Undertow (1930) User Reviews

Beware the undertow...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 27 March 2011]

... is what Paul Whalen's (Johnny Mack Brown's) friends should have warned him before he fell for and married emotional undertow Sally Blake (Mary Nolan). The first part of this movie is sunny and cheerful, set on a beach as Sally vacations with her slimy boyfriend Jim Paine (Robert Ellis). She likes the looks of Paul's muscles in his lifeguard outfit and is even more impressed when he rescues someone who has gotten caught in the undertow out in the sea. Sally dumps Jim and marries Paul, but she isn't prepared for the isolation of living in a lighthouse. This is an assignment Paul asked for - he grew up in one. However it is a life of too much sensory deprivation for Paul's party girl wife. Motherhood doesn't improve her disposition as now she has two people to take out her unhappiness on, the baby and her husband. Jim knows Sally better than Paul and intends to keep the couple out in this remote place in hopes Sally will run away and back to him.

Early in the film Paul hit his head during a rescue, now suddenly in mid argument with Sally he goes blind from the injury. What's worse, Jim, who is unfortunately also Paul's boss, is coming out to the lighthouse soon to have Paul sign some work-related papers. Can he fool Jim long enough to sign those papers and get him out of there, buying the time Paul needs so he can save up for and have an operation that will supposedly restore his sight? I would never recommend you watch this film for its plot or its acting save that of Johnny Mack Brown who was always good. His only problem was that his deep southern accent was not what people expected given his appearance in silent films. Audiences were expecting something more along the lines of Gable's growly voice, and that's exactly what they got after MGM gradually replaced Brown with Gable in roles for which Brown was originally slated. Everybody else here still seems trapped in the silent era, with unfortunate dialogue to match. One exchange between Jim and Sally - "You must! You must! You must!". Her reply: "I can't! I can't! I can't!".

So why watch it? The atmosphere is marvelous. This early talkie Universal film goes from bright skies and sparkling seas to dark skies and stormy seas as the protagonists' situation deteriorates. The use of sound effects and atmosphere rivals the sophistication and artistry of Universal's early horror films, even though this is definitely not in the category of horror. It's truly visually fascinating.

Ok

[HandsomeBen · 5/10 · 15 March 2021]

A woman moves into a lighthouse after falling for a man, but it doesn't turn out the way she thought.

This woman was selfish and miserable to the point where it physically took a toll on her husband. I was hoping he'd kick her out and take care of the baby by himself. She approaches him and wants to get with him. She made the first move and brought so much misery and drama into his life. She even mistreated her baby. I felt so sorry for him. Went into this not knowing much about the story, I thought it would be a simple romance movie about living near the sea, but it turned out to be so much more.

Bizarre But Fascinating

[drednm · 10 November 2010]

Watched the bizarre 1930 film UNDERTOW which starred Mary Nolan and Johnny Mack Brown. In this early talkie Brown plays a lifeguard who clunks his head on a log while saving a kid from drowning. He catches the attention of blonde Nolan who is fighting with her yucky boyfriend (Robert Ellis). They fall in love and go off together to the lighthouse Brown has been assigned to man.

Next scene is three years later with Nolan depressed and looking longingly back toward shore. They fight constantly and their kid is sick. They then have a big fight about "milk from a can" just about the time that Brown goes blind from getting clunked on the head by that log. Later, Ellis is coming to the lighthouse to pick of the records (he's the boss) and Brown tries to hide his blindness. But Ellis catches on and kidnaps the partially willing Nolan.

Back on land she realizes her mistake and steals a boat to get back to the lighthouse. Brown clunks his head on a wall and his eyesight is restored. As the couple starts to make up, Ellis returns but is surprised when Brown can see. They have a big fight.

Nolan made about a dozen talkies up through 1933. Her talkie career never took off although she has a good voice. Brown and Ellis are a tad hammy here. The sets and lighting are excellent in this Universal film. Clocking in at 56 minutes, I wonder if part of this film is missing?

Another Genesis song from And Then There Were Three

[1930s_Time_Machine · 1/10 · 8 November 2023]

Whilst that Genesis song is ultimately about finding hope and light at the end of a dark tunnel, this film is relentlessly miserable and leaves you wishing you hadn't watched it. That's assuming you can make it to the end through the quagmire of despair and bad, really bad writing.

Silent film maker, Harry Pollard actually does a reasonable job using sound to imaginatively enhance his picture. As you'd expect from an experienced silent film director, he creates effective contrast in mood between the sunny, beach based first half with the dark, damp and claustrophobic latter part. As effective as he is with the look of the film, he is completely out of his depth in directing his cast. Acting in a silent film was a totally different skill to acting in a "talker." Silent film stars directed by a silent film director with a truly lousy script is a recipe for disaster.

Mary Nolan isn't too bad and considering her terrible and tragic life (she was nearly beaten to death by her monstrous boyfriend, MGM's 'fixer' a few months earlier) it must have been hard for her to act in those scenes of physical abuse. Her life was so sad. Unfortunately she still comes across as a silent film star not doing a particularly good job as a talking picture star. Even so, she's ten times better than Johnny Mack Brown - he's staggeringly awful.....and as for Robert Ellis, I think we can see why nobody's heard of him!

You don't get too many films set in lighthouses and maybe that's why this is surprisingly memorable - but it's not a memory you want. Even if was made better it would still be a miserable and pointless mess. Listen to Genesis instead!

Universal antique

[Shotsy · 2/10 · 5 June 1999]

Very dated film. Overacted to the point of absurd. Story is OK but presentation is sloppy. Direction is only fair. This one should be forgotten.

Stunning Mary Nolan Tries Her Best With Some Very Melodramatic Dialogue!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 19 January 2011]

Mary Nolan was a natural film actress and had proved, when given the right part that she could more than hold her own in stellar company (Clive Brook, Ruth Chatterton etc). But she was also a troublemaker and by 1930 had quarreled with the head of Universal, the only studio who had any faith left in her. Before she left for oblivion she made four solid films for Universal - "Undertow" being one of them.

The film may have seemed exciting stuff for 1930 but now it comes across as turgid melodrama. Johnny Mack Brown was an actor suited more to the silent screen - a film like this exposed his limitations, happily he was to fare better in Westerns. Robert Ellis (who had appeared in the innovative early musical "Broadway") and Mary Nolan both showed they had a natural talent for talkies.

Just a sunny day at the beach when handsome lifeguard Paul Whalen (Johnny Mack Brown) spies Sally (Mary Nolan) playing beach ball, she is attracted to him as well, especially when he saves the life of a young boy in the surf. She is involved with Paul's boss, Jim (Robert Ellis), but when he finds that Sally has thrown him over for the sappy lifeguard, he immediately assigns Paul to duties as a lighthouse keeper. Paul is as happy as a king, he was bought up in a lighthouse but after three years, the lure of "water, clouds and the sunset" loses it's appeal to Sally and she longs for the bright lights - of the city!!!

During a particularly explosive argument (Nolan made them seem very real - maybe they were!!) Paul finds he is blind!!!(Apparently it was all due to the bump on the head he received when saving that child). When Jim comes to do his monthly inspection, even though they try to pull the wool over his eyes(!!!) Jim realises that Paul is blind. Jim forces Sally to go with him to the mainland ( he doesn't have to twist her arm much) but when she arrives, her long repressed love and sympathy for Paul resurfaces and she flees back to the lighthouse. That's not quite the end - da-da!! Paul can now see and there is a brutal and very realistic fight between him and Jim.

Paul and Sally's little girl disappeared during the last half of the movie (explained away by a visit to the grandparents). I think she would have been very happy away as Sally's maternal feelings were almost non existent. "Whadya Want!!!" she shouts at the child when she goes to soothe her crying!!

Recommended for Mary's beauty!!

Highly Melodramatic Talkie With Beauteous Blonde Mary Nolan

[Thrift_Store_Junkie05 · 10/10 · 20 May 2008]

Undertow is a 1930 film directed by Harry A. Pollard and it stars Johnny Mack Brown (Paul), Mary Nolan (Sally) and Robert Ellis (Jim) in a story about a girl named Sally who quickly falls in love with life guard Paul during a joyous and pleasurable day on the beach, leaving her incredibly jealous male companion in the process who isn't exactly hurried to let his girl relinquish their already third engagement. Therefore, Paul eventually talks Sally into sharing his life as a lighthouse keeper and in result the film leaps forward in time to an unhappily married Sally who is now a mother and seemingly confined from the exuberant life of lavish parties and dancing that she once knew. From here the film is exceedingly gloomy and filled with a plentiful of turn of events.

As for the quality of this low budget early talkie, the print I viewed was in relatively decent condition, though one must make mention that the films running time clocks in at a mere sixty minutes and in consequence of that short running time the story fails to ever truly develop. The jump forward in time from the beach to the lighthouse happens very rapidly, which assumably was the outcome of bad editing. Therefore, when the film is appearing to it's climax and abrupt ending, one is apparently just getting into the film. With that being said, the direction is expectedly flat for an early talkie, as well as the acting being horribly stilted and melodramatic, especially from Johnny Mack Brown who is hardly convincing during the times of heroic lifeguard or lighthouse keeper in sorrow.

Therefore, despite it's enormous flaws, Undertow most certainly has the ability to hold it's viewers attention and entertain quite pleasantly. However, this is hardly of any interest to anyone who isn't a fan of the films two biggest stars, Mary Nolan and Johnny Mack Brown. The fans of especially Mary Nolan will be greatly overjoyed in simply seeing the blonde beauty in something rather than Tod Browning's West of Zanzibar (1928) or Desert Nights (1929) with John Gilbert and her performance in all actuality is tolerable when compared to the vast majority of performances during the early talkie era, she displays an innumerable amount of range and diversity within the hour and in greater distance proves she could've been a huge star.