Shore Leave

1456. SHORE LEAVE (1925-USA}. With RICHARD BARTHELMESS, DOKOTHY MacKAILL, TED McNAMARA “In so far as the average audience is concerned,” trumpeted “Variety,” in its Shore Leave review, “this is very close to being the best picture Barthelmess has yet turned out. It has good comedy, pathos, and a plot that neither sags nor prolongs itself.” Richard Barthelmess was, of course, one of the leading Hollywood stars of the decade, and he’s cast here as ÒBilge” Smith, a lonely landlubber who joins the Navy. While in a New England port, he meets dressmaker Connie Martin, who promptly falls for him. Bilge halfheartedly promises to return to her; Connie, who wholeheartedly believes him, salvages an old schooner and envisions Bilge as its captain and herself as his wife. Her plans don’t work out so easily; there’s a complication, owing to the fact that there is mare than one sailor named Smith in the United States Navy. “Shore Leave is a cinch,” concluded “Variety.” ‘It’s that kind of a picture-the kind with which people are entertained, and satisfied.” It can also be said that the scenario of this film was to beÂcome the basis for just about any Navy comedy or musical to come out of Hollywood. “Silent” film with original organ score, correct projection speed. 105 minutes. ÒSilentÓ Romance