hyped garbage

As Good As It Gets

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I really love silent cinema and was curious to see this movie, made at the time when DeMille had his own production company. Now I know why it wasn't successful. I wasn't sure how to take the film at first, whether it was a drama or comedy, but, after laughing at quite a few things at the beginning, namely the father's constant criticism of his son's new wife (one would have thought she'd landed on her feet, instead of the hovel she lived in ), not to mention the fact that Jetta Goudal, at 36 years of age apparently, and looking much older, was playing the part of a young bride, I began to realise that it was unintentionally funny. Maybe beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but I failed to see what the fuss was all about with Goubal or , for that matter, her acting ability.The highlight of this humour was when George Bancroft sneaked into the house, presumably to have his wicked way with Jetta. It all seemed very cinematic, the raging storm , the lightning flashing and the shutters banging back and forth conveying what was going on inside the house, but the very next scene had the father one end of the table and Jetta, the other end,in half darkness, looking like she was wearing a shroud.When the son goes to the bedroom and presumably finds the dead body of Bancroft, the father says that he killed him and found them in the room "TOGETHER" accusingly at her ! It struck me that maybe she was being raped or something like that, but we never find out, as she stoically walks out of the house after saying maybe she'll have to go to prison or go back from where she came from. I must say that I was in stitches throughout this whole pantomime at the end, mostly with the unforgiving father and the stoic Jetta either end of the table. When she drops the gun outside, we all realise that she shot Bancroft and she then again stoically walks into the sunset. I would think that, even in 1927, this sort of drama went out with Mrs. Fiske. I was also amazed that Goudal made movies until 1932 when she would have been in her forties. I would love to see one of her talkies as it would have to be a scream.Probably the worst silent movie I've ever seen, considering the date when it was made. The two stars are for having a really good belly laugh.

Basically, this movie has the same plot as "City Girl". On this occasion, the setting is a dust-blown sheep ranch in Arizona.And here is another DVD transfer from an old 16mm print in the former Kodascope Library. Unfortunately, it is presented in dreary black-and-white, not in the original tints. And it has also been cut from 6,108 feet to just over 5,000 feet. (Apart from the neat 5-reel length and other factors, you can always tell you're watching a Kodascope copy if minor support players are given an elaborate title card whereas one or more of the actual stars have none).Fortunately, although the original movie received a rave review from Mordaunt Hall in The New York Times, the cuts have most likely improved the pace of the drama which, despite all of director Howard's effectively atmospheric vistas of the dust-blown studio set, does tend to move a little too slowly to retain viewer interest.A pallid performance by Kenneth Thomson doesn't help. Admittedly, he's supposed to be a weak character, but that doesn't mean he must signally fail to project any charisma at all.It's George Nichols who effortlessly steals the acting honors from contender, George Bancroft, who seems a little miscast as a no-account hobo. Jetta Goudal, of course, is totally riveting as the bride who tries to make a go of her unenviable situation.