Twinkletoes (1926)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Charles Brabin

Writers:

Thomas Burke (novel)
Winifred Dunn (continuity)

Release Date:

28 November 1926 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Dainty Coleen Moore outdoes all her previous performances in delightful and piquant characterization of "Twick," the dancing girl of London's Lime-House! (original ad)

Plot:

"Twinkletoes" Minasi wants to be a great dancer like her deceased mother. Twink meets Chuck Lightfoot...

Plot Keywords:

Thames | Burglar | Arrest | Dancer | Limehouse

Cast

Colleen Moore	...	Twink 'Twinkletoes' Minasi
Kenneth Harlan	...	Chuck Lightfoot
Tully Marshall	...	Dad Minasi
Gladys Brockwell	...	Cissie Lightfoot
Lucien Littlefield	...	Hank
Warner Oland	...	Roseleaf
John Kolb	...	Bill Carsides (as John Philip Kolb)
Julanne Johnston	...	Lilac
William McDonald	...	Police Inspector Territon
Dorothy Vernon	...	Unknown Role
Ned Sparks	...	Unknown Role
Dick Sutherland	...	Unknown Role
Carl Stockdale	...	Unknown Role
Aggie Herring	...	Unknown Role
Harold Lockwood	...	Unknown Role

Runtime:

80 min | USA:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

John McCormick Productions

Great Star Vehicle for Colleen Moore

Colleen Moore was a major star of the silent screen. Here in Twinkletoes she shows us why. In a career that ranged from slapstick comedy to flappers to dramatic heroines, Moore was first and foremost an actress. Here she plays a Cockney waif who aspires to be a dancer. She grows up in the rough and tumble Limehouse district of London with her dad (Tully Marshall) and has a crush on a local boxer (Kenneth Harlan) but he is married to a harridan (Gladys Brockwell).

The film starts out with a street brawl between Brockwell and a woman who flirts with Harlan. Moore rushes to the scene and stops the riot by dancing and making people laugh and smile.

Later, at an amateur show run by sleazy manager (Warner Oland), Moore brings down the house with a busker dance followed by a ballet. Amazingly it is Moore doing those balletic moves ON POINT. Great stuff. There are a few melodramatic subplots that all lead to the expected conclusion.

Moore had become a superstar in 1923 with Flaming Youth, the film that defined the Jazz Age and the flapper. From then thru the early talkies Moore remained a star. Twinkletoes was a smash as were films like Ella Cinders and Lilac Time (with Gary Cooper). And she's excellent here as the girl who dreams of being a star.

Harlan is OK as the love interest. Marshall is splendidly seedy as the dad, but it's Gladys Brockwell who really scores as the treacherous Cissie. Brockwell would also steal the show in the first all-talking film, Lights of New York, which starred Helene Costello and Cullen Landis. Willie Fung is one of the Chinese fans, and Ned Sparks co-stars but I never spotted him. Lucien Littlefield plays Hank.

Although this film was not the light comedy I expected, I was still drawn into the story by the great Colleen Moore.