The Right of Way is a film that was made several times during the silent era and was based on a novel. It concerns a lawyer named Charles Steele (Conrad Nagel), a man whose marriage with a society woman (Olive Tell) is falling apart and whose brother in law is going down the wrong path in life. Steele goes to defend his family against a group of ruffians who beat him up and throw him in the river to die, but a man he defended in a murder trial finds him and takes him to his home in the mountains. Unable to care for the man alone, he enlists a young lady from the village named Rosalie (Loretta Young) to nurse Charles back to health. When he awakes, Charles has no recollection of his former life and begins a new one in the mountains.
This film is short, but it is hardly sweet. Nagel is the biggest ham in this movie, constantly overacting in scenes that need subtlety. Young is beautiful but somehow and obvious novice in her scenes, which is strange because she made so many wonderful pre-codes. Perhaps the direction was not up to par.
One might enjoy this film simply to make fun of the acting, but the dramatic story might make one uncomfortable in doing so. The movie isn't meant to be a comedy, but it was certainly made to be that way by the acting.
This film is short, but it is hardly sweet. Nagel is the biggest ham in this movie, constantly overacting in scenes that need subtlety. Young is beautiful but somehow and obvious novice in her scenes, which is strange because she made so many wonderful pre-codes. Perhaps the direction was not up to par.
One might enjoy this film simply to make fun of the acting, but the dramatic story might make one uncomfortable in doing so. The movie isn't meant to be a comedy, but it was certainly made to be that way by the acting.