REDEMPTION (1930)

[drednm]

Interesting film but not very good.

Infamous as John Gilbert's first talkie, though it was released by MGM after HIS GLORIOUS NIGHT had already bombed. Oh that LB Mayer.....

The copy I have was taped off TNT (tv station) and was trimmed by maybe 10 minutes to fit a timeslot. In any case, the story is not very good, one about brooding Russians and fiery Gypsies and love gone bad.

Gilbert is, however, very good as the failing Russian who can't decline booze or gambling. Eleanor Boardman is his faithful wife. Conrad Nagel is friend. Renee Adoree is a fiery Gypsy. Mack Swain plays a Russian judge and Sidney Bracey a philophic waiter.

It seems badly edited and/or directed but the story is so dark and gloomy it hardly matters. The 4 stars are all pretty good in this early talkie, and Gilbert, in fine voice, has a few very good scenes that almost salvage the film.

Again it's odd that contemorary reviews of this film and HIS GLORIOUS NIGHT never mentioned Gilbert as having a bad voice, thin, effeminate, high, or anything else.... The films were just clunkers.....

[R Michael Pyle]

Actually, this was John Gilbert's first talkie and it was made in 1929. Editing went so badly that Gilbert tried to smother the release of the film. It finally got released after "His Glorious Night". If it weren't for the fact that the film is so gloomy it would at least be watchable. No, this is not one of Gilbert's better films. But - if you listen you'll also here the recording studios of 1929 and not 1930 in the voices, too. I think this fact, along with "His Glorious Night" being the next Gilbert film released, is what killed the continuity of Gilbert's career. A couple of rather decent sound films actually followed. By this time the alcohol was breaking him. Too bad.

[drednm]

Yes I said it was Gilbert's first talkie but released after HIS GLORIOUS NIGHT....

I have a novelized version of the book by Dorothy Farnum so I can tell what scenes were seemingly deleted in the version I have, but whether it was the TV station that ran the film or whether it was the lousy editing job, who knows.....

But the novelized version was published in 1929.....