SimonJack Rudy Vallee was the top crooner on radio by the time of talking pictures in 1929. "The Vagabond Lover" was his first major picture in which the public got to see the singer they had listened to the past few years. The film is also one of the very first "talkies" made, and had Marie Dressler in it. These reasons combined give the film some historical value. But aside from some of the songs, there isn't a lot else going for it. Others have commented on the low production quality and thin plot. While RKO moved the players away from the fixed microphone positions, the acting still shows signs of the fixed scenes and overly dramatic from the silent era. Vallee is so wooden, one wonders at time if he is alive or a mannequin with a recording playing inside. Some reviewers liked Dressler's overly dramatic scenes, but I agree with those who didn't think those fit well. Although she had only five more years before she died, Dressler went on to some very fine roles, and won an Oscar. She was very good in her comedic roles, without the exaggerated looks and gestures. Vallee's career as a singer never took off in the movies. I think it was mostly due to his rather high-pitched nasal tone. He did have a comeback in the 1940s with roles in some good comedies without singing. He played mostly a straight man or stuffy character. Vallee could carry a tune, but his popularity waned as other crooners came on the scene. Most had deeper, smoother voices that had more appeal, especially to the ladies. By 1932, Bing Crosby was well on his way to becoming the king of crooners for nearly four decades. Merriam-Webster's Third International Dictionary defines a crooner as "a singer of popular songs who uses a soft-voice technique adapted to amplifying systems." Rudy Vallee had a trademark use of a megaphone to project his voice, but it's curious that he didn't use it for any of his numbers in this film. The on-line M-W dictionary defines crooner a little more simply: "a male singer who sings slow, romantic songs in a soft, smooth voice." While Crosby became the undisputed king (more than one-half billion recordings sold), many other singers have crooned their way into our hearts over the decades. Other big names of the past are Perry Como, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nate King Cole, Andy Williams, Eddie Fisher, Englebert Humperdinck, Frankie Avalon, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet and Elvis Presley with his slow love songs.

earlytalkie "The Vagabond Lover" could be considered the perfect example of the early-talkie. The acting by Mr. Vallee is rather non-exsistant, but his singing and the music is quite pleasant, and the performance by the great Marie Dressler as "Auntie" makes up for the rest. The photography is very representative of the early sound era, with the actors grouped around a hidden mike with hordes of people in the frame. The sound itself is remarkably good, maybe the best remaining example of early sound recording. There is one chorus number which has a brief overhead shot of the type that Busby Berkely would make famous a year later in "Whoopee!". The film is a brief 65 minutes in length, and it is a rather modest black-and-white production, but it remains a telling window into the 1920s, with it's fashions, music and such. This was also one of the most profitable films of the year for the fledgling Radio Pictures, a new company set up that year to take advantage of the RCA Photophone system. The DVD has a rather dry commentary prolouge by a UCLA film specialist which appears to be taped in his apartment. Rather poorly edited, this feature is easy to skip on the DVD, once you have seen it once. Other players featured in this include Loretta Young's sister, Sally Blane, Eddie Nugent and especially Nella Walker, as Marie Dressler's rival for social prominence. The story, by James Ashmore Creelman, was purportedly based on Mr. Vallee's own carrer.

Michael_Elliott Vagabond Lover, The (1929)** (out of 4)Early talkie from RKO helped introduce Rudy Vallee to the world. In the film, which was apparently based partly on his life story, he plays an unknown musician who breaks into a famous musicians house and is mistaken for said musician by a rich socialite (Marie Dressler). Soon Vallee begins to fall for her niece (Sally Blane) but he still has this secret to work around. This is a pretty mixed film because on one hand the music itself is pretty good but at the same time the story, acting and directing are all rather bland at best. I think the biggest problem with this film is that RKO didn't want to spend too much on the budget so they really didn't try overly hard to cover up various mistakes in the film. There are at least two scenes that I can think of off the top of my head where the actor messing up their lines but they just correct themselves and move on. It's also rather obvious in a few scenes that the actors miss their marks, which cause them to make sudden stops and throwing off the actor in the scene with them. The performance are a mixed bag as Vallee comes off likable enough but he's way too stiff and his line delivery is pretty weak. Dressler manages to turn in a fine performance but she isn't given a whole lot to do. Blane, Loretta Young's sister, seems to be in love with Vallee but her acting leaves a lot to be desired. She's certainly cute like her sister but she really doesn't deliver much in terms of a performance. The main reason to watch this thing is for the music and songs that include "You're Nobody's Sweetheart Now", "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" and "I'm Just a Vagabond Lover". Vallee and The Connecticut Yankees do fine work in regards to the music but I'd say a CD would be better fit than going through the entire movie.

barnesgene Let's face it, as a movie, this is not persuasive. The principles of enunciating for the stage simply overwhelm the intimate sonics that even this incredibly early talkie were capable of producing. Almost immediately, subsequent movie directors understood the difference between stage and screen and made the corrections. Still, it's hard to believe that some of these scenes could not have been re-shot with more natural acting, once they saw the rushes. (I'm thinking they simply didn't think the delivery of lines would be that important in talkies. "Hey, they're talking! Ain't that enough?")The music is another matter. Yes, this is not jazz as the revisionist historians would have us understand it (i.e., a largely black phenomenon, with only the most perceptive whites getting it). But it's a mere 30 years from the Gay 90s (that's 1890's) song revolution, and the tug of the sentimental ditty still reached out to 1929 the way early rock still has its effect on rock in the new millennium. Don't judge it harshly. Music like this was an important bridge to the wider American public's tolerance, then acceptance, and finally love of what we now think of as a more pure form of jazz.Marie Dressler, born 5 years after the end of the Civil War, turns in a stunning performance. All the faces she makes while pushing away the maid's efforts to use smelling salts on her -- pure virtuosity, all done in the blink of an eye. But she can't save the movie entirely. All those shots of wooden Rudy and his entourage -- I've seen more life in the Petrified Forest.