I DVRd this curio off TCM because I wanted to see Olive Borden. However, before I ran it I read the previous reviews. This caused me to watch the synch problems very closely. Per the trivia, it is clear that the film was shot silent at sound speed and dubbed later. There are numerous scenes that would have been impossible to record at that time with the equipment available, such as walking down a hall. And when the doctor speaks his voice is much louder than Arthur Lake's, as if they were speaking into different microphones. The dubbing has two problems. First, the actors didn't match their mouths very well; it must have been a rush job. Second, the editing was truly awful. In any given scene the synch is decent and then completely off in the next, continuing scene. I suspect RKO thought this might slip through because of the Vitaphone synch problems that were endemic at the time.
As to the film itself, there is nothing to recommend it except slight technical achievements that were permissible because of the dubbing. None of the actors stand out and the script is mediocre. However, if you love this period as I do, you'll probably watch it more than once.
As to the film itself, there is nothing to recommend it except slight technical achievements that were permissible because of the dubbing. None of the actors stand out and the script is mediocre. However, if you love this period as I do, you'll probably watch it more than once.