Lights of New York Film Clip

Its Hear the ads wittily declared, announcing yet another first from Warner Bros. Following up on the featurewithsynchronizedmusic Don Juan and the parttalkie feature The Jazz Singer, Warner Bros. pushed its Vitaphone soundondisc process to the apexan alltalkie feature. This brisk crime saga tells a story that might have been torn out of last nights newspaper, an approach that would shortly become the studios signature style. Smalltown yokels Eddie (Cullen Landis) and Gene (Eugene Pallette) get suckered by a pair of bootleggers into buying a Manhattan barbershop that is really a speakeasy. While Eddie reconnects with his hometown honeyturnedchorus girl Kitty (Helene Costello), the boys get framed by a gangster who has the hots for Kitty. Despite its basic plot, this technological breakthrough went on to become a boxoffice smash, hastening the demise of silent cinema.