''Walking Back'' is a 1928 American silent

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

Rupert Julian Rupert Julian (born Thomas Percival Hayes; 25 January 1879 – 27 December 1943) was a New Zealand cinema actor, director, writer and producer. During his career, Julian directed 60 films and acted in over 90 films. He is best remembered for di ...

and an uncredited

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most co ...

. Prints of the film exist.

Plot

A young jazz hound, "Smoke" Thatcher (Richard Walling), is failing his academic studies due to his fondness for partying and liquor. His foremost concern is to convince his pragmatic father (Robert Edeson) to allow him to use the family car so he can accompany bob-haired

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women prominent after the First World War and through the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee length was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their ...

Patsy Schuyler (Sue Carol) to a ritzy party. His father refuses to loan Smoke the car and chides him for lacking proper respect for authority, but his speech is interrupted by the maid announcing the arrival of the dad's private bootlegger. Undaunted, an enterprising Smoke steals the neighbor's car and drives to Patsy's house. He arrives too late. Patsy has already gone to the party with Smoke's arch-nemesis Pet Masters (Arthur Rankin). Smoke nonetheless proceeds alone to the party and intrudes upon inebriated couples dancing the Charleston. Jealous and possessive, Smoke causes an ugly scene. Smoke convinces Patsy to leave with him, and they walk to the parking lot. While attempting to leave with Patsy in the stolen car, Smoke becomes engaged in an automobile battle against Masters which ends with the near ruin of both vehicles. Smoke and Patsy drive the neighbor's wrecked car to a nearby garage. To pay for the considerable repairs, Smoke naively agrees to act as a chauffeur for several men on a routine trip. However, their trip is revealed to be a bank holdup, and Smoke's father is shot by the robbers. A remorseful Smoke foils the bank robbers by crashing their vehicle through a

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

window and then confesses to his misdeeds.

Cast

* Sue Carol as Patsy Schuyler * Richard Walling as Smoke Thatcher * Ivan Lebedeff as Beaut Thibaut * Robert Edeson as Mr. Thatcher Sr. * Jane Keckley as Mrs. Thatcher *

Florence Turner Florence Turner (January 6, 1885 – August 28, 1946) was an American actress who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films. Biography Born in New York City, Turner was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by h ...

as Mrs. Schuyler * James Bradbury Sr. as Gyp * Arthur Rankin as Pet Masters * Ray Cooke as Party Boy (uncredited) * Joseph Depew (uncredited) *

(uncredited) * George Stone as Crook (uncredited) * Billy Sullivan as Crook (uncredited) *

as Mrs. Schuyler (uncredited)

Critical reception

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 ...

'' observed that the film is "about that younger azz Agegeneration whose status was originally promulgated by Scott Fitzgerald." The paper further observed that the film "is no worse than the general average of those dealing with wine, automobiles and the biological

groping Groping is a form of sexual harassment involving the intentional inappropriate touching of another person commonly without their consent. The term generally has a negative connotation in many societies. Touching a consenting person's body d ...

s of persons under the age of 24. As a matter of fact, it is a little better. Miss Carol, as Patsy, is pretty, and Mr. Walling, as Smoke, looks as though if he had the right opportunity to be intelligent, he might fool everyone." Sidne Silverman wrote in '' Variety'' that the film captured the era's "jazz mad world" and was likely intended by

Pathé Exchange Pathé Exchange, commonly known as Pathé, was an American film production and distribution company, largely of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's silent film, silent era. Known for its trailblazing newsreel and wide array of short film, s ...

to catapult Sue Carol's nascent career and to make her the new "It" Girl à la Clara Bow. Silverman asserted that the film's best sequence "is an auto duel between two youths over who is going to take the girl home. Youngsters start bumping and chasing each other around the yard until both cars are practically demolished." ''

Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informati ...

'' described ''Walking Back'' as a "drama of modern youth" and as "fair entertainment of youth and jazz made for the flapper and college vote." The newspaper noted that "they were making his subgenre of film">subgenre.html" ;"title="his subgenre">his subgenre of filmtwo years ago along the same pattern" and, consequently, "nothing new has been added, but there is a certain freshness in the work of Sue Carol and especially Richard Walling that makes it fairly entertaining."

References

External links

* *
Stills
at rarefilm.net

at silentsaregolden.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Walking Back 1928 films 1928 drama films 1928 independent films Silent American drama films American silent feature films Films directed by Cecil B. DeMille Films directed by Rupert Julian American black-and-white films American independent films Pathé Exchange films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films English-language independent films English-language drama films