The Trespasser (1929)

You'll paste this baby in your memory book. Gloria Swanson, in her first all-talkie, is a sensation. After the "Queen Kelly" disaster, it became imperative for Gloria to rush a phonoplay into the market. Edmund Goulding and the star hurled this picture into production. The breakneck speed with which it was made might have ruined it. Instead, it gave "The Trespasser" superb pace.

But the star! The glorious one never looked more beautiful. Her voice does every trick demanded of it, and she sings two songs like a meadow lark. And what clothes! Swanson plays Marion Donncll, a business girl who is snatched from the side of her husband, a wealthy youngster, by his father, soon after the wedding. She and the resulting infant have lean days until her millionaire employer takes her under his protection. Crisis follows crisis, until she finds happiness in the arms of the estranged husband. The story reeks with hokum, but nobody minds.

Gloria gives the greatest performance in her career. The whole cast is keyed high, too. Kay Hammond is stunning as a crippled wife. William Holden is the best heavy father in history. Robert Ames, Henry Walthall, Purnell Pratt — all good. And Wally Albright, last in "Wonder of Women," is a stage kid you don't want to strangle.

"The Trespasser" is an achievement.
All Talkie.

Photoplay December 1929