Word: muggers
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...painfully true when Ray Nance, an ordinary trumpet player, a poor violinist, and an unnecessarily heavy-handed showman, is out in front as soloist. It is definitely not required that a violinist assume an agonized, orgiastic expression in order to produce a simple passage; Nance was such a phony mugger that when he trotted out for his last violin solo the crowd laughed before he even began to play. Nance would never have been tolerated in the old Ellington band, and there would have been no room for such ordinary musicians as Skippy Williams and Jimmy Hamilton...
...verb "to mugg" apparently stems from the dank soil of 19th Century prisons, where "mugger" was synonymous with footpad-"one of the wretched horde who haunt the street at midnight to rob drunken men." Its meaning, as given by the American Thesaurus of Slang: robbery with violence. In New York City muggers usually attack from behind if possible, throwing one arm around the victim's neck, while the assistant muggers frisk the victim...
There is one redeeming feature to the whole thing. It is nondescript Jeeter Lester, buffoonish his way across the drab stage with the abandon of a loosed chimpanzee, using all the tricks of the accomplished mugger, stealing every scene, cussing, spitting, pinching and generally acting as if he enjoyed every minute of his poverty. It seems as though James Barton is almost too good a comedian, for his "heavy" scenes misfire, with the audience waiting in vain for a flow of damns or hells...
...picture up on his own shoulders only to damp it by horribly overacting. Ray Milland and Miss Farmer supply the love interest, but neither get very excited over their emotion; in fact the former does not know how to walk on the screen, let alone act. As a mugger, however, Mr. Milland is tops to those who watched him to walk off with "The Gay Desperade." Most discouraging of all is Lloyd Nolan's completely unconvincing role as Atwater, the insane owner of a pearl...
...picture displays Mr. Tone in a manner better than usual and the film is greatly enhanced by his presence. Miss Crawford is splendid in the first reel or so, after which her part becomes slightly tedious until the later episodes. Mr. Montgomery plays his ordinary rich-wise-guy-mugger role...