Nainen ja tilaisuus

In a "ritzy" hotel, seductive Norma Shearer (as Dolly "Angel Face" Morgan) uses her job as telephone operator to connect with wealthy gentlemen. Recently paroled, Ms. Shearer shows off her thighs under torn stockings while sharing a hard luck story, then lures the men to her apartment. There is, of course, a high price to be paid; in case on screen, Shearer makes out with a tidy $10,000. The plot thickens when Shearer's crooked cohorts Lowell Sherman (as Bradley) and Gwen Lee (as Gwen) want a piece of her solo action. Shearer successfully scams the pair, but they turn up to cause more trouble when she sets her sights on handsome cement tycoon Johnny Mack Brown (as Steve Crandall), who has a surprise of his own to reveal...

This was Shearer's last "silent" film; though MGM seemed reluctant to move their stars into talking pictures, several of them became even bigger stars, so the delay worked out very well for those. Curiously, this film has been shown without its "Synchronized Musical Score and Sound Effects" (SSE) on "Turner Classic Movies" (TCM). TCM premiered "A Lady of Chance" with an "all-new" music score in 2001, but had host Robert Osborne discussing the original soundtrack before a 2012 "Silent Sunday" airing, apparently unaware TCM was not showing the original version. Late 1920s "silent films" (which were never "silent") were typically released with SSE. Hopefully, the original soundtracks will be restored; the present trend needs reversing.

***** A Lady of Chance (12/1/28) Robert Z. Leonard ~ Norma Shearer, Lowell Sherman, Johnny Mack Brown, Gwen Lee