Going Straight

In this early Norma Talmadge picture, "Going Straight", her and her husband are former criminals blackmailed by their old partner in crime to be accessories for one last job. It's a melodramatic, generic and morally flimsy narrative, but it's at least competently made. An exciting flashback sequence early on introduces our couple's shady past; narratively, I appreciate the flashback here instead of a completely chronological plot. The three leads: Talmadge, Ralph Lewis and Eugene Palette do well in their parts, especially making good use of their close-ups to flesh out their characters. That alone is a significant improvement over the earlier Talmadge feature "Children in the House" (1916) included on the same Grapevine DVD. Talmadge has a nice wide-eyed, distressed look on her face through much of the film. "The Social Secretary", though, is the gem of Talmadge's few Fine Arts/Triangle vehicles in circulation today.

(Note: The print had many, continuous scratches, but is, overall, clear and of relatively good quality and much better than the dark print of "Children in the House".)