Show People (1928)

Directed by

King Vidor

Genre

silent film, romantic comedy

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 22m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 55 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young actress from Georgia moves to Hollywood to make it in silent pictures. She gets a job at a studio and has to navigate the differences between slapstick comedy and highbrow drama.

lightheartedwhimsicalplayfulbriskmetaaffectionategentle comedy

What happens

Show People is a 1928 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by King Vidor. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film processes. The film was a starring vehicle for actress Marion Davies and actor William Haines and included notable cameo appearances by many of the film personalities of the day, including stars Charlie Chaplin (who appears twice), Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart and John Gilbert, and writer Elinor Glyn. Vidor also appears in a cameo as himself, as does Davies (to a decidedly unimpressed reaction by herself in character as Peggy Pepper). The film is a lighthearted look at Hollywood at the end of the silent film era (it was released the year after breakthrough talking picture The Jazz Singer), and is considered Davies' best role. Show People features no audible dialog but was released with a Movietone soundtrack with a synchronized musical score and sound effects. The film was re-released in the 1980s, with a new orchestral score by Carl Davis. In 2003, Show People was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is currently available on DVD on-demand as part of the Warner Archive collection. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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