M-G-M. Director King Vidor; Screenplay John V.A. Weaver, King Vidor, Harry Behn, Joe Farnham; Camera Henry Sharp; Editor Hugh Wynn;; Art Director Cedric Gibbons, A. Arnold Gillespie
Eleanor Boardman
James Murray
Bert Roach
Daniel G. Tomlinson
Dell Henderson
Lucy Beaumont
A drab actionless story of ungodly length and apparently telling nothing. The longness of the picture suggests it was designed for a Metro special, but on what, only its authors, John V.A. Weaver and King Vidor, must know. Superficially it reels off as an analytical insight into the life, worries and struggles of two young, ordinary people, who marry and become parents.
The husband is a plodder and dreamer, achieving nothing but two children and an $8 raise of salary in five years. For this he seems in constant reprimand from his wife and her family. Casting aside his permanent desk job through mental strain over the death by a truck of his little daughter, the young husband tries other jobs in vain, until his wife, disgusted, finally slaps him in the face and walks out.
James Murray is the young husband and catches the spirit at times, more in looks than anything else. Both he and Eleanor Boardman have the opportunity for a big scene when seeing their child trampled by a moving truck while walking toward their home. Both parents muff the chance by a mile.
1927/8: Nominations: Best Director, Artistic Quality of Production
Silent. (B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1928. Running time: 98 MIN.
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