Another movie with a poorly conceived, second-string plot, The Love Trap (1929), stars a none too flatteringly photographed Laura La Plante and a quite presentable Neil Hamilton. Admittedly, director William Wyler handles the early scenes with a bit of style, but when the scriptwriters throw in the towel and the good-guy hero suddenly acts like a cluck, and the producer starts pulling in the purse strings, director Wyler's lavish staging and agreeable handling take a run-out powder too. The movie is available in its full 71-minutes silent version in a good print from Grapevine Video, along with a somewhat crudely animated but occasionally imaginative Fleischer cartoon, Ko-Ko's Reward (1929) in which the on-screen Max has a go at blending live action with animation.Be prepared! "The Love Trap" itself is still a must-see movie, even though it is fatally flawed.

Pleasant concoction is a story as old as the hills of a family of snobs thinking the true blue girl their son marries on a whim is a no good gold-digger until proved wrong. A bit of an odd viewing experience since half way through the film it switches from silent to sound but Wyler's sure handed direction keeps it from being too jarring. It is interesting how in the silent portion the tone is set by shadows and the mood of a scene but after the dialog becomes the agent of explanation. It must have been a disconcerting balancing act for the actors involved but they handle it pretty well. Laura La Plante is enjoyable in the lead, a big star in silents who did make a successful transition to sound but moved to England shortly after this made a few films there and retired.

To my surprise, I really liked this film. From the title, I thought it'd be mundane, even dull, but it really wasn't! The whole cast was great. This movie is a part talkie and, like I guess in most part-talkies, the talking part hits you all of a sudden. Also, it strikes me a bit odd when Neil Hamilton enters the home he grew up in and calls the butler "Butler", but, other than that I really don't have any complaints. Laura LaPlante stars as a chorus girl who really isn't up to snuff, so she's fired and a "friend" (I'm not sure she's that much of a friend due to her actions) invites her to a party where women are basically professional escorts. She gets hit on pretty heavily by a couple of men (one you'll see later) and ends up in the rain in the street with her possessions. That when she meets Neil Hamilton, who is riding in a cab and comes to her rescue. He comes from "money". They get married and Mom and Sis come to meet her. The impression is less-than-stellar when it's discovered that Laura had been a chorus girl. It's not even that good when one of the men who hit on her (Neil Hamilton's uncle, played by the ill-fated Norman Trevor) discover her. The uncle thinks she's a not-very-nice girl morally. (Of course, he's a fine one to talk!) Neil invites Mom, Sis and Unc over to dinner. They don't show up. Neil calls to find out why and is informed by their butler that his mother is sick. Laura knows what's really going on, but Neil chastises her for her attitude and goes to see his sick mother. Laura is feeling a little sad and her "friend" calls. Laura asks her to come see her. The "friend", who is at a party, gets the bright idea to bring the whole aggregation over to see her. (With friends like that...) Neil finds out rather quickly that his mother was lying. He convinces her and her uncle to come see his wife, who he assumes is there alone. This is after the uncle gives his opinion and gets slapped in the face! They get there and there's all these people. That doesn't set well with any of them. The uncle advised Neil to take his mother home and decides to bribe Laura out of marrying his nephew. Laura, however, manages to trick the uncle and get Neil back on her side. I'll let you see how.

Most of the movie is silent, with titles; just music on the sound track; and an acting style typical of later silents. At the climax, the actors start talking, though the sound track is mostly silent otherwise.The story is pleasant, but has been retold several times, so it will seem familiar if you've seen many 1930's pictures. Acting, sets and costumes are OK.