was injured and the doctors give him just six months to live. He spends most of his nights in a bottle but things start to change when he "orders" a woman (Lois Moran) and the two are married while he's drunk. At first Jerry wants a divorce but the woman has fallen in love with him and plans to break him from alcohol. If you know anything about this era of Hollywood then you know the legendary stories of Gilbert who was given bottom of the barrel roles at MGM and you've probably heard about his horrible talking voice. If you've actually seen any of the pictures from this era you're going to realize that they really aren't as bad as their reputation and there's really nothing wrong with Gilbert's voice. Is WEST OF Broadway a forgotten masterpiece? Not even close but it's certainly a lot better than its reputation would have you believe. I think the biggest thing going against the film is that the Gilbert character never really gets fully developed. When he meets the young woman he's kind as can be but of course he's drunk. He sobers up the next morning and turns into a complete jerk and I must admit that I never really bought this difference in him and it's really never explained. The entire bit about him dying is only occasionally brought up and at times you wonder if the screenwriter simply forgot about it as it comes in and out of the story without too much logic. The film works better than it probably should due to the two leads and their chemistry together. Whether it's the early cute stuff, the more dramatic moments or the predictable "turn" in the story, the two stars are completely believable in their parts and especially when they're working together as this troubled couple. I thought Gilbert was pretty strong playing the alcoholic and especially in the scenes where he's battling the addiction. The supporting cast includes a wasted Ralph Bellamy playing a cowboy, El Brendel, Madge Evans and Hedda Hopper. The story really doesn't contain anything too original or ground-breaking but it's worth viewing due to the performances and that it does actually look at alcoholism in a serious manor, which wasn't always the case with Hollywood. It's funny that this dramatic look at Hollywood would help finish off the career of Gilbert while another silent legend in D.W. Griffith would have his career end the same year with THE STRUGGLE, another film taking a serious look at alcoholism.