Jimmy Valentine | |
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![]() Publicity still of William Haines released for the film | |
Directed by | Jack Conway |
Written by | Sarah Y. Mason A. P. Younger (adaptation) Joseph Farnham (intertitles) |
Based on | Alias Jimmy Valentine by Paul Armstrong |
Starring | Lionel Barrymore William Haines |
Cinematography | Merritt Gerstad |
Edited by | Sam Zimbalist |
Music by | William Axt |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's Inc. [nb 1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | Sound (Part-Talkie) English Dialogue and Intertitles |
Alias Jimmy Valentine is a 1928 American sound part-talkie crime drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring William Haines, Leila Hyams, Lionel Barrymore, and Karl Dane. The film features talking sequences along with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film is based on the 1909 play Alias Jimmy Valentine by Paul Armstrong, which itself was based on an O. Henry short story. [2] The play toured in travelling production companies making it extremely popular. It was revived on Broadway in 1921. [3] Two previous film adaptations had been produced at the old Metro Studios. [4] A 1915 film version was directed by Maurice Tourneur and a 1920 version starring Bert Lytell was directed by Edmund Mortimer and Arthur Ripley.
Released on November 15, 1928, the film was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first partially talking film. [5] It was completed as a silent film before Irving Thalberg sent back Lionel Barrymore and William Haines to repeat their performances for the last two reels with sound. [6]
The film was shot in the middle of the night to avoid ambient noise infiltrating the soundtrack. Haines described the discomfort of working with sound: "You are confined to working quarters... that are almost airtight. You can hardly breathe, and in the hot weather it's like working in a boiler room... The sweat rolled off me until I could hardly stand it, and once I nearly felt like fainting". [7]
Jimmy Valentine is the alias of an infamous safe cracker who has just been sentenced to prison for four years for his crimes. He does not stay locked up for long, though, as he is released after ten months. When he is released, he packs his state of the art, custom robbery tools and commits several more robberies. Ben Price, the detective who put him away the first time is called to the case, but although he knows it is Jimmy (because of the style the crimes were committed with) he cannot find him. Jimmy has actually fled and he is currently in the small town of Elmore, Arkansas, with plans to rob the local bank there.
However, he finds himself love-struck by the banker's beautiful daughter, Annabel Adams, and begins to fall in love with her. In order to get such a beautiful girl, he decides to turn over a new leaf and give up his criminal career and take another alias, Ralph D. Spencer. "Ralph" opens a shoe-making store and is very successful in doing so. He even begins to like his new life, and easily wins Annabel's heart, becoming engaged to her. He writes a letter to an old friend, and tells him to meet him in Little Rock, where he will give him the robbery tools he doesn't want anymore. On the day of the exchange, however, the banker shows the town his new safe, that cannot be broken into. Annabel's nieces are amazed at the sheer size of it and begin to walk in and out of it.
One accidentally shuts the door, locking the other inside. Everyone panics, as the banker has not set the combination yet, and Annabel begs "Ralph" to do something. This is hard for Valentine, as Ben Price has also tracked him down, and watches to see his decision. As Jimmy has tried so hard to start over, he finds himself making a very difficult decision. However, he decides that there is only so much air in the safe, and if he does not take action, the terrified child may suffocate. Valentine pulls out his bag of tools and breaks the safe open in a matter of minutes, surprising the people "Ralph" was with, and saving the child. He ironically broke his own record in his haste. Jimmy knows that since he has revealed his identity, he must leave. As he is leaving, he decides that he may as well go to prison and he verbally surrenders to Ben. However, Ben, who knows that Valentine has truly changed, tells Jimmy he should go to Little Rock, and leaves, pretending that he never met him. The inference is that Jimmy can now get rid of his burgling tools as originally planned, and then go ahead and marry the unwitting and blindly-grateful Annabelle after all, since she and her family still have no idea who Jimmy really is.
This film's title song, "Jimmy Valentine" (composed by Madden/Edwards), was recorded by Nat Shilkret and his Orchestra, with vocals by Billy Murray & Chorus in 1928. The film also featured a theme song entitled "Love Dreams" which was composed by William Axt, David Mendoza, Mort Harris and Raymond Klages. An additional song entitled "Think Of Me Thinking Of You" was composed by Charlie Abbott, Johnny Marvin & Dale Wimbrow.
The full film is now considered lost, [8] but a silent French 9.5mm abridgement, which condenses the film's original ten-reels to four, exists in a private collection. [9] Parts of the soundtrack survive on Vitaphone disks.
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one that was widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack is not printed on the film, but issued separately on phonograph records. The discs, recorded at 33+1⁄3 rpm and typically 16 inches (41 cm) in diameter, are played on a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor while the film is projected. Its frequency response is 4300 Hz. Many early talkies, such as The Jazz Singer (1927), used the Vitaphone system. The name "Vitaphone" derived from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound".
Charles William Haines was an American actor and interior designer.
Leila Hyams was an American actress who came from a show business family. Her relatively short film career began in 1924 during the era of silent films and ended in 1936. The blonde blue-eyed ingenue and leading lady appeared in more than 50 film roles and remained a press favourite, with numerous magazine covers.
Don Juan is a 1926 synchronized sound American romantic adventure film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length film to utilize the Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system with a synchronized musical score and sound effects, though it has no spoken dialogue. The film is inspired by Lord Byron's 1821 epic poem of the same name. The screenplay was written by Bess Meredyth with intertitles by Maude Fulton and Walter Anthony.
Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s.
Spite Marriage is a 1929 American silent comedy film co-directed by Buster Keaton and Edward Sedgwick and starring Keaton and Dorothy Sebastian. It is the second film Keaton made for MGM and his last silent film, although he had wanted it to be a "talkie" or full sound film. While the production has no recorded dialogue, it does feature an accompanying synchronized score and recorded laughter, applause and other sound effects in some scenes. Keaton later wrote gags for some up-and-coming MGM stars like Red Skelton, and from this film recycled many gags, some shot-for-shot, for Skelton's 1943 film I Dood It.
General Crack is a 1929 American pre-Code sound all-talking historical costume melodrama with Technicolor sequences which was directed by Alan Crosland and produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It was filmed and premiered in 1929, and released early in 1930. It stars John Barrymore in his first full-length talking feature. The film would prove to be Crosland and Barrymore's last historical epic together. It was based on the 1928 novel General Crack by the British writer Marjorie Bowen, published under the name George Preedy, one of her several pen names.
"A Retrieved Reformation" is a short story by American author O. Henry first published in The Cosmopolitan Magazine, April 1903. The original title was "A Retrieved Reform". It was illustrated by A.I. Keller.
Tenderloin is a 1928 American sound part-talkie crime film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Dolores Costello. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects, along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. Tenderloin is considered a lost film, with no prints currently known to exist.
Glad Rag Doll is a 1929 American sound part-talkie pre-Code drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Dolores Costello, Ralph Graves, and Audrey Ferris. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects, along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. This is one of many lost films of the 1920s, no prints or Vitaphone discs survive, but the trailer survives. The film's working title was Alimony Annie, but was changed match the title of the theme song. The theme song is entitled Glad Rag Doll both played and sung throughout the soundtrack.
Hardboiled Rose is a 1929 American sound part-talkie romantic drama film directed by F. Harmon Weight and released by Warner Bros. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film starred Myrna Loy, William Collier, Jr., and John Miljan.
The Lion and the Mouse is a 1928 American sound part-talkie drama film produced by Warner Bros., directed by Lloyd Bacon, and based on the 1905 play by Charles Klein. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film marks the first time Lionel Barrymore, who was on loan for the film from MGM, spoke from the screen.
Alias Jimmy Valentine is a 1920 American silent crime drama film starring Bert Lytell, directed by Edmund Mortimer and Arthur Ripley, and released through Metro Pictures.
State Street Sadie is a 1928 American sound part-talkie crime drama film directed by Archie Mayo. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. This is regarded as a lost film.
The River Woman is a 1928 American sound part-talkie drama film directed by Joseph Henabery. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using a sound-on-disc system. Made by an independent company, Gotham, the film starred Lionel Barrymore and Jacqueline Logan.
Beware of Bachelors is a 1928 American part-talkie pre-code comedy drama film produced and released by Warner Bros., and directed by Roy Del Ruth. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The movie stars Audrey Ferris, William Collier Jr., Margaret Livingston, Clyde Cook, and George Beranger. The film was based on a short story by Mark Canfield.
The Greyhound Limited is 1929 part-talkie talkie crime drama and railroad theme film directed by Howard Bretherton and starring Monte Blue. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film was produced and distributed by Warner Bros.. The film is a follow-up to the 1927 film The Black Diamond Express.
Land of the Silver Fox is a 1928 sound part-talkie American adventure film directed by Ray Enright and written by Howard Smith and Joseph Jackson. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film stars Rin Tin Tin, Leila Hyams, John Miljan, Carroll Nye, Tom Santschi, and Neola May. The film was released by Warner Bros. on October 18, 1928.
The Girl in the Glass Cage is a 1929 American sound part-talkie crime drama film directed by Ralph Dawson and starring Loretta Young, Carroll Nye, Matthew Betz, Lucien Littlefield, and Ralph Lewis. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. It is based on the 1927 novel of the same name by George Kibbe Turner. The film was released by Warner Bros. on June 23, 1929.
Explanatory notes
Citations
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