The Great Gabbo

source: The Great Gabbo

Copyright 10 December 1930 by James Cruze, Inc. Distributed by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures through Educational Exchanges. New York opening at the Selwyn: 12 September 1929. U.S. release: 1 January 1930. 10 reels. 8,049 feet. 89 minutes. SYNOPSIS: An egotistical ventriloquist has a row with his live-in girlfriend/stage partner. They separate. A few years later, however, they are both appearing in the Manhattan Revue. But not together. And now the ventriloquist is the headliner. NOTES: Although Mordaunt Hall accorded The Great Gabbo a rave review in The New York Times, he did not list the movie as one of the Ten Best of the Year. However, he did place it in his supplementary list. In private life, Betty Compson was Mrs. James Cruze. COMMENT: Just about every newspaper critic except Mordaunt Hall hated The Great Gabbo. True, it has shortcomings. But I love it. Anyone who enjoys spectacular stage numbers clothed with scads of dancing chorus girls will soon forgive the somewhat stagey off-stage scenes with Mr. Von Stroheim, Miss Compson (and the voice of Master Grandee). And even they are enlivened with a few ritzy songs. In any case, the "Von" is such a consummate actor, he could read the phone book for my applause. My only complaints are that the picture runs just a mite too long and that the color sequences are printed up in black-and-white. Hopefully, this has now been rectified.

O.K., so Erich Con Stroheim ain't Garbo, but as Gabbo, he has the personality of somebody who belongs in solitary confinement. He is emotionally and verbally cruel to his beautiful girlfriend Betty Compson, and when she threatens to leave him, he simply acts like he doesn't give a damn. The very autocratic von Stroheim makes Otto Preminger look like a * cat, and while many of his later roles lacked in humor while playing very severe brooding older men, here he is actually quite funny. I don't think that there is anything funny about mental abuse, but the way von Stroheim plays the part, his character is so phony that he makes his dummy look real. Yes, von Stroheim plays a ventriloquist, although not a very good one. Even though his character is a headliner in vaudeville shows and eventually makes it to Broadway, it is obvious that he is not actually speaking when the dummy speaks. It is obvious through his singing that somebody else is doing that, and that makes this unintentionally funny. Even funnier are the ancient musical numbers, some so funny and bizarrely staged that they have to be seen to be believed. "Every Now and Then" is actually one of the best numbers of the early sound era, with the chorus girls and boys wearing white in the front and black in the back, and when they turned it gives a very interesting effect. Another musical oddity is a musical number utilizing a giant spider web, resembling some of the most over-the-top musical numbers of this time, including the "Turn on the Heat" production number from 'Sunny Side Up", the giant idol dance from "Just Imagine" and Winnie Lightner's camp classic "Singing in the Bathtub" from "Show of Shows". Fortunately von Stroheim doesn't get involved in the dancing, only singing or pretending to, when his dummy is singing. Betty Compson is a very attractive and personable young lady, and when they are reunited when he headlines a Broadway revue where she is now part of a singing and dancing team, it brings on a break down for him that has to be seen to be believed. Yes, Max from "Sunset Boulevard" is acting most melodramatic in an early musical that actually looks pretty expensive considering that it came from one of the Z grade studios of the era, Sono Art World Wide. A montage towards the end is an interesting blend of special effects and flashbacks, and von Stroheim shows off his overacting abilities in his attempt to show this characters possible destruction. So as a curiosity, this is very much worth seeing, & I have seen it several times. Actually each time I see it, it sorta grows on me even more, and I have to call this one of the big surprises of the early sound era. Some of the chorus numbers have so many singers and dancers in them there seems barely any room to move on stage, but these early movie musicals we're certainly not at all realistic in a Broadway sensibility.

Erich von Stroheim plays Gabbo the ventriloquist, who tyrannizes his beautiful assistant Marie (Betty Compson) until she leaves him. Of course she becomes something of a star, but Gabbo succeeds even more, and is the headliner of a musical review in which she and her Stick Figure fellow (Donald Douglas) sing. There are long stage routines with fairly lousy music but exceedingly good dancing, wonderfully costumed and synchronized—there's one effect when the female and then the male dancers are at first invisible on stage because they are wearing black capes and when they whirl around the white costumes show and then blink out again. One singer/dancer, Babe (Marjorie Kane) is also very fetching, with her Betty-Boop voice and her funny face and her athletic dancing. Compson is appealing, especially when she's talking to Otto, Gabbo's dummy and companion. Von Stroheim is steely and convincing as an egotistical bully whose sweet side is only allowed to surface in what Otto says. When Gabbo is reunited with Marie, he expects her to return, and she shows signs of being fond of him, and of Otto, but she's already married to Stick Figure, and Gabbo, whose sanity has already been suspect because he talks all the time with Otto, really goes mad. We get the whole works, temper tantrums, hallucinations via montage, interruption of the finale, and in the end a defeated Gabbo, fired from the review, walks into the night, shoulders sagging, as the crew removes his name from the marquee. It's better than this synopsis makes it sound.

This film is very unique. It crosses a horror story about a mad ventriloquist with an early-talkie musical revue. Erich Von Stroheim chews up the scenery as he takes his lady-love (Betty Compson) for granted while interacting primarily with Otto, his wooden dummy. The musical interludes are eye-popping, particularly the "Web of Love" number which features chorus girls dressed as insects, complete with fright-wigs. Betty Compson does a good job as Mary, the lady-love of Gabbos' who finds happiness with another. Also in the cast is Marjorie "Babe" Kane, a carbon-copy of Helen Kane, who figures in several of the musical numbers. This film was not considered successful at the time of it's release, but it still is a lot of fun to watch today. The Library of Congress restoration of this film looks and sounds great, even if the original "Multicolor" is absent. Most people who like this film dislike the many musical numbers included. However, I feel they add to the Ziegfeld-type atmosphere the story is trying to represent. The songs themselves are quite good, and one must also remember that in the fall of 1929, when this film was released, musicals were all the rage. The huge success of MGM's "The Broadway Melody" made it standard for any film that hoped to be a success to include at least some music. This of course would backfire when, about a year after "Gabbo's" release, the public would stay away from musicals like the plague, due to overexposure. It's amazing that this production, which looks like some money was spent on it, was made by Sono-Art-Worldwide, a company which, in a few years would become Monogram Pictures after a merger with Rayart. One of Monogram's 1933 films, "The Girl From Calgary", would interpolate dance footage from "The Great Gabbo", underscored by some different music. Even the audience reaction footage would be used.

In order to properly understand this film you have to take yourself back to 1928-1929. You had only 20% of the theater's ready for sound performance. The rest of the film viewing arenas were still 'silent only' films. So in late 28 and early 29 films were filmed in sound and also in silent. This film was written for silent but was transformed to sound as the technology progressed in the late 20's. So they made a film that was written for the silent era but transformed into the sound era. No one had written the rules of sound performances which lead for many awkward moments. So without an underline music score or the thought of continuing dialog, the film was made. It is a seam between silent and sound. It is a learning tool for the next progression step. An aging ventriloquist is trying to put a stop to history. He commanded money and respect in his time but cannot see that times are passing him by like a train. He wants to hold on to the applause and the bright lights of his youth. He wants time to stand still- a time where he commanded respect. But we all know that it is impossible. The obvious love story is a front for more active and sinister activity. The puppet is just a metaphor. The real story is that times are a changing and people are going to be left behind. So it is for the Great Gabbo. Sound is coming and there are going to be actors that cannot cope with the new form of communication. Such as Gabbo when he finds out that people prefer sound (musical) instead of vaudeville. It is a change of the seasons. This is what I get from this film. Times are changing and some are going to be left behind. The Great Gabbo, even in 1929, seems old. A sad ending to a good movie.

Now Erich Von Stroheim is regarded as one of the all time great directors but back in 1930 he was almost unemployable. He had been sacked from "Queen Kelly" (1928), at the star's (Gloria Swanson) insistence. He was then hired to star in "The Great Gabbo" and the film showed audiences what a wonderful character actor he was. People could see and hear him yelling, preening and huffing - sounding exactly the way he looked!!! Erich Von Stroheim plays Gabbo, a conceited meglomaniac, who has a ventriloquist act that he performs on the vaudeville circuit. During one performance, his assistant and live-in love Mary (Betty Compson) drops a tray and is forced by Gabbo to find another job. She leaves him with the advice "We only take out of this life what we put into it!!". Otto, the "dummy" seems to have a life of it's own - he is Gabbo's conscience and talks to him about his bad decisions. Before Mary goes, she questions why, with such a good act, he is still playing vaudeville. Gabbo decides to do something about it and 2 years later he is the toast of Broadway in "The Manhattan Revue". When they go out to tea at an exclusive restaurant Otto sings "The Lollipop Song" - "and it gets all over icky" - much to everyone's delight. They see Mary at a table with Frank, her new partner. They are playing at the same theatre. Marjorie "Babe" Kane then sings "Every Now and Then" with Frank and afterwards it gets the full production treatment with dancing girls and men in top hats. Gabbo hasn't changed his autocratic manner - his new dresser is ready to walk out but Mary intervenes. Mary feels sorry for Gabbo and tries to do a few things for him - gets his coffee etc. Frank gets the wrong idea as does Gabbo, who thinks Mary is coming back to him. Otto then sings "I'm Laughing" during the show. This song and "The Lollipop Song" have a very European sound. "The Ga-Ga Bird" is missing - at this point you see chorus girls removing bird costumes. Also at the end there is a montage of all the songs in the show and there is a scene of girls dancing in bird costumes - you also hear a bit of the music as well. Next there is a big production number "I'm In Love With You". I think the last couple of reels were filmed in "Multicolor" - just the look of the stage and dancers. The next number is "The New Step" featuring "Babe" Kane and dancing chorus girls in a whizz bang production with psychedelic curtains and a revolving bulls- eye. The songs just keep on coming. "When You're Caught in a Web of Love" is astounding. An amazing acrobatic dance (it is so obvious that it is not Betty Compson dancing). There is also a conversation being carried on, stopping only when she is being thrown around, and then resumed when she is still. The dance starts off on a big spider's web and the dancers then jump down. It would have been glorious in color. All the chorus girls dressed as butterflies and dancing, not always in time but that is part of the charm. When Mary tells Gabbo the truth - that she and Frank are married and if she misses anyone it would be Otto, who always had a kind word for her - Gabbo is completely derailed mentally. He has a complete break down and ruins the finale and the ending shows him walking forlornly away with Otto as his name is being taken off the theatre marquee. I think the problem with the musical numbers during the last part was that they didn't seem to be incorporated into the plot. Even if there had been some clichéd dialogue "This is our big chance", "I hope we make it" - it would have made the last 20 minutes less awkward. Recommended.

The Great Gabbo was made as a musical and altho some of the musical numbers and songs are not as good as those in other films of its time, they are interesting and enjoyable to see and hear, at least for some of us lovers of the popular music of the 1920s (and 30s).

This was a very good film that could have been great had it not been a musical. But, in 1929 when the movie came out, Hollywood seemed to be producing tons of musicals (so they could show off the new medium of talking pictures) and a lot of stage numbers were used to stretch out the film. Unfortunately, they had a tendency to distract from the main plot and after a while got really tedious. I think showing bits and pieces of the musical numbers or eliminating them altogether would have been a good idea in retrospect. Erich von Stroheim played "Gabbo", the world's greatest but seriously flawed ventriloquist. He could make his dummy "Otto" say nice things but he himself was a cruel, pompous jerk when the film began. The film starts with Gabbo unmercifully berating his companion, Mary, and blaming her for every little flaw in his act. It seems that he was just a mean-spirited perfectionist who felt a need to scapegoat someone. Well, after thoroughly mistreating her, she left him. Despite this, his act improved considerably and Gabbo was the star of Broadway within two years. But, he was also incredibly lonely and longed to have Mary back. And, as luck would have it, he ended up performing in the same show as Mary and had high hopes of getting back with her and telling her he loved her and was sorry for his past behavior. This aspect of the film and how it all worked out was the most satisfying and movie part of the film. However, while the film ultimately concerned Gabbo and his ultimate loneliness over losing Mary, there is a strange aspect of the film that is never fully developed and I really wished it had been. You see, in the first 2/3 of the film, Otto seems way too real and creepy. He is able to move and talk rather independently of Gabbo--as if he is either REAL or that he is in fact Gabbo's alter-ego and he cannot separate himself from his dummy. Either way, it's strange that von Stroheim can eat and drink--all the while Otto talks and talks and even lectures Gabbo! It is highly reminiscent of the later film, MAGIC, as well as an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, where the dummy turns out to be real. But, this entirely brilliant aspect of the film just vanishes as if they forgot to continue this subplot! Still, overall it's a highly originally plot for its time and a great curio. Plus, for 1929, the sound and picture quality on the new Library of Congress restoration released by Kino Video. PS--As a homage to this film, THE SIMPSONS had an episode where a ventriloquist and his dummy, Gabbo, became a huge hit with the kids and briefly put Krusty out of work.

As director and actor Erich Von Stroheim did some very weird films and The Great Gabbo is certainly one of them. In this Von Stroheim is a star attraction in a Ziegfeld Follies type stage review and he is fixated on Betty Compson who used to be his assistant in his act, but walked out on him because he treated her shabbily. Now she is keeping company with Donald Douglas a young hoofer in the show. He's actually upset as well with her interest in Von Stroheim. In a way it's hard to review this because just the name of Erich Von Stroheim brings up images of barbaric cruelty show on the screen. The name alone is sufficient to conjure up horrible images. So Von Stroheim wants to set up house with her and his dummy Otto. As in most ventriloquist stories the dummy functions as an alter ego. All this with the backdrop of a Ziegfeld type show. That was interesting and like Glorifying The American Girl, The Great Gabbo is a nice filmed record of what these shows were like on stage. Although Von Stroheim is always interesting, The Great Gabbo's best value is as a record of the type musical revue so popular back then.