Thunderbolt
About Thunderbolt
Jim Lang, called Thunderbolt, hears at a Harlem club that his girl Ritzie wants to quit the racket. She moves in with Mrs. Moran, whose son Bob, a bank clerk, loves her. Ritzie helps the police trap Lang. From the Sing Sing death house he frames Bob for a bank killing so the two men share adjoining cells. After Ritzie marries Bob there, Lang confesses the frame and, on the night of the execution, puts a hand on Bob's shoulder instead of killing him.
Cast & crew
More about Thunderbolt
Josef von Sternberg directed. Charles Furthman and Jules Furthman supplied the story. Herman J. Mankiewicz worked on the screenplay, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote titles. Paramount opened it in the United States on 20 June 1929. A silent version was also issued. It was also released as At the Gates of Death.
Themes
Background
A 1929 Paramount crime picture made while theatres were split between sound and silent projection.
Making
It was Sternberg's first film with synchronized sound. He also cut a silent edition for houses that were not yet wired.
Reviews
Mordaunt Hall, in The New York Times on 21 June 1929, called the script a musical-comedy plot trying to pass as drama. Norbert Lusk, in the Los Angeles Times on 30 June 1929, wrote it up as a hit. Director Ludwig Berger wired Sternberg that he considered it the first artistically finished sound film.
Look
Henry W. Gerrard photographed the Harlem club, the bank, and the death-house cells.
Technique
Two editions were finished, one with synchronized sound and one silent.
Music
Karl Hajos is credited with the music. Sternberg uses source music inside the scenes, including a band in the club, and lets effects such as a sewing machine and a dog's toy ball sit against the dialogue.
Notes
- George Bancroft plays Thunderbolt Jim Lang, Fay Wray plays Ritzie, and Richard Arlen plays Bob Moran.
- Eugenie Besserer plays Mrs. Moran. Tully Marshall plays the warden.
- Henry W. Gerrard was the cinematographer. Karl Hajos is credited with the music.
- Bancroft was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Scenes
- Ritzie tells Lang she is leaving him during a police raid on the club.
- She marries Bob in the death house.
- Lang's hand drops onto Bob's shoulder instead of striking him.
