by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Gordon Harker repeats his stage role in the film version of Walter Hackett's play Road House. Widowed in WW I, Bell Trout (Violet Lorraine) takes a job as a cabaret singer, bundling her young daughter Kitty off to boarding school. Upon reaching adulthood, Kitty (Aileen Manson) is victimized by a low-life lothario. Though she'd promised herself to stay out of Kitty's life, Bell is forced to come to the girl's rescue. As Sam Pritchard, Gordon Harker leans heavily on his thick cockney accent for laughs, so much so that he's hard to understand at times. Originally written as a satirical comedy, Road House comes off on screen as a lachrymose soap opera.
characteristics
- Rescue
- Orphan
- Family-abandonment
