Bob, Don't Let Them Touch Those Curls!

 Bob was a featured player in The Sins of the Children (1930), originally titled The Richest Man in the World.  Somebody decided 'Sins' would more easily catch a viewer's attention ... and they were probably right.  Cosmopolitan Pictures had an arrangement with MGM who put its logo on and distributed the movie.  Elliott Nugent, close friend of Bob's from their working together on So This is College (1929), is a featured player, as well as sharing credit for the story and dialogue.  So at least Bob gets to pal around with Nugent while being loaned out to Cosmopolitan.  

Whoever was responsible for publicizing the picture did not have much of a budget.  There just is not much available to collect.  I ran across this photo on eBay listed with no reference to Bob.  It was a fun find for me, seeing that face jump out from my computer screen.  Now, Bob, do not let those two barbers touch that curly head of hair.  After all, look at their haircuts! 

 

Two-gether

Continuing the birthday picspam-o-rama:

Virginia Bruce, The First Hundred Years

Marion Davies, Blondie of the Follies

Audrey Totter, The Lady in the Lake

Elizabeth Allan, The Mystery of Mr. X

Fightin' Norma Shearer, Private Lives

Leila Hyams, The Sins of the Children

Carole Lombard, Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Life vs. Sins

I never thought I'd say It's a Wonderful Life and The Sins of the Children in the same breath.

Last week, Movie Morlocks posted an interesting comparison of the two films, noting before IAWL, "...there was another terrifically sentimental family drama which featured many of the same elements: a growing town’s building and loan, missing money, a mortgage come due, immigrants, a Christmas Eve setting, and a father that sacrifices his pursuit of financial success for others..."

Ok...

Sins is far from one of my favorite Bob films, but oddly enough, it is one of his few films on DVD.

The Sins of the Children

The Sins of the Children, one of Bob'’s early films from 1930, was just released on DVD by the Roan Group. Of course, I had to pick me up a copy from Amazon.

The quality of the movie is pretty good. The sound is hard to understand at times, just because it'’s an early sound film and the main character has a thick German accent. I caught myself *squinting* to hear some of the dialogue in the movie - that makes no sense at all!

The DVD itself starts with a mini-overview of the actors in the film. At first I thought I bought an analysis to a movie without a movie. This overview is done by Lou Lumenick (never heard of him) from the New York Post. Looks like someone got their home movie camera out for that piece.

I had a hard time getting into Sins at first, but it became more like a soap opera as the story developed and I got sucked in. The father of four does whatever is needed to make sure his children have the best and live healthy lives. He and his wife as parents give up much, including an opportunity to get rich. Well, as time goes on, the children make mistakes, big ones, and dad is always there to bail them out. The end of the movie reminds me a lot of It'’s a Wonderful Life.

Bob actually has a smaller role in this film as the love interest of the father'’s daughter. I think the most likeable character in the whole story is played by Elliott Nugent, the inventor in the family.