Get That Girl

The story in "Get the Girl" is simple. Dick (Talmadge) gets on a train where he meets an heiress heading to collect her fortune. However, if she doesn't arrive on time, Ruth (Shirley Grey) will forfeit her money--and a gang of hired thugs will do anything to stop her. Naturally, Dick comes to the rescue and spends almost the entire movie trying to save her from these crooks...as well as a mad doctor.

According to IMDb, while Richard Talmadge wasn't a famous movie star in the US, he was popular abroad (particularly in the USSR). When you see this film, it's easy to see why. Although he didn't have good looks, Talmadge was an acrobat...and he is VERY acrobatic in the film. And, since it was intended for international release, the film has a super-simple plot and is action-oriented. They didn't even bother adding any music to the movie--but relied almost exclusively on Tadmadge's physical stunts to carry the film. While Americans wouldn't think much of "Get That Girl", I could see how it would do better abroad...especially in countries where they hadn't yet switched to sound. In many ways, the film is like a silent action movie and simply adding a few intertitle cards could make it a silent. Overall, I'd say it's not a very good sound film but would make a dandy silent--particularly since the sound quality is rather poor.