The lights go down on Broadway… The Last Warning (1929), Flicker Alley Dual Format

Broadway, electric highway of happiness… street of nightclubs, theatres, laughter…

This was the final film directed by Paul Leni before his untimely death from blood poisoning and showcases so much of the cinematic style and visual control of late period silents. It’s a lot of fun even if it lacks the tension of Leni’s earlier Cat and the Canary, with a slightly wayward plot and dramatic intensity reduced by the pacing of events over years. The film opens with great flourish and had the immediate investigation and the characters been kept inside the scene of the crime and that moment in time then the suspense would have been better maintained with the mix of horror and humour having had a better blend, but there’s a five-year gap between crime and resolution.

It’s still a very handsome film with Flicker Alley’s release using Universal’s restoration which stabilized and “de-flickered” the film, repairing scratches, warps and dirt to thoroughly uplift the visual experience. This is the silent version as nothing remains of the sound version which included some dialogue and sound effects which, from reviews of the time, did not really enhance the film but rather hold it back. As the miserly Variety review had it: “Plenty of hoke and a wild imagination… there are enough screams to stimulate the average film mob… Leni should learn that dialog must have pace.” Well, I may well be an average film “mobster” but the film is highly entertaining and the lack of voices certainly improves the experience especially with Arthur Barrows’ informed and nuanced new score.

From the get-go, the camera flows across the action, tracking the characters in almost seamless flow and at one point, cinematographer Hal Mohr has the camera swinging on a rope with the villain as he climbs up the side of the theatre. The film begins with atmospheric montages of the Great White Way, dancing girls, names up in Broadway lights and, shockingly, a topless Josephine Baker followed by the jarring image of a gurning minstrel (modern Blu-ray viewers see to much perhaps....) and, as the action kicks in we move over the performers on stage to view the audience as the curtain goes up. It’s breath-taking stuff and then, as an actor dies, the viewer is swept from the rear stalls towards the stage as we focus in on the panic amongst cast, crew and audience.

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway
They say there's always magic in the air...

The film is, naturally, based on a play and features a play (within the play…) called The Snare and as we drift in from the Broadway melange, we see one of its performers, John Woodford (D'Arcy Corrigan), as he reaches for a candle stick to defend himself, only to drop to the floor dead and there’s a doctor in the house to prove it. The authorities soon arrive and start questioning our cast of characters.

There’s lead actress Doris Terry played by lovely Laura La Plante who sadly has less to do here than in Cat; more reaction than action… along with the regular-featured director, Richard Quayle played by John Boles who, after a bright start seems oddly distracted for some segments of the action. Incriminating floral gifts in the dressing room suggest that Woodford, Richard – and many others – loved Doris and the investigating officer’s gaze shifts accusingly from face to face as the list of suspects make their appearance.

Is there a doctor in the house? D'Arcy, Boles and La Plante

We have, suspect number two, fellow actor Harvey Carleton (rascally Roy D'Arcy always a menacing glint in his eye), who also had his eye on Ellen then the two Bunce brothers who own the theatre, Josiah (Burr McIntosh) and the mountainous Robert (slapstick legend Mack Swain), who speak at the same time, their intertitle animated to merge the same line. The cop is of Irish decent and smiles favourably at Dublin-born stage manager Mike Brody (Bert Roach) whilst asking everyone about their “personal” experience; the humour quickly defusing the tension of the crime.

Just as we’re forgetting about the murder the coroner arrives to find that the body has disappeared… and we soon switch to a shot of the now-closed theatre, its facia almost like a miserable human as newspaper headlines about the murder flip upright obscuring the view only to melt away along with the prospects of finding the killer.

The headlines blot out the theatre

We move forward five years and Woodford’s assistant Gene (Torben Meyer) still haunts the shadows of his boss’s theatre – the production uses left over sets from the Phantom of the Opera and there’s impressive scale. He’s interrupted from maniacal musings by the return of Brody and stagehand Tommy (Slim Summerville), who thinks everyone is guilty of the murder. A friend of Woodford, Arthur McHugh (Montagu Love who is intimidating in spite of himself), is re-opening the theatre and re-running The Snare with the same cast.

The old gang nervously re-unites and the arrival of terrified old-stager Barbara Morgan (Carrie Daumery) is particularly well done as she screams through spider webs with a neat point of view showing the reaction of the others. Gradually the old team all turn up, even Ellen who’s been off on tour and a new performer Evalynda Hendon (Margaret Livingston, you know, the city girl from Sunrise) who’s legs linger on the lens as we see Big Robert’s salacious appreciation.

Carrie Daumery

Now the drama really kicks on as McHugh tries to snare the killers by re-running the moments of the murder and strange things start happening as secret passageways are revealed and an horrific face appears in the shadows. The game is on.

No spoilers of course, it would take too long anyway… one of those where you just go with the flow and react just like Laura to the twists and turns and those incessant camera tricks. It’s a smashing presentation from Flicker Alley and includes a booklet with an excerpt from John Soister’s Of Gods and Monsters: A Critical Guide to Universal Studios' Science Fiction, Horror and Mystery Films as well as Arthur Barrow’s notes on his score and a visual essay on Paul Leni and The Last Warning. 

Treat yourself via Flicker Alley’s website and all good online retailers.

 

Josephine Baker in the mix