Orchids and Ermine (1927) User Reviews

Breezy 20s Romp

[Maleejandra · 8/10 · 4 October 2006]

Orchids and Ermine is the story of a girl who loves and wants both from her husband. "Pink" Watson (Colleen Moore) refuses the love of a working class man for the dream of wealth and prosperity. She wins a job as a telephone operator in a ritzy hotel simply because she is not overdone. There she meets Ermintrude (Gwen Lee), a gold digger who only appears to be more successful than Pink. The two become part of a trick among a very wealthy man and his valet. Richard Tabor (Jack Milhall) is a meek, intellectual type which is probably why he is a millionaire. To avoid being swarmed by gold diggers, he switches identities with his valet Hank (Sam Hardy) who gladly parades his "wealth" around. In the process he meets Pink who falls for him despite his money and becomes the victim of various mishaps due to the switch.

This is yet another silly film starring Moore, but a good one. She's a lot of fun in her comic role. Milhall is great too, very reminiscent of Harold Lloyd's bashful character. Also making an appearance is Mickey Rooney, a seven year old playing a sophisticated midget. You'd never guess it was him by his looks, but his acting ability is apparent even at this early stage.

A fun and enjoyable watch!

[sean-ramsden · 7/10 · 29 April 2020]

Orchids and Ermine kept a steady pace going throughout the film. There were no scenes or segments that lacked or destroyed the pace of the movie. Every scene hit well with me personally.

The film is not one to get overly excited about. It is an easy-going romantic comedy from the silent era of the movies. It is a fairly simple story to follow even with characters being thought to be someone else (all part of the plot).

Colleen Moore does a brilliant performance in this short feature film, only lasting 1 hour 5 minutes. She is a star of the era and she truly represents the 1920s. She plays a very likeable character who is easy to watch and always provides a great moment with a close up.

This is not a film that has, or will ever, become a classic. But it is a film that you can watch and enjoy!

The Moore the merrier

[hte-trasme · 7/10 · 26 April 2010]

Colleen Moore plays a poor girl who longs to marry a rich man, then eventually gets the chance to do so after the complications from a case of mistaken identity are ironed out in this comedy feature. There's not too much story here, really, and what there is consists of a fairly tired plot involving a millionaire and his valet switching places for a day. The value is provided by the ever-charming star in Colleen Moore, who has unequaled panache in making her way through whatever scene she is in or in any of various bits of business that she gets to do.

It's lucky for this film that the protagonist is played by someone with the adorable screen presence of Moore, since many others would probably have had trouble bringing much likability to a character who main revealed quality at the start is that she is money-hungry. Of course, this is reversed by the end of the film.

Despite the unoriginal and sometimes unbelievable (if this man is supposed to be such a famous millionaire, why do no photographs of him seem to exist in the world?), there is also a charming frivolous quality to the film, with plenty of witty and self-consciously silly title cards, that imparts the feeling that everyone knew they were making something of a cookie-cutter film and decided to have fun with it. That and the char,m of the star raise this up from being something forgettable into quite fun viewing.

Stylish, warm-hearted flapper comedy one of Moore's finest

[pooch-8 · 27 July 1999]

Quintessential flapper Colleen Moore shines brightly in the darling Orchids and Ermine, a bubbly comedy with a title that perfectly matches its Roaring Twenties sensibility. As Pink Watson, a lowly hotel telephone operator who falls in love with an oil millionaire without even knowing it (the wealthy businessman has traded places with his valet to escape relentless gold diggers), Moore shows off indomitable spirit with a razor-sharp tongue to match -- courtesy of Ralph Spence's inter-titles. The energetic Moore has a unique gift for silent screen humor, and Orchids and Ermine, with a bounty of misunderstandings, will not disappoint those in search of a Jazz Age romantic comedy served up with plenty of heart to go along with its fizz.

Pleasing romantic comedy

[Philipp_Flersheim · 7/10 · 6 February 2022]

The 1920s and the decades thereafter must have seen hundreds of films about poor girls who fall in love with rich men and eventually marry them, without, of course, being in any way gold diggers! The genre seems to have died - maybe at the hand of comedies like 'Some Like it Hot' (1959) - by the 1960s. 'Orchids and Ermine' is a thoroughly pleasing example. Its plot is simple but offers some enjoyable twists, and the acting is really very good. Colleen Moore was perfect in the kind of role she plays here. The film is less sophisticated than that of for example 'Why Be Good' (another film of the poor girl-rich man genre), that Moore filmed two years later, which is why I am rating it seven rather than eight stars, but this is still a very nice picture. Watch it if you get the chance.

Gwen Lee Almost Steals the Show!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 31 August 2021]

Even by 1927 Colleen Moore was tiring and trying to avoid flapper roles - after immersing herself and getting critical praise for her starring role in "So Big" she felt she had earned her dramatic stripes but First National was in the middle of a flapper frenzy and she was the star who typified that. And she was right to feel aggrieved - even though many of her films are missing, this is pretty light weight and obviously made at the height of her popularity when just her name on a poster would have sold tickets.

She is Pinks Watson, a switchboard operator for Gotham Cement whose dreams of orchids and ermine and rich he-flappers takes her to the Deluxe Hotel where her lack of artifice gets her a job as the receptionist!! Once on the job she becomes the innocent pupil of gold digging Ermitrude of the notions counter and Gwen Lee almost steals the movie. She prances and poses and already on Pink's first day has a millionaire for them both to take for a ride - unfortunately he takes them as he is only a chauffeur!!

In a plotline so old it has whiskers, millionaire Richard Tabor (Jack Mulhall) is fed up with the fortune hunters so he changes places with his valet (Sam Hardy) who thinks he has all the right moves and wise cracks. The climax of the movie has Hardy marrying Ermitrude but because he is still using the Richard Tabor name his picture is splashed over the front page which makes it very hard for the real Tabor to prove his identity. Apart from Mickey Rooney, even at seven, frighteningly professional as a flirtatious cigar smoking midget, there is Hedda Hopper as a modiste and Alma Bennett as a vamp. Gwen Lee almost steals the show!!

Delightful ups and downs!

[JohnHowardReid · 9/10 · 10 January 2018]

Copyright 23 February 1927 by First National Pictures. U.S. release: 6 March 1927. New York opening at the Mark Strand: 18 April 1927. 7 reels. 6,734 feet. 75 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: The ups and downs of a switchboard operator and a multi-millionaire in an elite New York hotel.

COMMENT: What a shame to have to see one of Colleen Moore's finest outings in a condensed 5-reel Kodascope Library black-and-white print, instead of a 7-reel tinted copy. True, the trimming has been expertly achieved and the worn print is quite watchable. In fact, nothing can dampen the comedic talents of Colleen as she runs the gamut of rich man to poor (and back again). And what I really like about this Alfred Santell movie, is that it's so extravagantly produced. Three or four of the most effective gags absolutely depend upon an open-handed check book, and it's pleasing to see that First National have not stinted in the least, but spent money like water just to obtain a few really hearty thirty-second laughs.

In one sequence, for instance, Jack Mulhall bribes the driver of a double-decker bus to overtake the vehicle on which Miss Moore is traveling. When the busses draw level, Jack (or rather, his stuntman) jumps from one to the other! In another sequence, in a real Lubitsch-type gag, Colleen applies for a job as a switchboard operator in a swank hotel. Ahead of her, winding up the staircase, is a queue of over a hundred literally dressed-to-the-nines mannequins. Of course there are many less expensive pleasures in the movie as well, not the least of which is Mickey Rooney's gag appearance as a cantankerous little midget! Gwen Lee, Jack Mulhall and Sam Hardy also contribute to the fun, but it's mostly Moore's movie from first to last. And that's the way we like it! AVAILABLE on DVD through Grapevine Video. Quality rating: Seven out of ten. This print is in black-and-white, not tinted. An extremely washed out, but pleasingly tinted print was once available from Sunrise Silents.

Colleen Moore at her most charming.

[sapearso · 16 December 2001]

Colleen Moore was one of the really great comediennes of the silent era. Orchids and Ermine shows her off at her very best. Her puzzlement at the appearance of Mickey Rooney is worth the movie by itself. And when she rejects the fresh overtures of Jack Mulhall and leaves with her dignity intact, it is not difficult to see why he would chase her through New York City in a driving rain, board a double-decker bus, pay the bus driver to catch up with her bus, and then leap from the top of his bus to hers in order to explain himself. What male would not be smitten? When true love triumphs in the end it hardly seems contrived. Surely no male, rich or poor, would ever consider life worth living without Colleen Moore.

Colleen Moore on a Bus in the Rain

[drednm · 18 December 2005]

Cute comedy with Colleen Moore as a switchboard operator at a fancy hotel who meets an oil millionaire from Oklahoma but she thinks he's the valet. Not a great comedy but perfectly OK with a nice performance by Moore, who by the late 20s was one of the biggest box office draws in movies.

Several good scenes save this but is seems a bit sluggish and slow to get going. Jack Mulhall plays the millionaire, Sam Hardy is the valet, Gwen Lee is Ermintrude the "friend," Hedda Hopper plays the sales lady, and 7-year-old Mickey Rooney plays a midget! Moore is very good once the story gets rolling, a natural comic and film actress, she could be beautiful or look like Harry Langdon. Her trademark hair-do made her stand out. The rest of the cast is fine in this little comedy.

Orchids and Ermine was a big hit, but not as big as Lilac Time in 1928, which was a smash! Unfortunately Colleen Moore flopped in a series of badly made semi-talkies and a few attempts at talkies.