Square-rigged George Walsh, younger brother of director Raoul, stars in this very good melodrama set in New York and offering excellent scripting and direction, with a talented cast. Walsh portrays Bob "Drifter" Stafford, a man about town who is supported by his wealthy aircraft manufacturer father's largesse, and who is disowned by the latter due to his irresponsible behaviour. Changing his name to Adams, Bob opens a health club on a shoestring, a "gymnasium for unflapping flappers", where from a large number of nubile young ladies, a mutual attraction develops between the coach and wealthy Eileen Marshall (Dorothy Hall) who had been attracted in her college days to football hero Stafford, not realizing that "Adams" and he are the same. A con man and gambler, Phil Winston (Paul Doucet) is seeking to wed Eileen and her fortune, and since he and Bob have met earlier in the picture to Bob's financial disadvantage, the stage is set for a dramatic conclusion. Hall, a protégé of the film's producer Sam Zierler, who contracted her for three films with Walsh, is an appropriate actress for silent cinema, able to send messages to the viewer with a minimum of facial and body language. Two other featured actresses, Gladys Valerie as Winston's abandoned wife, and the beautiful Nellie Savage as his mistress, also bless this work with commendable performances. Extensive stage training benefits Swedish actor Arthur Donaldson, cast as Eileen's protective uncle, as well as Doucet and Bigelow Cooper, each of whom gives more than fair performance, the latter as the senior Stafford. It is of interest that DRIFTER represented the end of the cinematic road for several of its performers including Doucet, who died soon after, Valerie and Cooper, and also scriptor William Laub, while presenting the debut of character performer George Offerman, Jr. A low budget affair sharing sets and even some aeronautic footage with a concurrent film made by the same studio - Excellent Pictures - there is no apparent need for improvement with its production values. In fact, for years production and art designers and costumers found DRIFTER to be a garden of references for obtaining accurate conceptions in their fields of the Roaring Twenties lifestyle evidenced through its raiment, dancing, et alia. Cinematographer Marcel LePicard, later responsible for the atmospheric ENCHANTED FOREST, utilizes his camera properly upon Walsh, whose ever cool demeanour is therefore permitted to reflect the subtle gradations of his character's emotions. Director McEveety understands how to make his thoroughgoing movie-making experience pay dividends and he and Le Picard capture memorable textural effects while alternating between closeups and long shot tableaux. In addition to his usage of montage and point-of-view shots, McEveety places the primary focus on Walsh, with functional reestablishing medium shots enabling an audience to study at leisure his reactions as life's vagaries are thrown his way. A score is contributed by the enormously talented Rosa Rio, performing at the Hammond, cleverly incorporating a large number of contemporary melodies; it is an extraordinary work, perhaps the summit of her skillful silent film accompaniments, full of wit, sublety, and impeccable timing.
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