Even though in sound films Reginald Denny patented the part of the pompous "silly ass" Englishman, in silents he came across as a second string Douglas Fairbanks - an all American boy!! He was Universal's top male star during the twenties and progressed through the series of "Leatherpusher" shorts into fully fledged stardom. Boxing certainly stood him in good stead in "The Night Bird" - the fight scenes are the best thing about this pretty mundane film. Denny looks as though he can really handle himself in a pair of boxing gloves.
He plays Jimmy "The Kid" Davis whose "woman hating" ways have not endured him to his fans, especially the ladies. Gate receipts are down and his manager (dependable Sam Hardy) has decided to take him out on the town to mingle with ordinary people and get rid of his "powder puff" image!! While walking through Central Park he meets Madelina who has fled from a beating by a drunken stepfather.
Maybe in the 1920s these ethnic titles may have been the height of hilarity but now titles like "Meesta Schumcks -youa noa send me backa" and "I lovesa da keed" are terrible and tedious. Most of the film seems to take place in the boy's apartment as they try to think how Madelina's presence can be explained. Betsy Lee was pretty but fortunately she caught the eye of Denny and they married in 1928 - her career would never have overcome the risible dialogue her character was forced to utter.
Far more interesting were two flappers only billed as "the red headed dame" and "the blonde dame". Jocelyn Lee was "red" - I don't know whether she was a good actress or not. She was hilarious as the other woman in "Broadway Babies". In that one she handled dialogue in a breathy Marilyn Monroe voice - she may have been the world's worst actress. I like to think she was shrewd and played her part that way on purpose. "Blonde" was Corliss Palmer - in real life she had captured the attentions of movie magazine publisher and producer Eugene V. Brewster who spent the rest of the twenties trying to make her a star - without success. All she had going for her, alas, was her beauty. At the very end scene you can see Dwight Frye (in his very first role) at the door as a wedding guest.
He plays Jimmy "The Kid" Davis whose "woman hating" ways have not endured him to his fans, especially the ladies. Gate receipts are down and his manager (dependable Sam Hardy) has decided to take him out on the town to mingle with ordinary people and get rid of his "powder puff" image!! While walking through Central Park he meets Madelina who has fled from a beating by a drunken stepfather.
Maybe in the 1920s these ethnic titles may have been the height of hilarity but now titles like "Meesta Schumcks -youa noa send me backa" and "I lovesa da keed" are terrible and tedious. Most of the film seems to take place in the boy's apartment as they try to think how Madelina's presence can be explained. Betsy Lee was pretty but fortunately she caught the eye of Denny and they married in 1928 - her career would never have overcome the risible dialogue her character was forced to utter.
Far more interesting were two flappers only billed as "the red headed dame" and "the blonde dame". Jocelyn Lee was "red" - I don't know whether she was a good actress or not. She was hilarious as the other woman in "Broadway Babies". In that one she handled dialogue in a breathy Marilyn Monroe voice - she may have been the world's worst actress. I like to think she was shrewd and played her part that way on purpose. "Blonde" was Corliss Palmer - in real life she had captured the attentions of movie magazine publisher and producer Eugene V. Brewster who spent the rest of the twenties trying to make her a star - without success. All she had going for her, alas, was her beauty. At the very end scene you can see Dwight Frye (in his very first role) at the door as a wedding guest.
