Three stories ostensibly about New York, though really only the last one is -- the others could have been set anywhere. But the gimmick is that in each story the same three main actors play the three main parts. The stories are surprisingly good in an O. Henry-type of way. Sometimes the acting gets into that over-the-top histrionics you may dread in silent films, but frequently it seems quite modern and undated. First story's about the wife of a rich man who gets blackmailed by a mysterious person from her past. Second one is about a vamp who picks up a rich man in a club... and he happens to be married. Third one is set in the poverty-stricken East Side (with lots of great exteriors on the river) about a woman who marries a man she doesn't love and has to care for his paralyzed father. All very worthwhile, even if Charles Brabin's style is sometimes stodgy. Wish it were on DVD. Saw it at Cinecon 43 in Hollywood.
Review of While New York Sleeps
While New York Sleeps
(1920)
Solid three-story silent with surprisingly good stories
3 September 2007