Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "The Great Gabbo" is an American movie from 1929, so this one is from over 85 years ago and of course it is a black-and-white film still. But it does have sound as the sound era was quickly progressing in his early years at this point. Just to put it in perspective, this film is from between the two great wars of the 20th century, came out 4 years before Nazis came into power. This shows how old it really it. According to IMDb, this is a German-language movie, but this is only partially true I believe. There is German dialogue in here, but it is very rare and the great majority of the dialogues are in English language. I guess this error is due to co-director and lead actor Erich von Stroheim being from Austria originally. He is in almost every scene during these slightly over 90 minutes. He plays a stage artist who works as a ventriloquist, but the more he keeps doing so, the more insane he becomes. I personally always found these little puppets or dummies (or whatever they are called) fairly creepy, so I can somewhat understand it. Add some romance (unrequited love?) and lots of music and you have this video in a nutshell. EvS's performance is probably the best thing about the film, but to be harsh one could also say it is the only good thing here. The music is not catchy, the story is not too interesting and I also must say I did not really care for the characters at all. For the most part this felt like a pretty uninspired work. I do not recommend the watch.

calvinnme This movie will probably be enjoyable mainly to those of us interested in the early talkie era of films. This movie is an odd combination of a Ziegfeld-like musical revue and a psychological study of a man's descent into madness, and was based on a story by Ben Hecht. It is not your melodrama set to music that you would typically see in 1929.Gabbo (Erich Von Stroheim) is a ventriloquist, apparently living with his girlfriend Mary (Betty Compson) who also helps him in his act. His mannequin, Otto, seems to take on a life of his own. At first you believe that Gabbo is only imagining Otto is talking, but very shortly you see that Otto is moving and talking from several feet away from Gabbo - but always in Gabbo's presence - regardless of whether other people are around or not, and these other people see Otto move and speak too. Everyone just attributes this to Gabbo's talent and eccentricity, nothing else. Gabbo is constantly berating Mary, complaining that his coffee is too hot or too cold, blaming his lack of success on her, and finally daring her to leave, which she does. Time passes, and Gabbo becomes the star of the Manhattan Revue, a successful Ziegfeld-like Broadway production, and a show in which Mary is also starring as a singer and dancer with her partner and boyfriend, Frank (Donald Douglas). Mary begins to make some friendly gestures towards Gabbo, which Gabbo happily interprets as Mary's desire to reunite with him. However, things are not as they appear in more ways than one, and when Mary tells Gabbo a secret she has been keeping he goes completely mad. Gabbo even punches Otto saying it is his fault that Mary has left him.The musical part of the film has some lavish numbers that appear very typical of Ziegfeld's productions, although the famous showman had nothing to do with this movie. Besides the pre-Busby Berkeley dances in which the people in the chorus descend a staircase and then proceed to dance on the stage in a straight line with the camera either focusing on the dancer's feet or costumes but seldom both, there are some rather inventive numbers. One involves the dancers performing with some giant pinwheels raised in the background. Another one has the performers dressed as spiders that first sing while raised on a giant spider web, then some of them climb down and perform the rest of the act on stage. The odd staging and costumes in the musical numbers just add to the surrealistic mood of Gabbo's growing insanity.It seems that since Otto's speech and motion are not figments of Gabbo's imagination, that perhaps Otto's personality is the "human side" of Gabbo. Otto is what Gabbo would be like if he was less self-involved. Mary seems to hint at this several times early in the film when she says that the only kind words Gabbo ever said to her came from Otto. At the end of the film, after Mary makes clear to Gabbo she will never return to him and why, Otto never moves or speaks again. It is as though Otto's lifelessness shows that any remaining humanity in Gabbo has burned out for good. Erich Von Stroheim was particularly good as Gabbo. Being both a director and an actor himself in both the silent and talking era might have helped him in this. If you are interested in obscure early talkies, I'm sure you'll like this movie.

kfo9494 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.

spaman34 The Great Gabbo "The Great Gabbo" is one of the finest examples of American Communist Propaganda films of the early 1900's existent today. It is a master piece of film literature, when you consider the limitations of the technology of the day. Vitaphone, the technology used to cut a vinyl record of the speech or music as the action was filmed, was new and very expensive, and made film editing a nightmarish chore if not impossible.The script employ's Epic Theater techniques taught by Bertolt Brecht. In this respect it is a thinker's film, the film forces you to think. From the very beginning to the end you are constantly quizzical about behavior, motivation and environment. This is a musical comedy, right? How and why is the title card segment at the beginning of film different from other "musicals". Meet the self-absorbed individualist Gabbo who never acknowledges others who help him gain fame, his ventriloquist dummy Otto, and his stage partner Mary.We soon realize that Gabbo has very superstitious religious beliefs. While he does not perform a sign of the cross, we know that he operates under the fear of his destined fate from unseen mystical powers. For instance when Mary inadvertently places his hat upon the bed, Gabbo calls Mary a foul name saying "Don't you know that it is bad luck?" Mary, in response, lists a series of activities which might displease and bring about the wrath of an angry immortal. She is more practical stating, "We make our own bad luck." The comparative is the communist environment of the musical theater. Everyone works and does their part for the betterment of the show. Here, once Mary leaves Gabbo, she too climbs to the top and find success in her profession as a singer and dancer with her partner/husband Frank. Gabbo and Mary are both successes in their professions, who then is happier? Who is more honest in their success? Capitalism is treated as an impertinent side note to the values being discussed. Capitalism is the financier management of the show and it seeks gain through investing in both ideals.The film contrasts individualism versus communism. Many reviews have missed the underpinning effort of the writers and directors to use epic theater, and there blatant agenda to use it to teach the values of communism. They often deride the films production numbers as being unpolished and lacking flair. I ask, how could a film made with the intent to teach communistic ideals express them more eloquently? The ideal of community is not a flawless world, but a world where everyone does what they can to contribute to the whole. Some dancers lag behind the others yet they are there doing there part. Some simply walk from one place to another. The stage is full, busy and the message is understood. The imperfect dance numbers, in the epic theater style, emphasize the communistic ideal not detract from it. Few people would dare be as direct today.The sad thing about communism's failure is that without community all we have left is individualists who, like Gabbo, are only self-absorbed and care nothing for their neighbor, nor acknowledge supportive people.This film is a treasure that should be studied over and over. There are so many messages you simply can not absorb them in one viewing.Watch for Otto's "I'm laughing" song sequence, it is a precursor to Bobby McFerrin's "Don't worry, Be Happy." An interesting comparison is with this film's theater community and with the community environment of Los Angeles in the modern movie "Crash." How are they the same? How are they different? How are messages of these two films different? How are they the same? Think about it.If you don't own a copy of these films you should. I give "The Great Gabbo" two thumbs up and a black and blue stubbed toe. I guess I'm a little like Mary—accident prone. Oh and have a nice day. Be Happy!