Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

gridoon2018 I was surprised at how good this 1929 film is: it flows, it's not stagy, the camera moves (there is a nice long tracking shot near the start), the story is clear, and the actors seem comfortable with sound. And it is informative, too - I didn't know about the 12-mile-radius-free-drinking-ship thing! The ending is a little too convenient, and the comic-relief character of the hotel manager could have been cut (Zasu Pitts can stay, I like her). As for Barbara Stanwyck's first film appearance, there is nothing really special about her performance, but certainly nothing bad, either. The one who stands out in the cast is Harry Mestayer as the D.A. - he's a precursor of all those wily officers of the law in the movies who always know when you're lying. **1/2 out of 4.

ScenicRoute The first five minutes need to go viral on YouTube to prove to young people there is nothing new under the sun. It is a brilliant portrait of the bright young things getting s**t-faced on a boat, especially the women (all women the following: "I want a drink. I want a drink!! I want a drink!! I want a drink!!!"; and "I want a high ball. I want a high ball! I want two highballs!!"; and finally "I want two quarts of gin."). It is a priceless portrait of the emancipated flapper misbehaving! For old movie snobs, La Roque is an interesting villain - see why his career when nowhere with the talkies - he does villainous too believably for the audience of that era to ever let him have a mainstream role again. Stanwyck shows her chops, though she has yet to get her full form and is a little stagy.And you might enjoy the lipstick on Willian 'Stage' Boyd, not well done, but Mr Boyd clearly enjoys wearing it - checking out his bio, I am wondering if he was a bad, bad bisexual - the orientation everyone loves to hate? A young death at 46, so it would make sense that he was abandoned by both men and women...

mukava991 The attraction here is not just Barbara Stanwyck, even though it's her first talkie and she handles her role with a secure professionalism that belies her cinematic inexperience. Born for the camera she was! But an equally impressive performance is delivered by Rod La Rocque as the serial cad who mistreats her and then sets his sights on her younger sister. The trappings are typical 20's soap opera/melodrama, in this case derived from a stage play. But not typical for the era is La Rocque's well-tailored villain who seems to have stepped out of a story from a much later era; in fact, his performance would not be considered one bit dated even by today's standards - highly unusual for a film from 1929. His line readings and body language bespeak a decadent, spoiled rogue without a scintilla of conscience, all of this enhanced by delicately tapered sideburns. He also has a smooth, deep speaking voice. The look and style of the film are standard for the era but include an interesting, lively panoramic dance party sequence on a "drinking boat" (pleasure boats that sailed outside the 12-mile limit of the US coast so the patrons could drink alcohol illegally during the Prohibition era) intercut with an intimate scene between Stanwyck and La Rocque in one of the cabins.

st-shot This unintentionally funny drama is an excellent example of how bad early sound films could be. The story is ridiculous, the sound understandably bad, the actors either wooden or overwrought clichés and the morality issues of honor that drive the plot arcane even for the 20's. Afterall it was the Jazz Age.Helen Reagan daughter of wealthy social register hot shot Lawrence Reagan falls for the charms of worldly playboy/gigolo Frank Devereaux. When scandal threatens her honor, Devereaux ex and Reagan current Ann Carter steps in to save her. Carter visits Devereaux at his lair to attempt to dissuade him but fails miserably, facing blackmail herself. Reagan then shows up gets in a struggle with Devereaux and mortally wounds him (though he does hang on beyond films end to exonerate the lot) then covers up by locking the entrance door from the outside and in the process traps Ann, who unknown to Reagan witnesses the murder. The police arrive along with the DA who feels that it is the appropriate time to cross examine suspects and witnesses. This is when the ham starts to get sliced by the pound. The DA goes into courtroom histrionics as he badgers witnesses and when this stalls the cliché cops offer to pummel the uncooperative with "the third degree". In the meantime Devereaux lies dying in the bedroom. No rush or need to get him to a hospital.The Locked Door is so bad it's good. Barbara Stanwyck as Ann makes plenty of rookie mistakes in her first talkie and dissipated William "Stage" Boyd as Reagan looks disturbingly cadaverous in heavy make-up. Rod La Roque as the bon vivant seducer is pure pine but his relationship with his valet (George Bunny) is interesting and in its own way touching. The one performer not to embarrass herself is Zasu Pitts as the telephone operator. As the films only intended comic relief she comes through with flying colors amid this wreck of a picture.