The Third Degree (1926) User Reviews

Not lost at all!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 15 February 2018]

SYNOPSIS: A trapeze artist (Dolores Costello), marries a wealthy playboy (Jason Robards) despite opposition from the lad's father (David Torrence) who hires the lover (Rockliffe Fellowes) of the girl's mother (Louise Dresser) to bring the marriage to an end.

NOTES: Curtiz's first American film and the first time he used the now commonly accepted spelling of his surname. This film has been preserved by the American Film Institute. Remake of a 1919 Vitagraph film directed by Tom Terriss, starring Alice Joyce. The stage play opened at the Hudson on Broadway on 1 February 1909 and ran a satisfactory 168 performances. Author Klein himself directed Edmund Breese, Helen Ware and Wallace Eddinger. The producer was Henry B. Harris.

COMMENT: If the screenwriter had stayed with the theme of the original play (namely a murder confession forced from an innocent man by police brutality), far more satisfactory screen entertainment may well have emerged. Instead we have a rather turgid melodrama. True, the circus setting does provide Curtiz with some characteristic opportunities for bravura visuals.

However, despite Curtiz's successes with the staging and the camera, his handling of the players is heavy-handed. Fortunately the pace is fast, the film editing -- certainly in the climactic reel - sharply inventive.

The first film directed by Michael Curtiz in America.

[AlsExGal · 30 November 2016]

Among the several good decisions made by the Warners in the 1920s - to employ Daryl F. Zanuck, to recruit Rin Tin Tin in some enduring action adventures, and to get the sound revolution started - a less fanfared decision was to bring then 40 year old director Michael Curtiz over from Hungary. However he was an acquisition that boosted the Warners' fortunes for decades.

Curtiz had a real talent for lighting and the camera, and apparently was just crazy about dissolves, but the New York Times review said that he used them wisely and well. This film in particular involves a circus, a murder, and the titular "third degree" that a murder suspect is given where the police are trying to sweat out a confession. Delores Costello was the featured player here - and she got good reviews but remember WB did not have a big budget for big stars at this point in their history.

Also note that WB continued to put musical numbers as preludes to their film to show off their Vitaphone sound system. Here Paul Whiteman and his orchestra as well as Frank McGlynn reciting the Gettysburg address were featured, hopefully not at the same time.

Nothing is more fun than watching Warner Brothers grow up.

Intriguing early Curtiz

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 9 August 2002]

"The Third Degree" is significant as the first American film of the Hungarian director Michael Curtiz, whose career is woefully under-rated. I've never understood why many people who (rightly) heap so much praise on "Casablanca" have so little good to say about the man who directed it. "The Third Degree" shows that many of Curtiz's most distinctive touches were already in place in 1926, including his impressive ability to work rapidly within the break-neck Warner Brothers production schedule, which gave him no advance time to prepare camera set-ups or character motivations.

This is the THIRD film version of this story, which had originally been a stage play. Unfortunately, "The Third Degree" is too long, and features some howlingly bad plot coincidences. But there are some exciting sequences here, and it's an unusual story that's well worth a look, performed by an excellent cast.

Alicia (well-played by Louise Dresser) is married to Daredevil Daley, a circus performer. (Daley is played in a standout performance by Tom Santschi, a brawny actor who had an impressive silent-film career.) Annie is their little daughter. Alicia is planning to run away FROM the circus (now there's a switch) along with Underwood, the ringmaster ... and she plans to bring along Annie. (Underwood - who has all the excitement and sex appeal of a manual typewriter - is played by Rockliffe Fellowes, who later played Groucho Marx's boss in "Monkey Business".) In Daredevil's circus act, he rides a motorcycle inside the Cage of Death, with little Annie on his back! This sequence is extremely exciting, even though the stunt-doubling is very obvious. Daredevil has always done this act successfully, but tonight he realises that Alicia is planning to desert him. This unnerves him; he slips during his act and fractures his skull, yet he still manages to prevent Alicia from taking Annie. Alicia runs away with Underwood, leaving Annie with her injured father. The shock of losing his wife, combined with his skull fracture, causes Daredevil's death.

Annie stays with the circus, and a few years later she has matured into young adulthood (played by beautiful Dolores Costello). Like her daredevil dead dad did, she does a high-dive and tightrope act. Working in a pier show, she meets handsome young Howard Jeffries, Junior (played by Jason Robards, Senior ... an actor whose career has now been thoroughly eclipsed by that of his namesake son). Jeffries Junior is the son of a millionaire (of course), but when Jeffries Senior finds out that Jeffries Junior has married a "circus girl", he's so appalled (of course) that he disinherits his son.

SPOILERS COMING. Now the coincidences pile up knee-deep. Jeffries Jnr doesn't know that Jeffries Snr is married to (none other than) the former Alicia Daley ... which means that Jeffries Snr's daughter-in-law is also his stepdaughter. Alicia has long since split up with Underwood to marry the wealthier Jeffries. Now Jeffries Snr engages a private detective to spy on Jeffries Jnr and break up his marriage to Annie. The private detective turns out to be (wait for it) Underwood, who decides to ruin Annie by faking evidence to make it look like he's seduced her. (Why not? He's already seduced her mother!)

Jeffries Junior bursts into the counterfeit love nest and starts a brawl, and he gives Upperwood an undercut (no, I mean he gives Underwood an uppercut) that knocks him cold. Then Jeffries exits stage left just as Alicia enters stage right with a revolver, and she pumps a few slugs into Underwood, killing him. (Rockliffe Fellowes's performance does not change discernibly after his character becomes a corpse.) Of course, Jeffries Junior gets arrested for the murder. Noble young Annie decides to save her husband by taking the rap for Underwood's murder, not knowing that her own missing mother is the murderer. Will Annie trade her tightrope for a hangman's noose? Who cares? The ending is obvious.

Despite its laughable plot, "The Third Degree" features some impressive camera work and lighting, and good production values. Most of the cast perform their roles well, despite some ludicrous scripting. A few camera angles are more contrived than they need to be, especially in the circus and pier sequences. The script and the movie are much too long, slackly paced, and some scenes could have been eliminated altogether. I suspect that this movie was shot on the trot, which is a testament to Curtiz's skill. Ironically, if Warners had allowed a longer shooting schedule, Curtiz could have turned in a shorter (and much better) movie. In spite of this film's many flaws, I found "The Third Degree" fascinating, and I'll rate it 7 points out of 10. Hurrah for Michael Curtiz!