Tweet James Murray in The Shakedown (1929)

The Shakedown was shown earlier this week at Film Forum in NYC, as part of their 100th anniversary salute to Universal Studios. It’s been mentioned in passing in various NitrateVille threads, and always in positive terms, so its high quality didn’t come as a total surprise, but nevertheless I was knocked out by how good it is.

The plot feels like a dry run for Vidor’s The Champ, made a couple of years later -- but I like The Shakedown better. James Murray is a crooked boxer, in cahoots with a gang of con artists, who goes from town to town throwing fights. But when he gets involved with a good woman (Barbara Kent), and adopts a tough orphan boy (Jack Hanlon), he straightens out, reforms, and narrowly wins the climactic bout against a mean palooka who is built like an ape.

It sounds maudlin, but it’s not. Director William Wyler maintains a generally low-key tone with the actors, and keeps any excess sentimentality in check. The kid is excellent, and Miss Kent provides nice emotional support, but this is James Murray’s film all the way. He has a more demanding role than the one Vidor assigned him in The Crowd, and rises to the occasion brilliantly. He’s so good it’s heartbreaking to think how his life turned out.

The print was in rough shape here and there, and some footage is obviously missing. In a thread in this forum a couple of years ago someone mentioned a rumor that more material has been found in an archive in Spain. Does anyone know anything more about that? I’d love to see this film get a full restoration job, and more attention.

I loved this film when it screened here in SF. It was my top film of the weekend.

Charlie, you're getting two big thumbs up from me. I'd call The Shakedown the best silent American feature film that no one's heard of. Of course there is some hyperbole there, but not much. It was one of the first films I saw on my first trip to Pordenone and afterward I thought: Wow! Are they all going to be this good (the answer was no). Then I saw it again last year and agreed with my original review. Great acting and beautiful, fluid camera moves, and superb editing make this film a pleasure to watch. The scenes with the Ferris Wheel are especially wonderful. If you want a movie that really shows off the verve and joy of a silent movie, this is it.

As I recall, the reason it's relatively unknown was that the present film is a dupe of a 16mm copy that was preserved in the late 80s, after the 'canon' was formalized in the 60s and 70s. So the film was unseen for 40 years and basically forgotten and it stays an outsider to the silent film shrine of great film.

THE SHAKEDOWN was shown at Capitolfest 6, Rome, NY in 2008. Also shown was Universal's 1932 remake FAST COMPANIONS.

Every time I hear of THE SHAKEDOWN being shown it is a silent print. Does the version exist anywhere with the original 1929 music score and sound effects?

Yes, it does. I have seen an Italian print broadcast on RAI-3 that includes the original soundtrack (which I didn't like much). Regarding the film, allow me to differ. I think James Murray is fabulous in THE CROWD, but I wasn't convinced by THE SHAKEDOWN. I found the film's acting pretty OTT, especially the kid (Jack Hanlon) whom I found very irritating. The story line is pretty thin and Barbara Kent has very little to do. There is too much 'emoting' to make it really moving for me.
But, thinking about it, this print with a soundtrack is at 24 fps. It makes some sequences quite ridiculous, especially the boxing match at the end. Plus the score is very irritating, Mickey Mousing all along. You all saw the film at the right speed and with a good piano accompaniment no doubt. It must make a difference.

Did it have the feel of Josef von Sternberg's "The Docks of New York"?
I see that as a bit of a redemption movie, without having any maudlin
qualities to it.

I find it has nothing in common with Sternberg's masterful Docks of New York. I certainly found The Shakedown very maudlin in parts.

I suppose it’s a matter of opinion whether The Shakedown is maudlin or not. Having seen The Champ I expected this film to be, essentially, a blueprint or dry run for what Vidor would do later on, with sound and a different cast, but The Shakedown is very different in tone; Vidor made a tearjerker, but Wyler, I feel, was more subtle. I appreciated Jack Hanlon’s performance as the boy. He’s quite different from Jackie Cooper: he’s tougher, and there are no weepy close-ups.

For example, there’s a sequence where the boy has been in a fight with another kid over whether or not the James Murray character, his surrogate father figure, is a fake. When Murray confronts him afterward, and demands to know what he was fighting about, the boy refuses to confess -- even though he knows his silence will result in an angry whack from his “Dad.” I felt the scene was beautifully played by both Hanlon and Murray.

I’m sure it makes a big difference to see this film with an audience, accompanied with a live piano score, and projected at the proper speed. It seems to me there’s been a thread or two on this board about projection speeds, and their impact on a viewer’s enjoyment of a silent film. I’m also sure that The Shakedown could be ruined if it were to be projected too fast (or too slow), and with poorly chosen music.