I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

"The Vagabond Lover" could be considered the perfect example of the early-talkie. The acting by Mr. Vallee is rather non-exsistant, but his singing and the music is quite pleasant, and the performance by the great Marie Dressler as "Auntie" makes up for the rest. The photography is very representative of the early sound era, with the actors grouped around a hidden mike with hordes of people in the frame. The sound itself is remarkably good, maybe the best remaining example of early sound recording. There is one chorus number which has a brief overhead shot of the type that Busby Berkely would make famous a year later in "Whoopee!". The film is a brief 65 minutes in length, and it is a rather modest black-and-white production, but it remains a telling window into the 1920s, with it's fashions, music and such. This was also one of the most profitable films of the year for the fledgling Radio Pictures, a new company set up that year to take advantage of the RCA Photophone system. The DVD has a rather dry commentary prolouge by a UCLA film specialist which appears to be taped in his apartment. Rather poorly edited, this feature is easy to skip on the DVD, once you have seen it once. Other players featured in this include Loretta Young's sister, Sally Blane, Eddie Nugent and especially Nella Walker, as Marie Dressler's rival for social prominence. The story, by James Ashmore Creelman, was purportedly based on Mr. Vallee's own carrer.

This dreary but not too lethal attempt at light-comedy-with-songs succeeds only to the extent that some musical numbers are performed by an actual band, The Connecticut Yankees, and a few of the supporting actors are up to - and in Marie Dressler's case, even beyond - the demands of the genre. Director Marshall Neilan, despite a batch of silent classics under his professional belt, is unable to get any life out of his romantic leads, Rudy Vallee and Sally Blane. Vallee in particular is barely able to register any facial expression other than a sort of frozen melancholy, as if he was posing for a painted portrait. Unless absolutely necessary, he never moves either. (He redeemed himself splendidly 13 years later in Preston Sturges's THE PALM BEACH STORY in one of the most sublime comic turns of Hollywood's golden age.) Blane recites her lines as if she is reading them from cue cards in a run-through for a high school production she would rather not be in. As Blane's mother Marie Dressler is animated enough for both. Whenever she is on screen hardly a second goes by without her twitching, grimacing, eye rolling or doing double-takes; her vocal range is vast as well. Perhaps she knew she was among corpses and was trying to save the show. Charles Sellon as a cop and Nella Walker as a snooty socialite also bring some zest to the proceedings, as does Edward Nugent as a member of Rudy's band. The songs crooned by Rudy include the title number and "If You Were the Only Girl in the World." At times the uninteresting plot (about Rudy's amateur band pretending to be a more famous grouping) takes a long breather for such interludes as a quartet of little girls singing a very annoying kiddie number or a troupe of dancers swirling around in flowing white robes in an ineffective attempt to to embellish a performance of the title song.Visually there is nothing going on outside the efforts of individual performers to give some life to the camera lens and the mikes. The sound is quite good for 1929, though applause sequences tend to sound strangely metallic, as if the density of vibrations was too much for the recording equipment. So as cinema there is little to recommend. As sociological artifact it's worth a look.

On Long Island, crooner Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees are mistaken for a more famous band, by neighboring socialite Marie Dressler (as Mrs. Whitehall). The ruse, which started innocently, goes too far, and threatens Mr. Vallee's budding relationship with Ms. Dressler's niece, Sally Blane (as Jean Whitehall). It all works out while Vallee sings several songs, including "I'm Just a Vagabond Lover" and "A Little Kiss Each Morning (A Little Kiss Each Night)"."The Vagabond Lover" does not capture the Vallee hysteria, unfortunately. It is his first feature length film. The songs are stylistically representative, but dull; "Honey" had already appeared in a "short", and the film was completed too early for "The Stein Song" to be included. Ms. Blane (Loretta Young's sister) is very pretty; but, the most beautiful woman in the film is most definitely Dressler. It is her first feature length sound film. Later, Vallee would become a surprisingly effective (considering this performance) character actor.**** The Vagabond Lover (1929) Marshall Neilan ~ Rudy Vallee, Sally Blane, Marie Dressler

THE VAGABOND LOVER (RKO Radio, 1929), directed by Marshall Neilan, is an appropriate title to one of the most popular vocalists of the time, Rudy Vallee (1901- 1986). As with many singers making a screen debut, Vallee's performance is somewhat stiff, reciting his lines as if he were reading from cue cards, but satisfactory with his vocalizing. Unlike future crooners as Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra, Vallee's screen career in leading roles were limited but acting overall improved through the passage of time. By the 1940s, however, Vallee started a new chapter in his career playing stuffy millionaires starting with Preston Sturges' comedic masterpiece, THE PALM BEACH STORY (Paramount, 1942) starring Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea. As for THE VAGABOND LOVER, this is where the Rudy Vallee of motion picture screen began."Every small town has its small town band with big town ideas," is its opening title before introducing Rudy Bronson (Rudy Vallee), the lead vocalist and organizer of a college senior band who's been studying on developing his own orchestra by Ted Grant's mail order guide. Feeling Grant to be a remarkable man and speaking of him as he if were an old friend to his band members, Rudy heads over to Grant's Long Island home with his band for an audition. As Ted Grant (Malcolm Waite) prepares on leaving town for a vacation with his associates, Rudy, initially thrown out of Grant's home by the butler, intends not giving up enters Grant's home through an open window with his band members behind him. By the time Rudy gets his band organized, Grant who has already gone, ends up orchestrating his band to an empty house. Having been spotted by Ethel Whitehall (Marie Dressler), a wealthy matron, and her niece, Jean (Sally Blane), for entering through the window, the next door neighbors notify Officer George T. Tuttle (Charles Sellon) to investigate housebreaking. Confronting the "burglars," members of the band cover up by telling Tuttle, Mrs. Whitehall and Jean that Rudy IS Ted Grant and that they accidentally locked themselves out of the house. With one thing leading to another, Mrs. Whitehall soon engages "Ted Grant's Orchestra" to perform at a charity benefit for orphans. Rudy becomes successful, but feels guilty about his false pretense. At the advise of his band, Rudy remains silent, going on with his masquerade, even with the possibility of being exposed as a fraud and losing Jean, whom he's very much interested.During its brief 65 minutes, THE VAGABOND LOVER manages to squeeze in a handful of popular tunes, old and new, including "I'm Just a Vagabond Lover" (voiceover sung by Vallee during opening credits); "I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now" (sung by band); "I Love You, Believe Me, I Love You," "Georgie Porgie" (sung by orphans); "If You Were the Only Girl in the World, and I Were the Only Boy," "A Little Kiss Each Morning, A Little Kiss Each Night," Instrumental dancing to "I'm Just a Vagabond Lover" and "Sweetheart, We Need Each Other," "I Love You, Believe Me, I Love You" (reprise by Vallee) and "I'll Be Reminded of You."Unlike some 1929 releases consisting of faded photography and distorted sound, the production values of THE VAGABOND LOVER are quite good. What may hurt the value of this movie today is the wooden acting of Rudy Vallee. Considering this to be his first screen appearance, with sound techniques still relatively new, this could be overlooked. Another bonus is the plot not focusing heavily on melodramatics with tearful solutions, but an overly familiar but an amusing mistaken identity plot that makes this antique more palatable. For anyone unfamiliar with the Rudy Vallee method, his singing singing style stir up chuckles with contemporary viewers, particularly watching his facial close- up with makeup on lips and eye-lids while singing with his eyes closed and mouth wide open. THE VAGABOND LOVER is redeemed somewhat by Marie Dressler (1869-1934) in the early stages of her sound career. Unlike the lovable characters she performed so well later on at MGM, she presents herself here more like a Margaret Dumont (of the Marx Brothers fame) type than anything else, but she's still Marie. Watching THE VAGABOND LOVER comes as a blessing as to something new, considering how the Dressler legend lies more on the frequent revival to the excellent sophisticated comedy-drama, DINNER AT EIGHT (MGM, 1933). To see more of Dressler and other films (such as her Academy Award winning performance in MIN AND BILL in 1930) is to learn more about her gifted talent of long ago. The performance of Sally Blane (sister to actress Loretta Young) has her mostly sitting back and listening with awe to Rudy's singing. ("When you sing like that, I wish you'd go on forever."). Charles Sellon, whose Officer Tuttle could have easily been played by Ned Sparks, adds a little spark as the crusty old policeman who suspects Rudy as a phony. Rounding out the cast of reliables are Nella Walker (Mrs. Todhunter); Norman Peck ("Swiftie"); Edward J. Nugent ("Sport"); and Rudy Vallee's Connecticut Yankees. This rarely shown item was first introduced to public television in its weekly film series, SPROCKETS (1982). After that series expired, THE VAGABOND LOVER was later shown on American Movie Classics, and then on Turner Classic Movies. Formerly distributed on video cassette, it's availability can be found on DVD. THE VAGABOND LOVER, an Rudy Vallee song-feast at best, is of sole interest for those interested in early talkies. According to legend, the screenplay used in THE VAGABOND LOVER is based on Rudy Vallee's own career. Did he actually climb through an open window to success? We'll never know. (**)