THE SQUALL (1929)

At a farmhouse in Hungary, the Lajos family is celebrating the wedding anniversary of Josef and Maria, and the upcoming wedding of their college student son Paul to the sweet and innocent Irma. We meet Peter, a farmhand; Lena, the cook who has been saving money so she can marry Peter; Aunt Anna, a busybody, and Uncle Daniel. During dinner, a storm arrives, and Daniel says that maybe the Lord sends "the squall so we may learn the beauty of a limpid sky," just as he sends "sorrow so that we may know joy." In the middle of the storm, as a gypsy caravan has stopped outside, sexy gypsy girl Nubi shows up at their door seeking refuge from her cruel master El Moro. The family agrees to take her in and let her stay if she'll do chores around the farm. It's not long before Nubi has begun to bewitch the menfolk, starting with Peter who starts to ignore Lena and sings to his horse of his love for Nubi. Next it's Paul who starts to ignore Irma, fails his exams, and eventually steals Lena's money to buy trinkets for Nubi. Even Josef can't completely resist her charms, as Anna notices and reports back to Maria. Finally as dysfunction threatens to completely tear the Lajos family apart, the gypsy caravan returns, El Moro reclaims his woman, and the family seems to be on the verge of healing.

This melodrama displays many of the problems of early talkies: stagy setups (most every scene takes place in the big family kitchen), overblown acting, awkward enunciating from actors not used to having their voices recorded. Some viewers consider this something of a camp classic, probably due to the histrionics of Myrna Loy (pictured) as Nubi. It's true that Loy goes gleefully over the top with her dialogue ("Me good girl! Nubi do nothing wrong!") and looks sexy as hell in her darkened skin and tousled black hair—she looks like a cross between Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Collins—and she is the main reason to watch the movie, but I'm not sure that camp is the appropriate label, as little else about the movie is campy. The rest of the cast is pretty tamped down compared to Loy. Carroll Nye, as Paul, feels a bit at sea, more mopey than excited by his misbehavior. Loretta Young (Irma) is terribly artificial in her looks and delivery, and it was difficult to work up much sympathy for her—I was actually hoping for a time that Paul would go off with Nubi, though she'd have certainly tired of him quickly. Richard Tucker (Josef), Alice Joyce (Maria) and Harry Cording (Peter) are fine, and ZaSu Pitts as Lena is even better. The storm effect looks a bit like the twister in The Wizard of Oz (this is an MGM movie). There is undistinguished direction from Alexander Korda who would become legendary as a British producer. Favorite line: Josef trying to explain to his wife about why their son is acting strange: “If it isn't love that’s bothering him, it’s sex.” [TCM]