The Blue Eagle (1926)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
George (George O'Brien) and 'Big' TIm (WIlliam Russell) are in the Navy fighting in WWI but they spend more time battling each other because they're both in love with Rose (Janet Gaynor). After the war they return home and start fighting over the girl but soon drugs are destroying their town so they decide to fight that.
THE BLUE EAGLE is a rather bizarre film from director John Ford. It clocks in at just 56-minutes and is said to be missing at least a reel and possibly more. The print I watched from The Library of Congress is missing an entire battle sequence early on, which was supposed to be the highlight of the picture.
I'm curious if more is missing here but as it stands in its current version, it's certainly worth watching if you're a fan of the director. The majority of the running time is more slapstick than anything else as the two men name call and fight each other and in fact that are two scenes inside a ring, which is a lot considering the already short running time.
The performances by the three leads are good enough to where you should watch the picture and that's especially true for Gaynor. The film isn't a complete success because the back-and-forth love triangle just isn't all that funny and the drug scenario pretty much comes out of nowhere and almost seems like it should be a separate movie.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
George (George O'Brien) and 'Big' TIm (WIlliam Russell) are in the Navy fighting in WWI but they spend more time battling each other because they're both in love with Rose (Janet Gaynor). After the war they return home and start fighting over the girl but soon drugs are destroying their town so they decide to fight that.
THE BLUE EAGLE is a rather bizarre film from director John Ford. It clocks in at just 56-minutes and is said to be missing at least a reel and possibly more. The print I watched from The Library of Congress is missing an entire battle sequence early on, which was supposed to be the highlight of the picture.
I'm curious if more is missing here but as it stands in its current version, it's certainly worth watching if you're a fan of the director. The majority of the running time is more slapstick than anything else as the two men name call and fight each other and in fact that are two scenes inside a ring, which is a lot considering the already short running time.
The performances by the three leads are good enough to where you should watch the picture and that's especially true for Gaynor. The film isn't a complete success because the back-and-forth love triangle just isn't all that funny and the drug scenario pretty much comes out of nowhere and almost seems like it should be a separate movie.