I have said here and elsewhere that in their collaborations it was Gaynor who carried Farrell, a competent actor who would have had a decent career based on his looks and talent rather than genius: think Richard Arlen. It was the teaming with Gaynor that made him, for a while anyway, a star.
Or so I thought until I saw this movie. In this one, sitting in a wheelchair, scrubbing Gaynor's hair ("Why, Baa-baa! You're a blond!"), and later, Gaynor lets him carry the scenes, and he does it: aggressive, funny, dynamic, angry and thunderstruck.
There are the usual Borzage touches, including the surrealistic farmhouse -- attributed to the Murnau influence, but really, Borzage was going that way already. It had everything to do with his mysticism, I think. His impressionistic sets helped create a private world where miracles could happen. Or maybe make it apparent.
Or so I thought until I saw this movie. In this one, sitting in a wheelchair, scrubbing Gaynor's hair ("Why, Baa-baa! You're a blond!"), and later, Gaynor lets him carry the scenes, and he does it: aggressive, funny, dynamic, angry and thunderstruck.
There are the usual Borzage touches, including the surrealistic farmhouse -- attributed to the Murnau influence, but really, Borzage was going that way already. It had everything to do with his mysticism, I think. His impressionistic sets helped create a private world where miracles could happen. Or maybe make it apparent.