IMDb plot summary: A woman who owns a boarding house winds up being the "mother hen" to the assorted mobsters and racketeers who live there. Her foster son takes the blame for a murder that was actually committed by his girlfriend. When he's released, her boarding-house pals decide to try to help her out in order to keep his girlfriend's reputation isn't spoiled.
Directed by John Francis Dillon. Stars Billie Dove, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Helen Ware.
One Night at Susie's tells the story of an older woman who runs a hotel and keeps friendly relations with all the local gangsters, in exchange for them not trying to lure her adopted son into the crime business. He falls in love with a young actress she disapproves of, however, and that disapproval gets even worse when the son is sent to jail for a crime the actress committed. This was a fairly interesting idea, although I wish there had been a little bit more focus on the relationship between Susie and her adopted son more than the crime gang schemings. I wasn't sure how the story was going to end but I did find the final scene very satisfying from a storytelling standpoint. It's a slightly different twist on the crime stories that are so prevalent in this era in filmmaking. Pretty decent!
How it entered my Flickchart:
One Night at Susie's (1930)
lost to Anonymous (#1992 → #1990)
beat A Girl of the Limberlost (#2985 → #2989)
lost to The Secret War of Harry Frigg (#2489 → #2429)
lost to Marvin's Room (#2737 → #2722)
lost to In the Mood for Love (#2861 → #2857)
beat Despicable Me (held at #2923)
beat A Prairie Home Companion (#2892 → #2896)
beat The Disappearance of Alice Creed (#2876 → #2883)
beat The White Ribbon (#2868 → #2869)
lost to Biloxi Blues (#2864 → #2863)
beat Frida (#2866 → #2867)
lost to Kiki's Delivery Service (#2865 → #2864)
Ranked #2865/3988 on my Flickchart. Flickscore™: 29. This is definitely off, I'd expect this to be around the 40% mark, so there are some things out of place on my chart. But this is where it sits for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment