VOICES OF THE CITY

Released 8/6/22 by Goldwyn Pictures Corp.; Director:Wallace Worsley; Screenplay: Arthur F. Statter, from The Night Roseby Leroy Scott; 6 reels (5630')

CAST: Leatrice Joy (Georgia Rodman), Lon Chaney ("Red" O'Rourke), John Bowers (Steven Graham), Cullen Landis (Jimmy Halloran), Richard Tucker (Clancy), Mary Warren (Mary Rodman), Edythe Chapman (Mrs. Rodman), Betty Schade (Sally), Maurice B. "Lefty" Flynn (Pierson), Milton Ross (Courey), John Cossar (Jim Garrison)

SYNOPSIS: Georgia Rodman lives with her mother and sister in their San Francisco home. Jimmy Halloran takes Georgia out slumming to the Blue Jay cafe where they are spotted by "Red" O'Rourke, a corrupt political boss. When a crook fleeing the police takes refuge in the cafe, O'Rourke tells him to sit at Jimmy's table to find out who the girl is. The police break in, the crook shoots and kills an officer, and Jimmy and Georgia are arrested as accessories to the crime. Georgia's mother, thinking that she has deceived her, disowns Georgia, and Jimmy arranges for her to stay at O'Rourke's. He advises her to go out only at night wearing a veil; hence she acquires the name, "The Night Rose." Steven Graham, the assistant District Attorney, suspects O'Rourke of being involved in Georgia's disappearance. Meanwhile, Sally Monroe, O'Rourke's underworld sweetheart, is furious at O'Rourke's attentions toward Georgia. Graham arrests Jim Garrison, a bootlegger working with O'Rourke, and gives him the third degree to get evidence. O'Rourke sets a trap at Black Mike's cafe where Bill, his best gunman, will shoot both Jimmy and Graham. The trap is sprung and Jimmy is shot, but Graham is saved and O'Rourke's men arrested. O'Rourke is having his annual ball, during which he plans to marry Georgia. Georgia goes to Jimmy and, believing him to be dying, takes a revolver and goes after O'Rourke. At the ball, Georgia is dancing with O'Rourke when she pulls out the revolver and plans to shoot him, but Sally stops her, then shoots and kills O'Rourke herself. Jimmy recovers and is reunited with Georgia, while Graham finds love with Georgia's sister, Mary.

"Interesting underworld melodrama with intricate plotting and counter-plotting by a master criminal and an abundance of gun play...Lon Chaney, as always, gets the utmost out of the role of a powerful leader of lawbreakers. He has a gift for quiet emphasis in pantomime which fits nicely into this lurid tale." ---Variety

NOTES: The working title of the film was THE NIGHT ROSE, and the film was copyrighted under this title. Several sources also list the working title as FLOWER OF DARKNESS. Chaney's character is listed as "Duke" McGee by some sources, and may have been changed from this name at the same time the title was changed to VOICES OF THE CITY. The MGM vault list includes this film on their list of extant holdings; unfortunately, when the film was recently pulled for inspection, it turned out to be a 1929 MGM film of the same name. VOICES OF THE CITY therefore must return to the list of "lost" Chaney films.


© 1997,2008 Jon C. Mirsalis


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