Lucky Star
About Lucky Star
Mary, a farm girl, meets Tim as word arrives that war has been declared. He enlists, is wounded in Europe, and comes home unable to use his legs. Mary visits him. He will not say he loves her because of the injury. Martin, his old sergeant, wants Mary too. Tim gets back some use of his legs, walks through snow, and reaches Martin just as Martin is about to marry her. The town breaks up the fight and puts Martin on a train. Tim and Mary stay together.
Cast & crew
More about Lucky Star
Frank Borzage directed. William Fox produced. Sonya Levien is credited on the script, with John Hunter Booth, Harry H. Caldwell, Katherine Hilliker, and Tristram Tupper also named. Chester A. Lyons and William Cooper Smith photographed it. Fox released it on 18 August 1929. It runs 90 minutes. The American release is a part-talkie: the last three reels have dialogue, recorded on Movietone, with a score and effects through the rest. A silent version was made for foreign markets. Janet Gaynor plays Mary. Charles Farrell plays Tim. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams plays Martin.
Themes
Background
The story turns on the American declaration of war and a soldier who comes home from Europe unable to walk.
Making
Fox shot two negatives: a silent export version and a domestic version whose last three reels talk. Only the silent one came back from the Dutch archive.
Look
Chester A. Lyons and William Cooper Smith photographed the farm, the snow Tim crosses, and the fight before the wedding.
Music
The American release uses a Movietone score and effects, with spoken dialogue in the last three reels. The surviving print is the silent export version.
Preservation
The part-talkie is lost. The silent version was found at the Nederlands Filmmuseum in the late 1980s and restored.
Notes
- Paul Fix, Hedwiga Reicher, and Gloria Grey are in the supporting cast.
- Borzage had directed Gaynor in 7th Heaven (1927) and Street Angel (1928). Those two, with Murnau's Sunrise, were the films for which she won the first Academy Award for Best Actress.
- The surnames in the plot summary are Osborn for Tim and Wrenn for Martin.
- Both versions were thought lost. The silent cut was found in the Nederlands Filmmuseum in the late 1980s and restored.
- The talking version has not been found.
Scenes
- Tim comes home from Europe unable to use his legs, and Mary starts visiting.
- He walks through the snow and stops Martin's wedding.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Lucky Star (1929).webm)
