One of the follow-up films RKO assigned to Bebe Daniels after her spectacular success in Rio Rita, and a remake of Evelyn Brent's 1925 Smooth as Satin.
Based on a play by Bayard Veiller (Norma Talmadge's Within the Law), this one concerns a pair of thieves (the other is Ben Lyon) who fall in love and try to go straight. Daniels poses as a French maid to steal jewels; Lyon is a safecracker.
There are a couple of neat plot twists. There's also an odd scene of Daniels speeding in her roadster and getting flagged down by a cop, possibly a nod toward her infamous 1920s speeding trial and conviction?
This was only Daniels' 3rd talkie and she's just terrific. Lyon is also solid. But I assume this was a box office bomb as most of her RKO films were. Anyone have any info on this?
ALIAS FRENCH GERTIE (1930)
ALIAS FRENCH GERTIE (1930)
Ed Lorusso
DVD Producer/Writer/Historian
-------------
DVD Producer/Writer/Historian
-------------
-
Ray Faiola
- Posts: 1366
- Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:18 am
- Location: Ellenville, NY
- Contact:
I have a beautiful 16 of GERTIE. It's a fun little parlor picture and any chance to see the Lyons together is a treat. It's based on a play by crime playwright Bayard Veiller (who was married to Margaret Wycherly). Veiller also wrote THE TRIAL OF MARY DUGAN. The film didn't get very good reviews and probably didn't play long enough to earn significant rentals. It's the kind of a film that gave "rural patronage" theater managers ulcers.
Classic Film Scores on CD
http://www.chelsearialtostudios.com
http://www.chelsearialtostudios.com
I didn't know Veiller was married to Wycherly.
Bebe is billed above title here and apparently this is the first pairing with Lyon. They also starred in My Past in 1931 and the UK
Treachery on the High Seas in 1936 with Charles Farrell.
Gertie was released April 1930; Daniels and Lyon married June 1930.
They are a delight in the rarely seen UK film Hi, Gang! (1941) and in their radio/TV/film shows with their 2 kids.
Bebe is billed above title here and apparently this is the first pairing with Lyon. They also starred in My Past in 1931 and the UK
Treachery on the High Seas in 1936 with Charles Farrell.
Gertie was released April 1930; Daniels and Lyon married June 1930.
They are a delight in the rarely seen UK film Hi, Gang! (1941) and in their radio/TV/film shows with their 2 kids.
Ed Lorusso
DVD Producer/Writer/Historian
-------------
DVD Producer/Writer/Historian
-------------
From the NY TIMES, April 14, 1930:
In the story of "Alias French Gertie," an audible pictorial adaptation of Bayard Veiller's play "Chatterbox," there is a suggestion of O. Henry's writings, but, unfortunately, this film has not been handled with the subtlety and smoothness it deserves. Nevertheless, up to a certain point, it is a production that holds the interest, but what should have been the main idea is sacrificed for a more obvious turn of events.
Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyons figure in the leading rôles of this crook adventure. Miss Daniels impersonates Marie, not Gertie, who, while posing as a French maid, tries to open the safe containing her mistress's jewels. She is interrupted by James Hartigan, who chances likewise to be interested in the contents of the safe. He, like Alias Jimmy Valentine, has sensitive fingers and also a keen ear for safe combinations. James proves that there is honor among thieves, and after he has served a year in jail for carrying concealed weapons Marie is waiting for him. They engage in further nefarious activities and finally one day James announces that after one more good haul they are going to lead straight lives. When Marie hears that James has $30,000 in the bank, she is eager to abandon the commission of a further crime. She introduces James to Mr. and Mrs. Matson, who have an apartment next to hers. They are a genial elderly couple and eventually James consents to pool his lot with Mr. Matson, who, after being somewhat surprised at James's offer to contribute $30,000 to his (Matson's) business, declares that millions can be made out of this investment.
This little experiment in presumably honest work ends, however, in the discovery that the charming Matsons are really shrewd swindlers. Through a good-natured detective, named Kelcey, who turns up in the quiet way the sleuth did in the play, "Broadway," James learns that Matson has skipped with his $30,000. Marie is a vascilating creature, who one moment is for honest dealing and the next for stealing jewelry. At the psychological moment, however, she settles matters in her own way, so that James is no longer as confident of opening safes.
This might have been a more engrossing piece of work had the climax been kept to the uncovering of the evil doings of the Matsons, instead of carrying on the story to another attempt at stealing. The association between James and Matson is dismissed too swiftly, the director apparently thinking that there is more popular drama in glimpses of James's attempt to open a safe.
The law in this case does not take its course, for Kelcey is a soft-hearted sleuth, who believes that he has sent quite enough wrongdoers to prison. Hence, although his duty is obviously to arrest James, he decides to wink at the attempt at crime, realizing that Marie, at least, is sincere in her desire to have James from then on earn an honest living.
Miss Daniels gives an effective performance as Marie. Ben Lyon's acting leaves much to be desired. Robert Emmett O'Connor is clever as Kelcey.
In the story of "Alias French Gertie," an audible pictorial adaptation of Bayard Veiller's play "Chatterbox," there is a suggestion of O. Henry's writings, but, unfortunately, this film has not been handled with the subtlety and smoothness it deserves. Nevertheless, up to a certain point, it is a production that holds the interest, but what should have been the main idea is sacrificed for a more obvious turn of events.
Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyons figure in the leading rôles of this crook adventure. Miss Daniels impersonates Marie, not Gertie, who, while posing as a French maid, tries to open the safe containing her mistress's jewels. She is interrupted by James Hartigan, who chances likewise to be interested in the contents of the safe. He, like Alias Jimmy Valentine, has sensitive fingers and also a keen ear for safe combinations. James proves that there is honor among thieves, and after he has served a year in jail for carrying concealed weapons Marie is waiting for him. They engage in further nefarious activities and finally one day James announces that after one more good haul they are going to lead straight lives. When Marie hears that James has $30,000 in the bank, she is eager to abandon the commission of a further crime. She introduces James to Mr. and Mrs. Matson, who have an apartment next to hers. They are a genial elderly couple and eventually James consents to pool his lot with Mr. Matson, who, after being somewhat surprised at James's offer to contribute $30,000 to his (Matson's) business, declares that millions can be made out of this investment.
This little experiment in presumably honest work ends, however, in the discovery that the charming Matsons are really shrewd swindlers. Through a good-natured detective, named Kelcey, who turns up in the quiet way the sleuth did in the play, "Broadway," James learns that Matson has skipped with his $30,000. Marie is a vascilating creature, who one moment is for honest dealing and the next for stealing jewelry. At the psychological moment, however, she settles matters in her own way, so that James is no longer as confident of opening safes.
This might have been a more engrossing piece of work had the climax been kept to the uncovering of the evil doings of the Matsons, instead of carrying on the story to another attempt at stealing. The association between James and Matson is dismissed too swiftly, the director apparently thinking that there is more popular drama in glimpses of James's attempt to open a safe.
The law in this case does not take its course, for Kelcey is a soft-hearted sleuth, who believes that he has sent quite enough wrongdoers to prison. Hence, although his duty is obviously to arrest James, he decides to wink at the attempt at crime, realizing that Marie, at least, is sincere in her desire to have James from then on earn an honest living.
Miss Daniels gives an effective performance as Marie. Ben Lyon's acting leaves much to be desired. Robert Emmett O'Connor is clever as Kelcey.
Ed Lorusso
DVD Producer/Writer/Historian
-------------
DVD Producer/Writer/Historian
-------------
He did bring a bit of range to his gruff Irishman characters, from buffoon (NIGHT AT THE OPERA) to sympathetic crook (PUBLIC ENEMY) to complete, miserable S.O.B. (as Ruth Chatterton's father in FRISCO JENNY).drednm wrote:From the NY TIMES, April 14, 1930:
Robert Emmett O'Connor is clever as Kelcey.
dr. giraud
Ben Lyon & Bebe Daniels
Bebe & Ben. Hi! Gang(1943) is on DVD and is not a rarely seen film in my country. The two 1950s Life with the Lyons titles are on a double DVD. there was a radio show version & some TV episodes. I hope WB do issue the RKO Gertie someday.
-
Frame Rate
- Posts: 978
- Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2018 5:15 pm
Re: ALIAS FRENCH GERTIE (1930)
I'm reviving this old thread because I finally got around to viewing the "magic" screen pairing of Bebe and Ben that sparked their lifelong partnership.
Despite the entertaining story and lively performances, I was bothered by some narrative gaps, such as how two jewel thieves became such good friends with the (seemingly) wealthy, respectable, elderly, upper-class couple "across the hall" in an obviously ritzy, upscale (designed by Max Reinhardt disciple Max Ree!) apartment building. Also, was the younger pair supposed to be "shacking up" together, despite Bebe's repeated refusals of Ben's marriage proposals? (It was mentioned in the dialog that they shared a joint bank account!)
I thought I'd find answers by looking over the screenplay's source, a credited (on the opening title card, no less!) stage play, "The Chatterbox" by Bayard Veiller -- whose same creation was also prominently billed, a half-decade earlier, as the source for a now-lost FBO picture titled SMOOTH AS SATIN.
But I could find no record of such a play ever having been produced.
I suppose it could have had a failed, out-of-town tryout, then sold for a pittance to poverty-stricken FBO and later inherited by successor RKO -- but why acknowledge (and seemingly promote) a "turkey" as the source?
In light of Veiller's later smash success (with defendant Mary Dugan's histrionics on stage and screen) wouldn't it have made more box-office sense to simply credit the Lyon-Daniels pairing as "based on a play" by Bayard Veiller -- and leave it at that?
Despite the entertaining story and lively performances, I was bothered by some narrative gaps, such as how two jewel thieves became such good friends with the (seemingly) wealthy, respectable, elderly, upper-class couple "across the hall" in an obviously ritzy, upscale (designed by Max Reinhardt disciple Max Ree!) apartment building. Also, was the younger pair supposed to be "shacking up" together, despite Bebe's repeated refusals of Ben's marriage proposals? (It was mentioned in the dialog that they shared a joint bank account!)
I thought I'd find answers by looking over the screenplay's source, a credited (on the opening title card, no less!) stage play, "The Chatterbox" by Bayard Veiller -- whose same creation was also prominently billed, a half-decade earlier, as the source for a now-lost FBO picture titled SMOOTH AS SATIN.
But I could find no record of such a play ever having been produced.
I suppose it could have had a failed, out-of-town tryout, then sold for a pittance to poverty-stricken FBO and later inherited by successor RKO -- but why acknowledge (and seemingly promote) a "turkey" as the source?
In light of Veiller's later smash success (with defendant Mary Dugan's histrionics on stage and screen) wouldn't it have made more box-office sense to simply credit the Lyon-Daniels pairing as "based on a play" by Bayard Veiller -- and leave it at that?
If only our opinions were as variable as the pre-talkie cranking speed...