This short promotional film, a trailer for MGM's Wallace Beery programmer, THE BAD MAN is not a finer example of the genre. In an effort to make you want to go to this movie for the sake of its wonderful scenic photography, it shows you picture-postcard shots of those scenes -- mostly mountaintops -- which makes them seem rather dull, especially as narrator Frank Whitbeck obviously oversells it on irrelevant grounds, like how expensive the movie cameras are.
Trailers were the most conservatively edited movies during Hollywood's heyday, preserving many of the -- to the modern eye -- old-fashioned effects, like title cards and wipes, long after they had vanished from the usual editing vocabulary. This was, I think in an effort to drag your attention to the screen while you were looking for your coat and putting on your hat to leave the theater. This one is frequently annoying, thanks to Mr. Whitbeck's narration.
Trailers were the most conservatively edited movies during Hollywood's heyday, preserving many of the -- to the modern eye -- old-fashioned effects, like title cards and wipes, long after they had vanished from the usual editing vocabulary. This was, I think in an effort to drag your attention to the screen while you were looking for your coat and putting on your hat to leave the theater. This one is frequently annoying, thanks to Mr. Whitbeck's narration.
