anwarul210 Dire. When the first scene of the movie is a tracking shot to a line of chorus girls and eventually focuses on the most inept dancer you have ever seen, you know it's downhill from here. This talentless, ham-fisted, frumpy cow actually has a supporting role, which sets the bar very low for everyone else. However, they still manage to demolish any semblance of good acting. Chester Morris, who plays the gangster, is horrendous. As cardboard as the stage sets, he alternates between smugness and a perpetual scowl for most of the movie. At the end when his alibi is disproven, his personality completely changes unbelievably and he turns into a whimpering sap. The scene where he thinks he has been shot by the police and collapses on the floor is hysterical, as well as his actual death scene. On the topic of death scenes, a shout out has to go to Regis Toomey. Irritating throughout, his death scene has to be the longest ever put to film that I ended up shouting, "just die, already!" at him.The story itself may have been interesting for an easily-entertained 1929 audience, but with so many coincidences and implausible moments, as well as being boring, clichéd and dull, I was wishing this 91 minute masterpiece of crap was only 91 seconds long. This was nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor for Chester Morris. I despair.

kidboots "Alibi" was a sensational talkie debut for Chester Morris who played Chick Williams, the first of the anti heroes who were to dominate Hollywood in the 1930s. Chester Morris was first noticed in the Broadway cast of "Crime" - in fact the whole cast was raided for the movies - Sylvia Sidney, Douglass Montgomery, Kay Johnson, James Rennie, Jack La Rue and Kay Francis, a cast Broadway producers nowadays could only dream about. The role of amoral Chick Williams bought him instant recognition and an Academy Award nomination and even though he lost to Warner Baxter for "In Old Arizona" (Chester should have won) studios were riveted to his performance and during 1929 Paramount, Warner Brothers/First National and RKO used him constantly. Even though Roland West produced, directed and wrote the screenplay for this trail blazing talkie, based on the Broadway play "Nightstick", his career faded soon after when he retired and went into the restaurant business with his current girlfriend Thelma Todd.Joan (Eleanor Griffith) is going out with recently released prisoner Chick Williams (Morris), she is a policeman's (Purnell Pratt) daughter who feels he only needs the love and support of a good woman to help him go straight. But behind Chick's pleasant exterior is a hardened criminal who is really the brains behind the gang who welcome him back to the fold. Another fixture at the almost futuristic nightclub (shades of "Broadway") is amiable drunk Danny (Regis Toomey) who has his eye on cute singer Toots but when Joan walks into her apartment one night she finds Danny with her father and realises he is a plain clothes policeman. They are trying to get the robbers of a fur heist in which a policeman was killed - they are convinced Chick was responsible. Even though she could betray Danny she doesn't, but she also has a bombshell of her own to drop - she is now married to Chick and can furnish him with an alibi for the night of the murder.Although Morris didn't have much to do during the first half of the movie once Chick's true colours are revealed he dominates every scene. There was a trifle bit of over acting and grimacing but for his first talkie he handled himself like a veteran. For an early talkie (April 1929) there was a lot of innovation and while a couple of things didn't come off the rest did - in the interrogation room as a prisoner is broken down into confessing to his part in the robbery, through having his face directly at the audience, they see his expressions and know he is guilty before the cops do. It may have been lifted from the stage production but it worked. The German expressionistic vogue hadn't entirely faded away and the Art Deco sets and lighting were used to great advantage, especially the chase sequence up on the roof top.Because 1929 was the height of the musical boom, action was often stopped for a musical number (they slowed the film down a bit). It even boasted a hit song "I"ve Never Seen a Smile Like Yours" sung by Irma Harrison (dubbed by Virginia Flohri, as reported in a Photoplay expose about dubbing in 1929). Harrison was cute but didn't make much of an impression, the same can be said of Eleanor Griffith who only made "Alibi" and another film back in 1922, but she did make an impression on movie suavey John Halliday whom she married in 1929.

st-shot The ugliness of the early sound era is on parade in Alibi, a cops and robbers yawn that features both figuratively and literally a lot of bad actors. Sound was new territory for cast and crew and it shows both in the direction of Roland West and his cast who clearly needed a lot more rehearsal time as they endlessly pause between sentences an attempt to convey menace by locked in mug like facial expressions. West shows no grasp of pacing as he dissembles nearly every taut moment in the film with pregnant pauses followed by bad inflection from his actors who on occasion seem to be winging it on their own. Only Chester Morris leading with his Dick Tracy chin offers some convincing moments while the rest of the cast seems content just to have their voice picked up by the microphone. West meanwhile allows scenes to linger and linger to a point where you swear you can here crickets chirping. A glowing example can be found in undercover cop Regis Toomey's three minute dying scene that has to be endured to be believed. Was West incapable of saying the word cut?There are some fine rooftop scenes of dramatic silhouette and neon and interiors that feature some eye popping and audacious art deco design that may well have carried the day if it were a silent. But in the infancy of sound these growing pains make Alibi one big one to watch.

Sean For its time, Alibi was probably groundbreaking with a crime world never truly seen before. That's probably why it was nominated for Best Picture in 1929. Today, people just see it as one of those creaky gangster movies from the early days of sound and pass it up thinking that it won't hold their attention one bit. I'm here to prove those people wrong.For one thing, the story is what usually makes a movie for me. A film has to have a good story to get me to see it. Well, if you like any type of crime related movies, that's all you need to know. Even if you aren't a fan of crime dramas, this film will interest you with the way it captures the human spirit and the way it can deteriorate very quickly in times of stress.Obviously that last bit can only be performed by great actors and actresses with natural talent. That's what you get with this film. Chester Morris deserved the Oscar he was nominated for, even if you just see his final scene you'll give it to him for his shocking portrayal of a rotten gangster.I think that it's Regis Toomey, a forgotten star, who really shines in this film though. His performance as a drunk with something to hide is really quite remarkable. If they had Supporting categories back then, he'd have been a shoe-in.I hope I've convinced you enough to check out Alibi because it's actually a really good film. I recommend it if you're looking for a good crime drama that will hold your attention, which shouldn't be hard since it's not a very long movie. Enjoy it, if you get the chance to see it.