Lights of New York (1928 film)
| Lights of New York | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Bryan Foy |
| Written by | Murray Roth Hugh Herbert |
| Starring |
Helene Costello Cullen Landis Eugene Pallette |
| Music by | Louis Silvers |
| Cinematography | Edwin B. DuPar |
| Edited by | Jack Killifer |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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July 6, 1928or July 21, 1928 |
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Running time
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57 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $23,000 |
| Box office | $1.2 million |
Lights of New York is a 1928 American crime drama film starring Helene Costello, Cullen Landis and Eugene Pallette, and directed by Bryan Foy. Filmed in the Vitaphone sound-on-disc sound system, it is the first all-talking full-length feature film, released by Warner Bros., who had introduced the first feature-length with sound The Jazz Singer in the previous year. The film, which cost $23,000 to produce ("B" picture), grossed over $1,000,000. The enthusiasm with which audiences greeted the talkies was so great that by the end of 1929, Hollywood was producing sound films exclusively.
When bootleggers Jake Jackson (Walter Percival) and Dan Dickson (Jere Delaney), who have been hiding out in a small upstate New York town, learn that they finally can return to New York, they try to convince a young kid named Eddie Morgan (Cullen Landis) and his friend, a local barber named Gene (Eugene Palette) to come with them.
With a promise from Jackson and Dickson that they will help the young men establish a barbershop in the city, Eddie asks his mother, Mrs. Morgan (Mary Carr), who owns the town's Morgan Hotel, to loan them $5,000 of her savings. Eddie and Gene set up the barbershop in New York but soon learn that it is merely a front for a speakeasy.
Frustrated and yearning for a return to the quiet life, Gene and Eddie vow to go home as soon as they earn enough to pay back Mrs. Morgan. Eddie is in love with Kitty Lewis (top-billed Helene Costello), his hometown sweetheart, who preceded him to New York. Now she is a performer at The Night Hawk, a nightclub owned by Hawk Miller (Wheeler Oakman), notorious bootlegger who controls the speakeasy behind the barbershop. Although Hawk's longtime mistress, Molly Thompson (Gladys Brockwell), warns him not to pursue Kitty, he coldly dismisses her, saying that their relationship is over.
After a police officer is killed in a bootlegging raid of a supply of Old Century liquor, Hawk tells his henchmen, Sam (Tom Dugan) and Collins (Tom McGuire), that they must find someone to take the blame to keep the police from closing him down. They suggest that Hawk frame Eddie, thereby "killing two birds with one stone." When Eddie comes to the club to visit Kitty, Hawk summons him to his office and asks him to hide his supply of Old Century, saying that it is only temporary, in case the police raid his club. When Detective Crosby (Robert Elliott) comes to the club to question Hawk and implies that he is behind the policeman's murder, Hawk says that the only person he knows who has a supply of Old Century is Eddie.
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