Cristi_Ciopron A musical comedy with Sally Blane (who doesn't sing), R. Vallee, Nella Walker (as the matron who's the aunt's rival) and M. Waite (as the impersonated jazz-man), refreshing and good-natured, it has the assets of the classy silent age: the good cinematography, neat and beautiful sets; it is from the 1st wave of its genre, when the movie was eager to offer music, the dawn, the earliest springtime of these comedies. The best tune belongs to the small girlie (Patti Brill, Dorothy Gray …).A lighthearted show, and in fact a show within a show: the charity event, with the dancers and the small orphans and then the jazz-band; it was made by a stylish studio. The players embody the different styles: for the blandness and numbness, R. Vallee (bland and insipid, awkward and silly), for the luridness, Sally Blane (lurid and glamorous, ), for the lightest comedy, Nella Walker (for the humor and relish) and the grotesque comedians (the aunt, the copper …). The quirk is that, despite its lead, the movie doesn't depend on him.The jazzmen's music comes across as mild but dapper, and the lead has a nasal, plugged tone.

barrymn1 Rudy Vallee was rushed into this film before anyone bothered to teach him how to act in front of a camera! He's wooden, looks down instead of looking directly at the person he's talking to, and generally looked extremely ill at ease.The story is not bad and it does move along well for a sound film of this period. Not much interesting camera movements.What is the best thing is wonderful Marie Dressler's turn as a society matron. She's just plain terrific.By the late 1930's and into the 1940's, Rudy really blossomed into a first-rate character actor. His work in the Preston Sturges films are really great. His parts in George Stevens' "I Remember Mama" and the Cary Grant-Myrna Loy comedy "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" are very good, as well.

earlytalkie "The Vagabond Lover" could be considered the perfect example of the early-talkie. The acting by Mr. Vallee is rather non-exsistant, but his singing and the music is quite pleasant, and the performance by the great Marie Dressler as "Auntie" makes up for the rest. The photography is very representative of the early sound era, with the actors grouped around a hidden mike with hordes of people in the frame. The sound itself is remarkably good, maybe the best remaining example of early sound recording. There is one chorus number which has a brief overhead shot of the type that Busby Berkely would make famous a year later in "Whoopee!". The film is a brief 65 minutes in length, and it is a rather modest black-and-white production, but it remains a telling window into the 1920s, with it's fashions, music and such. This was also one of the most profitable films of the year for the fledgling Radio Pictures, a new company set up that year to take advantage of the RCA Photophone system. The DVD has a rather dry commentary prolouge by a UCLA film specialist which appears to be taped in his apartment. Rather poorly edited, this feature is easy to skip on the DVD, once you have seen it once. Other players featured in this include Loretta Young's sister, Sally Blane, Eddie Nugent and especially Nella Walker, as Marie Dressler's rival for social prominence. The story, by James Ashmore Creelman, was purportedly based on Mr. Vallee's own carrer.

Michael_Elliott Vagabond Lover, The (1929)** (out of 4)Early talkie from RKO helped introduce Rudy Vallee to the world. In the film, which was apparently based partly on his life story, he plays an unknown musician who breaks into a famous musicians house and is mistaken for said musician by a rich socialite (Marie Dressler). Soon Vallee begins to fall for her niece (Sally Blane) but he still has this secret to work around. This is a pretty mixed film because on one hand the music itself is pretty good but at the same time the story, acting and directing are all rather bland at best. I think the biggest problem with this film is that RKO didn't want to spend too much on the budget so they really didn't try overly hard to cover up various mistakes in the film. There are at least two scenes that I can think of off the top of my head where the actor messing up their lines but they just correct themselves and move on. It's also rather obvious in a few scenes that the actors miss their marks, which cause them to make sudden stops and throwing off the actor in the scene with them. The performance are a mixed bag as Vallee comes off likable enough but he's way too stiff and his line delivery is pretty weak. Dressler manages to turn in a fine performance but she isn't given a whole lot to do. Blane, Loretta Young's sister, seems to be in love with Vallee but her acting leaves a lot to be desired. She's certainly cute like her sister but she really doesn't deliver much in terms of a performance. The main reason to watch this thing is for the music and songs that include "You're Nobody's Sweetheart Now", "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" and "I'm Just a Vagabond Lover". Vallee and The Connecticut Yankees do fine work in regards to the music but I'd say a CD would be better fit than going through the entire movie.