''The Barker'' is a 1928 American part-talkie

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 ...

romantic drama film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, acquired in September 1928. The film was directed by

George Fitzmaurice George Fitzmaurice (13 February 1885 – 13 June 1940) was a French-born film director and Film producer, producer. Career Fitzmaurice's career first started as a set designer on stage. Beginning in 1914, and continuing until his death in 1940 ...

and stars Milton Sills, Dorothy Mackaill,

Betty Compson Betty Compson (born Eleanor Luicime Compson; March 19, 1897 – April 18, 1974) was an American actress and film producer who got her start during Hollywood's silent era. She is best known for her performances in ''The Docks of New York'' and '' ...

, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. ''The Barker'' is a part-talkie with talking sequences and sequences with synchronized musical scoring and sound effects. According to the film review in Variety, 44 percent (or 38 minutes) of the total running time featured dialogue. The film was adapted by Benjamin Glazer, Joseph Jackson and Herman J. Mankiewicz from the play by Kenyon Nicholson. The Broadway play of the same name which opened at the Biltmore Theatre January 18, 1927 and ran until July 1927 for 221 performances. In the stage production Walter Huston was "Nifty" and a still relatively unknown

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert (koʊlˈbɛər/ kohl-BAIR, born Émilie "Lily" Claudette Chauchoin (ʃoʃwɛ̃/ show-shwan); September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway theater, Broadway productions dur ...

was "Lou", played in the film by Dorothy Mackaill.

Plot

The film tells the story of a woman, Lou ( Dorothy Mackaill), who comes between a man, Nifty Miller ( Milton Sills), and his estranged son Chris (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Nifty is a carnival barker who is in love with a dancing girl and is ambitious to have his son, Chris, become a lawyer. Chris has other ideas and during his vacation he hops a freight, joins the carnival, and weds a dancing girl (Mackaill). Eventually, Chris fulfills the ambition his father had for him.

Cast

* Dorothy Mackaill as Lou * Milton Sills as Nifty Miller, the barker * Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Chris Miller *

as Carrie *

Sylvia Ashton Sylvia Ashton (January 26, 1880 – November 18, 1940) was an American film actress of the silent film era. Ashton was born in Denver, Colorado. She bore a heavyset resemblance to Jane Darwell and like Darwell was playing mother and grand ...

as Ma Benson * George Cooper as Hap Spissel *S. S. Simon as Col. Gowdy * Tom Dugan as Stuttering Spieler Uncredited: *

Bobby Dunn Robert P. Dunn (August 28, 1890 – March 24, 1937) was a comic actor who was one of the original Keystone Cops in '' Hoffmeyer's Legacy''. Early years Dunn was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Richard P. and Melissa Dunn, and attended ...

as Hamburger concessionaire *

Pat Harmon Plummer Hull Harman (February 3, 1886 – November 26, 1958), known professionally as Pat Harmon, was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1920 and 1947. In 1935, Harmon was the victim of a violent assault whic ...

as Heckler *Bynunsky Hyman as Fire Eater *

Gladden James Gladden James (February 26, 1888 – August 28, 1948) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1911 and 1946. He was born in Zanesville, Ohio and died in Hollywood, California, from leukemia. Family In 1914 h ...

as Member of Hawaiian Trio * Charles Sullivan as Man in audience * Pat West as Bartender

Awards and honors

Preservation

The film survives intact with its talking sequences and has been preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. ''The Barker''
at UCLA Film and Television Archive

Remakes

''The Barker'' was remade as '' Hoop-La'' (1933) with Clara Bow and as '' Diamond Horseshoe'' (1945) with Betty Grable. Japanese director

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese filmmaker. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s. The most pr ...

remade this film (without crediting the original) as '' A Story of Floating Weeds'' (1934) and again as '' Floating Weeds'' (1959).

References

External links

*
Still
at UCLA Film and Television Archive

at silentfilmstillarchive.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, The 1928 films 1928 romantic drama films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films American black-and-white films American films based on plays American silent feature films Early sound films English-language romantic drama films Films directed by George Fitzmaurice Films scored by Louis Silvers Films with screenplays by Benjamin Glazer Films with screenplays by Herman J. Mankiewicz First National Pictures films Part-talkie films Silent American romantic drama films Surviving American silent films Transitional sound films Warner Bros. films