Her Private Affair (1929)
** (out of 4)
Based on a failed Broadway play, this early talkie features Ann Harding as the wife of a judge (Harry Bannister) who has an affair with a lawyer (John Loder) who then begins to blackmail her. She's willing to pay and goes to his house to do so but he forces himself on her so she kills him. An innocent man is eventually arrested and the woman must fight her conscience on what to do. It always amazes me when I watch these early talkies that so many were taken from plays that either bombed on stage or were forgotten about by the time sound films came into play. Perhaps their rights were cheap? Either way, this isn't the worst early talkie out there but I doubt very many, if any, will find any true charm or need to view this. I think the only groups this film could be recommended to are fans of Harding or those who want to see all the early films to use sound. There are many problems with this film but we'll start with the most obvious, which is the bad sound quality. It's funny but after the first five minutes the film was already starting to bore me but I kept myself going by looking for the items that were hiding the microphones that the actors were speaking into. In a lot of cases they were quite obvious. Back to the actual film, the story itself is rather bland and predictable as this type of moral tale was popular in countless silent movies. It's rather obvious how everything is going to play out, although I'll give the film some credit for throwing in a nice little twist at the end. As far as the performances go, they're all rather bland and that includes Harding. I had heard from a few people that they liked her here but I found her to be all over the place with some of the blame probably deserving to go to the director. There are moments where it appears she has no idea where to turn so she just fidgets on screen. Bannister comes off rather weak and too laid back for his role, which doesn't help things. The movie runs a brief 71-minutes but there are plenty of sluggish moments that make it hard to sit through. Those curious about the early sound techniques might want to give the film a look but others should stay clear.