4 Star

The Voice of Silence.

#250-252 in Eureka’s Masters of Cinema releases comes a true look back in time to the silent Silver-screen, with three very different films in this, the first volume of classic films from that golden era of the roaring 1920’s. The Boom before the Bust of the 1930’s.

Firstly we have a classic comedy from director William A. Seiter  (The Lady Wants Mink, Susannah of the Mounties), taken from the story by Henry Irving Dodge (The Yellow Dog (story)).

Skinner (Reginald Denny, Around the World in 80 Days, Cat Ballou) and his wife Honey (Laura La Plante, High Society, Show Boat) live in the suburbs, Honey is proud of her husband and wants him to do well at his job for McLaughlin and Perkins Inc, working in nuts and bolts. Honey wants new things for the house and for Skinner as they have been invited to a grand party.

So Honey tells Skinner that he must ask for a raise to pay for it all. Now the shopping and the comedy starts.

With the comedy done with, we are hit by a blatant show of support for the LAPD in the guise of The Shield of Honour. Where we see the first police aviator in Jack MacDowell (Neil Hamilton, Batman: The Movie, Batman (TV Series) ) along with his ground bound lifelong police officer father Dan (Ralph Lewis, Casey Jones, The Lost City) who is about to get a medal at the gathering of all the LAPD. The special guests are Matthew O’Day (Fred Esmelton, Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman, The Darling of New York) the well renowned  jeweller and his daughter Gwen (Dorothy Gulliver, The Phantom of the West, The Guest House) who is the apple of Jacks eye.

There are dastardly deeds being done against the O’Day customers, they are stealing their diamond rings. Who could be doing such a dastardly thing? Sounds like a job for Jack and Dan to me.

Lastly, we have The Shakedown, a tale of a man in a scam, Dave Roberts (James Murray, The Little Wildcat, The Reckoning) a handsome likeable man and when the big lout Roff (George Kotsonaros, The Wizard, The Body Punch) starts harassing a woman Dave steps in to save her. The big guy challenges Dave to be the man to earn  $1000 and survive four rounds in the ring with him. He accepts, and the whole town is behind him. The bets are on Dave. Big mistake folks.

Dave moves town and gets a job in the oil fields of Boonton where he meets Margie (Barbara Kent, The War Hawks, Welcome Danger) the girl that runs the canteen. While chatting her up, a homeless lad (Clem) (Jack Hanlon, The Wagon Master, Big Money) steals a meringue pie and Dave gives chase. Clem trips and knocks himself out on train lines. Dave just manages to save him from certain death. Now he has Clem to look after as he courts Margie and trains for a boxing match. Will Dave’s sense of justice prevail, or will the lucrative scam continue?

Early Universal Vol 1 is a great way to spend a couple of weekend matinée’s enjoying these slices of celluloid history, now restored for posterity in digital form, and your pleasure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early Universal Vol 1 is available on Blu-ray

SPECIAL TWO DISC BLU-RAY EDITION CONTAINS

Limited Edition O-Card slipcase
1080p presentation on Blu-ray from restorations undertaken by Universal Pictures (Skinner’s Dress Suit and The Shakedown restored in 4K, The Shield of Honor restored in 2K)
Skinner’s Dress Suit – score by Leo Birenberg
The Shield of Honor – score by Alex Kovacs
The Shakedown – score by Michael Gatt
Skinner’s Dress Suit – Brand new audio commentary by film historian and writer David Kalat
The Shield of Honor – Brand new audio commentary by professor and film scholar Jason A. Ney
The Shakedown – Audio commentary by film writer Nick Pinkerton
PLUS: A collector’s booklet featuring new writing by critic Richard Combs and film writer Andrew Graves