Lonesome (1928)

Interesting facts

Lonesome is a 1928 American sound part-talkie comedy drama film directed by Paul Fejös, and starring Barbara Kent and Glenn Tryon. Although containing a few sequences with audible dialog, the majority of the film had a synchronized musical score with sound effects with English intertitles. The film was released in both sound-on-disc and sound-on-film formats. Its plot follows two working-class residents of New York City over a 24-hour-period, during which they have a chance meeting at Coney Island during the Independence Day weekend and swiftly fall in love with one another. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Production

Lonesome, with a three-page outline, was originally intended, by the studio, to be a short, Fejös adapted the outline to feature length.

The studio forced, and Fejos did not direct, three dialogue sequences, with primitive dialogue, and stationary camera, into the film for commercial attraction. Sound design features the repeated use of Irving Berlin's Always.

Lonesome was widely released in the sound version. The silent version was mainly seen in theatres that had not yet converted to sound (e.g., theatres in rural areas that could not afford the expense of converting to sound). Some scenes in existing original prints of the film are colored with stencils (purple).

Cinematography includes: superimposition effects, experimental editing, roller-coasting camera, roving camera, fast motion, split screens, model work, matte paintings, hand-held shots and dolly shots.

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