The Voice of the City

The Voice of the City (1929)

Genres - Drama  |   Sub-Genres - Detective Film, Melodrama  |   Release Date - Apr 13, 1929 (USA - Unknown), Apr 13, 1929 (USA)  |   Run Time - 81 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

Writer/director/actor Willard Mack took one look at the blockbuster stage play Broadway and said to himself "I can do that, and at half the price." The result was Voice of the City, in which Mack does what amounts to a carbon copy of Thomas Jackson's performance as the detective protagonist of Broadway. The plotline involves Robert Ames, a young man wrongly accused of murder. At first, Mack relentlessly pursues Ames, but once convinced of the boy's innocence, the detective uses as many dirty tricks as he can muster to pin the blame on the real killer, gangster John Miljan. Opera star Geraldine Farrar once described Willard Mack as "brilliant--but a lousy writer." Not exactly lousy, Mack did however worship at the altar of banality in Voice of the City. Trivia note: This film's leading lady was Sylvia Field, wife of Broadway star Ernest Truex and later the first Mrs. Wilson on the TV sitcom Dennis the Menace.

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Keywords

frame-up, false-accusation, murder-suspect, detective, determination, prison-escape, hideout, investigation, criminal