Man, Woman and Sin (1927)

A young man takes a succession of odd jobs in order to save enough money to buy he and his mother a house. He lands a position in a newspaper office and falls in love with the beautiful ... See full summary »

Director:

Monta Bell

Writers:

Monta Bell (story), John Colton (titles),

Stars:

John Gilbert, Jeanne Eagels, Gladys Brockwell

Cast

Credited cast:
John Gilbert	...	Albert Whitcomb
Jeanne Eagels	...	Vera Worth
Gladys Brockwell	...	Mrs. Whitcomb
Marc McDermott	...	Bancroft
Philip Anderson	...	Al Whitcomb, as a Child
Hayden Stevenson	...	The Star Reporter
Charles K. French	...	The City Editor
Aileen Manning
Margaret Lee
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Livingston	...	Dancer (unconfirmed)

Storyline

A young man takes a succession of odd jobs in order to save enough money to buy he and his mother a house. He lands a position in a newspaper office and falls in love with the beautiful society editor, who is secretly having an affair with the married managing editor. She returns the young man's affections in order to make her lover jealous, but finds herself falling for him.

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Plot Keywords:

newspaper | mother | poverty | mama's boy | loss of innocence | 

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Taglines:

The Picture the Police Stopped in Dallas and Washington - Is it so terrible? See for Yourself! (original ad)

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 November 1927 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Mann, die Frau und die Sünde

Filming Locations:

Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Remade as Up for Murder (1931)

User Reviews

Eagels stunning as the "bad woman" in unremarkable film

This is a short film (65 minutes), establishing a son's devotion to his widowed mother re taking odd jobs to save money toward buying a house. As an adult the role is taken over by John Gilbert sans moustache. This bland innocent gets a job on a newspaper and falls for the society editor (Eagels), who is having an affair with the married overall editor. She plays him along as she is being neglected, but eventually falls for him. He falls for her in a big way, spending all the saved household money on a bracelet for her. When he discovers the truth about her situation he accidentally kills the editor when they are discovered together, goes to jail and is condemned to die. It is only the mother's intervention with Eagels that results in the latter's exoneration of Gilbert (self-defense).

Gilbert is completely unappealing in this performance - indeed, here it is hard to see why he was a star - he is incredibly bland looking and not much of an actor. The film would have been entirely forgettable except for the presence of Ms. Eagels, who is not only stunningly beautiful but absolutely in command of her craft. What a talented actress she was - her facial expressions and her intensity are right on the money and she convinces us in the role of a not too terribly bad woman trying to make a go of it in a man's world. There is a remarkable piece of cinematography near the end. The camera is positioned at the rear window of her car. She is in the far right side of the window, partially seen from behind. Her driver is on the left and in the middle of the window we see Gilbert and his mother emerge from the prison. After a tracking shot with them out of frame, we suddenly return to this shot and Eagels quickly turns her head to look at him for the last time - what a close-up and what a moment!!!!

Do seek this one out (one of only three extant Eagels performances)and one of two available currently on video.