Four walls

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Movie
Original title Four walls
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1928
length 60 minutes
Rod
Director William Nigh
script Alice D. Miller
production MGM
music William ax
camera James Howe
cut Harry Reynolds
occupation

Four Walls is a 1928 American silent film that takes over elements of the early gangster film . The leading roles are played by John Gilbert and Joan Crawford .

action

Benny is in jail for manslaughter. He promises his mother that he will lead a decent life after being released. But as soon as he has served his sentence and wants to lead a life in the country with a nice neighbor, the unattractive Bertha, his former cronies are already at the door. They put the seductive Frieda, Benny's former lover, on him. Using her body, she quickly manages to lure Benny back into sexual addiction. But before Benny gets back on the wrong track, Frieda has a change of conscience. She renounces her criminal past and supports Benny in his fight against the former gang members.

background

Joan Crawford had been with MGM since 1925 and quickly rose to become a popular actress. However, she had not yet found a fixed type of role for herself and so she alternated between main and supporting roles in a wide variety of genres. After the surprising success of Twelve Miles Out , which came on rental in mid-1927, the studio tried to make a screen couple out of John Gilbert and Joan Crawford , especially since an end to both the personal and professional relationship of Gilbert and Greta Garbo after A Shameless Woman was foreseeable and the studio wanted to quickly build a replacement. Crawford and Gilbert also harmonize well in Four Walls , but the overwhelming success of Our Dancing Daughters a few weeks later brought Joan Crawford to the rise of an independent star.

Four Walls borrows clearly from Josef von Sternberg's style-defining success Unterwelt from the previous year, which practically co-founded the genre of gangster films and found a number of successors. Overall, however, John Gilbert's fame, who was still one of the most popular movie stars in the middle of the decade, was rapidly fading. In addition there were quarrels with Louis B. Mayer , who permanently prevented Gilbert from receiving demanding roles. All of this contributed to the fact that with the rise of the talkie, Gilbert's pull at the box office rapidly waned. For Carmel Myers, who had previously appeared on the screen as a vamp and seductress, the role of the unglamorous Berta represented a role change.

Joan Crawford was realistic about her role:

"I was at John Gilbert's side again and the chemistry was right again, this time it was even stronger."

Theatrical release

With a budget of $ 255,000, it was an inexpensive production by MGM standards. He grossed a relatively modest sum of 605,000 dollars in the USA, an indication of the diminishing pull of John Gilbert at the box office. With overseas revenues of $ 198,000 and a cumulative total of $ 803,000, the film performed slightly worse than Twelve Miles Out , but the studio ended up with a higher profit of $ 289,000 due to lower costs.

Reviews

The contemporary critics were impressed by the sometimes dramatic events on the screen.

The industry journal Variety particularly praised Joan Crawford:

“Another underworld flick, well done… Gilbert, as Benny Horowitz, turned gangster due to his origins from the East Side, restraint and conviction. Miss Crawford his mistress is fantastic… Nigh's direction deserves credit for its realism, restraint and knowledge of the subject. "

Photoplay , one of the highest-circulation film magazines of the era, made an abundantly suggestive comment on what happened:

“When it comes to showing the more practical side of passion, our respect goes to John Gilbert and Joan. John takes the girl in his arms and boy does she love to be taken. "

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography . University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
  • Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ I was back with John Gilbert again, and the chemistry worked all over again, even stronger.
  2. ↑ Another underworlder, well done…. Gilbert, as Benny Horowitz, gangster, product of an East Side environment, plays with repression and conviction. Miss Crawford as his round-heeled frail is splendid… Nigh's direction deserves commendation for its reality, restraint and knowledge of his elements.
  3. ↑ For getting down to earth with the practical sort of love-making that folks like, our hat is off to John Gilbert and Joan. John takes that girl in hand, and boy, how she loves to be taken!