New York Nights

 "New York Nights" 1929 directed by Lewis Milestone, written by Hugh Stanislaus Stange and Jules Furthman for Joseph M. Schenck Productions.

Norma Talmadge, Gilbert Roland, John Wray, Lilyan Tashman, Roscoe Karns, Allan Cavan, Stanley Fields, Kit Guard, DeWitt Jennings, Jean Harlow.

So many stars were making their Talkie Debuts in 1929 that this little potboiler with charm got overlooked by the public. Labeled a 'flop', it is a tightly directed Lewis Milestone directed gem and it is not creaky since he knew how to work with sound. I had seen this a very long time ago and I was so focused on spotting Jean Harlow as an extra in the party sequence, the rest of the film was just not as important to me. Now seeing Norma Talmadge, Gilbert Roland and Lilyan Tashman are all of importance as well. Mary Doran, as the little vamp, Ruby, is billed as Mary Koran for some reason. She'd be seen as Janice in "The Divorcee" the next year. This ought to have been the start of some good talkies from Talmadge but she only made one other one, "Du Barry, Woman of Passion", the following year.