Lights of New York (1928)

Two men are conned into bootlegging business.

Director:

Bryan Foy

Writers:

Murray Roth (by), Hugh Herbert (by)

Stars:

Helene Costello, Cullen Landis, Mary Carr

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Helene Costello	...	Kitty Lewis
Cullen Landis	...	Eddie Morgan
Mary Carr	...	Mrs. Morgan
Wheeler Oakman	...	'Hawk' Miller
Gladys Brockwell	...	Molly Thompson
Robert Elliott	...	Detective Crosby
Eugene Pallette	...	Gene
Tom Dugan	...	Sam
Tom McGuire	...	Collins
Walter Percival	...	Jake Jackson
Guy D'Ennery	...	Tommy (as Guy Dennery)
Jere Delaney	...	Dan Dickson

Storyline

A young kid from Upstate New York named Eddie (Landis) is conned into fronting for a speakeasy on Broadway. Throughout the con there is an inevitable chorus-girl with a heart of gold (Costello), a cop-killing gangster boss (Oakman) and his downtrodden ex-girlfriend (Brockwell).

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Plot Keywords:

broadway manhattan new york city | policeman | telephone | times square manhattan new york city | speakeasy | 

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Taglines:

NOT A SUB-TITLE IN THE PICTURE! (Print Ad- Milwaukee Sentinel,((Milwaukee, Wisc)) 15 July 1928)

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 July 1928 (USA)

Also Known As:

Svetla Njujorka

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,200,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

57 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Vitaphone)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Eddie is told to stay away from "the roaring forties", meaning the Times Square (42nd St.) area of NYC., then and for many later years known as an entertainment district and for its' wild night life. The free spirited decade of the 1920s can be described in the same vein, as "roaring".

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Goofs

In Central Park, one of Kitty's lines is repeated.

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Quotes

Hawk Miller: I want you guys to make him disappear.
Sam: Oh. You mean...
Hawk Miller: Take him for a ride.

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Connections

Featured in American Masters: You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008)

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Soundtracks

The Stars and Stripes Forever
(1896) (uncredited)
Music by John Philip Sousa
Played by the nightclub band for "The Dancing Pirates"

User Reviews

Take him for a ride

Fascinating and amusingly bad, Lights of New York is the first all talkie feature and one that almost never saw the light of day.

Two naive barbers (Eddie and Gene) from out of town get involved with bootleggers and end up fronting a speak. When a cop is shot by one of the bootleggers the police start to close in, and the Hawk (who shot the officer) decides to pin the murder on Eddie instructing his henchman to "take him for a ride". But it's the Hawk himself who takes the bullet in a twist that will surprise few.

Shot in one week at a cost of $23,000, "Lights" was originally meant as a two reeler but Foy took advantage of Jack Warner's absence to extend it to six. When Warner discovered this he ordered Foy to cut it back to the original short. Only when an independent exhibitor offered $25k for the film, did Warners actually look at the film, which went on to make a staggering $1.3 million.

Seen now this is an extremely hokey piece, with acting that ranges from the passable (Eugene Pallette) to trance like (Eddie's Granny in a particularly risible scene) and much of the playing is at the level of vaudeville. Since it's an early talkie (4 part-talkies preceded it) that's about all the characters do, and very slowly at that. The script feels improvised, visual style is non existent (apart from the shooting scene done in silhouette) and scenes grind on interminably. Title cards are intercut which redundantly announce characters and locales.

Despite all this "Lights" is a compelling experience, as we watch actors and crew struggling with the alien technology, and changing cinema for ever.

Catch it if you can