The Painted Desert (1931)

[Scott]

THE PAINTED DESERT (1931) A co-worker let me borrow this DVD and thought I'd make a few comments. It was almost like a silent film only with words (yes, I said that all by myself). Two guys find an abandoned baby in the desert and fight over who keeps him. One owns a watering hole and  the other is a cattleman. The baby grows up and tries to set things straight. This film stars Bill Boyd of Hopalong Cassidy fame. Clark Gable also has a role in the film as the bad guy. Not bad for a 74 year old Western.

[Deej]

Scott wrote:

>. It was almost like a silent film only with words (yes, I said that all by
> myself).

I know exactly what you mean, Scott. Not much dialogue in the early talkies. And what dialogue there was, was pretty brief.I also enjoy the long pauses between spoken lines. One actor will deliver his line, then the next actor will wait about 5 seconds to reply..BEAUTIFUL!!

Have you noticed that in early talkies (before they invented the boom-mic) you can tell where the mics were hidden based on the genre of the film? In urban-dramas, there'd be a telephone in every scene, in westerns, a cactus in every scene, drawing room comedys...potted plant! And all the actors in the scene would gather around that one prop to deliver their lines! I think this must be why there were never more than three actors with lines in one scene. Imagine, the logistics involved in having 20 actors speak their lines around one potted plant!!

[Scott]

LOL, that's to funny Deej. Where have you been?

Stick around Deej we're using "emoticons" these days ! The very latest in message boarding technology................................

THE PAINTED DESERT might need a second viewing so I can spot them mic plants. You should have told me earlier now I have to watch it again.

[Deej]

Yeah, check it out, Scott. They're not always as easy to pick out as the examples I mentioned. But, when you see the characters exchanging dialogue....look for a prop that's situated in the middle of them, that'll probably be it! The most famous example is a 1928 gangster flick called THE LIGHTS OF NEW YORK. Seriously, there is a telephone in every scene and the characters who are speaking are always gathered near it!