''Interference'' is a 1928 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Lothar Mendes Lothar Mendes (19 May 1894 – 24 February 1974) was a German-born screenwriter and film director. His two best known films are ''Jew Süss (1934 film), Jew Süss'' (1934) and ''The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' (1936), both productions for Briti ...

, as Paramount Pictures' first feature-length all-talking motion picture. It stars

Clive Brook Clifford Hardman "Clive" Brook (1 June 1887 – 17 November 1974) was an English stage and film actor. After making his first screen appearance in 1920, Brook emerged as a leading British actor in the early 1920s. After moving to the Unit ...

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin M ...

Evelyn Brent Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs; October 20, 1895 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Brent was born in Tampa, Florida and known as "Betty." When she was 10 years old, her mother Eleanor ( Warner) die ...

, and Doris Kenyon, all making their sound film debuts. In

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, when a first husband turns out not to be dead, blackmail leads to murder.

Plot

At a

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces me ...

service in London, Deborah Kane spots her old flame Philip Voaze who was supposedly killed during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. She discovers that he has actually survived the fighting and has been living under an assumed identity. Aware that his wife Faith is now remarried to Sir John Marlay, a famous heart surgeon, she tries to force Philip to return to her by threatening to reveal Faith's inadvertent

bigamy In a culture where only monogamous relationships are legally recognized, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their mar ...

. Philip eventually concludes that the only way to defend Faith's present happiness is to kill Deborah.

Cast

as Philip Voaze *

as Deborah Kane *

as Sir John Marlay * Doris Kenyon as Faith Marlay *

Tom Ricketts Thomas B. Ricketts (15 January 1853 – 19 January 1939) was an English-born American stage actor, stage and motion picture, film actor and film director, director who was a pioneer in the film industry. He portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in the fi ...

as Charles Smith * Brandon Hurst as Inspector Haynes * Louis Payne as Childers *

Wilfred Noy Wilfred Noy (born Wilfred Noy Blumberg, 24 December 1883 – 29 March 1948) was an English film director, actor, screenwriter and film producer, producer of the silent film, silent era. Noy was the maternal uncle of Leslie Howard (actor), Le ...

as Dr. Gray *Donald Stuart as Freddie * Clyde Cook as Hearse Driver

Production

The film was originally produced as a silent which was directed by Lothar Mendes. However, after its completion, Paramount halted its release and decided to remake the film completely in sound. The sound version was directed by special effects technician-turned-director Roy J. Pomeroy, as the basis for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

' first feature-length all-talking motion picture. Since Pomeroy lacked experience as a director, he was assisted by William deMille during the filming. It was based on the 1927 West End play ''Interference'' by

Roland Pertwee Roland Pertwee (15 May 1885 – 26 April 1963) was an English playwright, film and television screenwriter, director and actor. He was the father of ''Doctor Who'' actor Jon Pertwee and playwright and screenwriter Michael Pertwee. He was al ...

and Harold Dearden. It was shot on a budget of $250,000. A silent version was also released to cater for theaters that had not yet wired for sound. While the sound version survives, the silent version is now lost. In 1935, it was remade by Paramount as '' Without Regret''.

Critical reception

The film was praised in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as "a specimen of the strides made by the talking picture". However, a '' Variety'' review was more negative, describing ''Interference'' as "indifferent entertainment". At the London premiere, Clive Brook's mother remembered a gaff during the screening that put the crowd in an uproar. In one scene, Brook receives a postcard, tears it up and says, "Another one of those damn postcards." The needle on the disk for sound got stuck and kept repeating, "Another one of those damn postcards," over and over again while Brook, on-screen, took his wife into his arms and kissed her.Eyman, Scott. ''The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution 1926-1930''. Simon and Schuster, New York: 1997.

References

Bibliography

* Bryant, Roger. ''William Powell: The Life and Films''. McFarland, 2014.

External links

* * {{Lothar Mendes 1928 films American black-and-white films American films based on plays Films directed by Lothar Mendes Transitional sound films 1928 crime drama films Films set in England 1920s English-language films Paramount Pictures films American crime drama films Films set in London 1920s American films Films scored by W. Franke Harling English-language crime drama films