Duty and love

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Movie
German title Duty and love
Original title Across to Singapore
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1928
length 78 minutes
Rod
Director William Nigh
script Ted Shane
production MGM
music William ax
camera John F. Seitz
cut Ben Lewis
occupation

Duty and Love (Original title: Across to Singapore ) is an American feature film with Ramón Novarro and Joan Crawford from 1928.

action

Joel and Mark Shore are tough sailors and both love their lovely neighbor, Priscilla Crowninshield. Mark claims to be engaged to Priscilla the day before the entire Shore family leaves for Singapore. She reacts with disgust to the surprise and thus plunges Mark into drunkenness, which leads to many conflicts with the team on the crossing over the stormy sea. In the end, Mark dies while Joel and Priscilla discover their love for each other.

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. Since mid-1927 she was firmly established as the leading lady alongside the studio's biggest male stars, with John Gilbert in Twelve Miles Out , Lon Chaney in The Unknown and William Haines in Spring Fever .

Ramon Novarro had risen to become one of the biggest male stars in Hollywood since the beginning of the decade. Mostly he was seen in opulently equipped adventure films or romantic melodramas, in which Alice Terry often played at his side. With the film adaptation of the popular adventure novel All the Brothers Were Valiant , the studio tried to give Novarro a harder image. But the audience did not accept the actor as an unshaven fur seal, who is not afraid of death or the devil to save his loved one. With the emergence of the talkie , Ramon Novarro managed, somewhat surprisingly, despite a strong accent, to even expand his popularity by participating in operettas and musicals .

In retrospect, Joan Crawford was not particularly impressed with her performance and the film itself:

"I couldn't stand the Singapore movie - both Ramon Novarro and I were totally miscast."

Theatrical release

At $ 290,000 to manufacture, it was an average expensive production by MGM standards. It grossed an average of $ 548,000 in the US. With foreign revenues of $ 333,000 and a cumulative total result of $ 881,000, the studio was able to realize a respectable profit of $ 306,000 in the end.

Reviews

Most critics criticized the lack of logic and the uninspired direction.

Photoplay advised viewers not to pay attention to the tangled plot:

"Don't even try to follow the twists and turns of the script - just keep in mind that the outbursts of malevolence and the raging seas are incapable of getting Ramon Novarro or Joan Crawford down."

Film Daily wasn't too impressed either:

“Ramon Novarro is miscast as a tough seal. He should have played the usual Romeo stuff. Joan Crawford is lovely and, as always, a pretty sight. "

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 didn't like the Singapore picture at all - both Ramon Novarro and I were terribly miscast.
  2. ↑ Don't try to follow the intricacies of this plot - just keep in mind that the tower of villainy and the sea will not overcome either Ramon Novarro or Joan Crawford.
  3. ↑ Ramon Novarro miscast as tough sea dog. Should have played him up on the Romeo stuff. Joan Crawford petite and always an alluring picture. Ernest Torrence dominates in strong characterization.