The Live Wire (1935) Online

By the extremely humble standards of Bernard B. Ray, this is a well-above-average presentation. This is not to say that this uncredited remake of "Terror Island" (complete with mutiny but no natives) is any good, mind you, but it has its moments, chiefly in the stunting of Dick Talmadge and the unexpected largess of a pictorially exuberant climax, filmed on a lavishly appointed standing set from some expensive "A" production. The shipboard fire and mutiny is not badly staged either.

But as for the "comedy" relief contributed by silent comedienne Alberta Vaughn (in her final film) and fraidy-cat Martin Turner's cook-of-all-faces, the less said the better. Miss Vaughn looks so much prettier in the final portion of the film, which she plays straight, than in the preceding two-thirds in which she scrupulously duplicates the custard-pie antics of a hammy Ben Turpin imitator.

It's also nice to catch one of our favorite villains, George Chesebro. Alas, even though he magically survives a fantastic fall from ship's rigging to the deck without so much as a single scratch (a stunt actually performed by one of the Metzetti brothers), his part amounts to little more than "Yes, sir. No, sir." It's the less charismatic bully-boy George Walsh who does almost all the heavy work.

Richard Talmedge plays Dick Nelson a sailor who was once shipwrecked on a uncharted island. While stranded he found an old vase which he brought back with him and sold at junk shop. A professor who finds the vase and knows what it is looks up Nelson and asks him to take him to the island. Thrills, chills and the right touch of comedy make this a breezy fast moving adventure. Where many cheap-o films of this time are hurt by lack of music this one moves so fast you don't notice it. The only real complaint is that the film ends much too quickly, surely they could have had a bit more happen once they reach the island, after all this film only runs 56 minutes.

Lots and lots of fun.

The sound and picture quality are pretty shaky, giving this the look of a much older film. Richard Talmadge is Dick Nelson, a sailor who had found an antique vase on an antique island. Henry Roquemore and Jim Aubrey are the professors who see it and realize just how valuable it is. So they head out with Nelson to try to find more treasure. One interesting observation... you'd think the captain would want to know where they were going BEFORE leaving port... how much food and water would they need for the trip?? Alberta Vaughn is the captain's stow-away daughter. Captain King walks and talks quite slowly; he's a carry over from the EARLY silents, so he had been around a while. It's a pretty good story, but towards the end it loses steam. Will they get rescued? Will they find the ruins? It's all B movie stuff. It's okay. All very linear and predictable. Directed by Harry Webb, who had started in silent films. Story by Leon Metzetti, who was actually Talmadge's brother!

Some amazing fight scenes aboard a burning ship (and later an uncharted island) put this Z-grade adventure into a stronger light after much silliness in the first few reels. Richard Talmadge is a sailor who sold a rare pot he found on the deserted island, stalked by two archaeologists who long to see the temple where he first discovered it. They board a ship captained by Charles K. French whose 19 year old daughter (Alberta Vaughan) has smuggled herself aboard against her daddy's wishes. Vaughan is hysterically funny in a scene with Talmadge where he gets her (in male disguise) to smoke a cigar, making all sorts of facial contortions until she rushes out of the room violently ill. George Walsh is the brutish first mate who arranges a mutiny and later plots to get his hands on the treasure the archaeologists are after. It's all silly fun with Sam McDaniel (Hattie's brother) acting cowardly as the ship's cook and expressing his fear when he encounters skeletons in the island's lost city. In spite of the racial stereotypes and outlandish clichés, the film never fails to keep your attention, and at under an hour, does nothing but what the writers set out to do: entertain a world weary depression audience who could see through the ridiculousness of the story and simply enjoy it as a mild distraction.

"The Live Wire" is simply horrible--a low-budget film from start to finish. The acting is bad, the writing is bad and the direction is bad...and there is nothing positive I can say about the film. Yes folks, it IS that bad!! The film begins with a couple egg-head professors approaching a guy in a pawn shop about a pot for sale there. Apparently it's valuable and might lead them to some more cool ancient stuff--so they go in search of the sailor who sold the store this artifact. Eventually, when they do find him, they convince the guy to go with them on sea voyage in search of the island on which this was found. Along the way, a Bluto-like character leads a mutiny and the good sailor (who SHOULD have been named Popeye) almost single-handedly beats up the mutineers--and could have stopped the mutiny a lot faster had he had his spinach!! Believe it or not, when you watch the film you start to realize that it's actually a bizarre reworking of "Treasure Island". So, despite the stowaway girl posing as a male seaman, the black man who is the embodiment of every negative stereotype known in 1935 and a miraculous escape, the film is the Stevenson story---as played by Popeye!! It's dumb and my favorite dumb moment is when a sailor tosses a match carelessly next to cans clearly marked 'gasoline'!! Not only is this unbelievable but it takes seemingly forever for the cans to explode! Sloppy but that's par for the course in this dumb and horribly racist film.