ThiefHott Too much of everything

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

JLRVancouver "Laughing Boy" is a film version of Oliver La Farge's Pulitzer Prize winning novel about a young Navajo man in the early 1900's. Briefly, the story follows Laughing Boy (Ramón Novarro), a traditional youth who travels to a ceremonial dance where he meets Slim Girl (Lupe Vélez), a young women who had attended an "American school" and now lived amongst the white men. After initially disliking her forward ways, Laughing Boy falls in love and, despite objections from his family, the two marry. Slim Girl finds the life as a traditional Navajo women gruelling and starts to return to the 'white' town, ostensibly to sell Laughing Boy's silver-work, where she becomes involved with her former lover. The tragic ending is somewhat abrupt and very different from that in the book. La Farge was an anthropologist who had worked with Navajo and the book, and by extension the movie, are considered accurate and respectful descriptions of Native American life in the Southwest in the early part of the century. The movie lacks much of the detail and 'flavour' of the book, but remains a touching story of love and community in a time when traditional values were slowly being eroded by the temptations of 'modern' lifestyles (like whiskey). The cast includes a number of American Indians in important secondary roles but the leads were both Mexican and don't really look the part, especially when interacting with the indigenous actors (although in the case of Vélez's character, this may be intentional, as she is now 'an outsider'). Music plays a large part in the book but Novarro's singing seems out of place in the film. He has a very good voice but (IMO) the songs would have been better if sung in Navajo (or wordlessly) and without any accompaniment. The black-and-white desert cinematography is moody and beautiful, although many of the back-projection shots (such as the horse racing scenes) are unconvincing and the wrestling scene has been oddly 'sped up'. The movie was a box-office failure and has not aged well (Novarro still looks like a character from a 'silent'), but I found it the story affecting and the scenes of contemporary Navajo life interesting. I would recommend reading the book first.

evening1 I enjoyed this excursion into a different time and place in America's history.It was novel to have Indians as the main players in this dusty Western drama, and the characterizations of Slim Girl (the sultry Lupe Velez), Laughing Boy (Ramon Novarro),and several bit players were unusual.The language here is often quite interesting, as if translated from another tongue, i.e., "With you or without you, my life will be the same." Such cruel words...The climactic scene is bizarre, in that Laughing Boy shows none of the anger one might expect -- or did he? Macho man Hartshone (William B. Davidson) shows his true colors and runs. (I had to rewind several times to discern the detail in this sequence.) Adding to the poignancy of this film for me is knowledge of the real-life fates of the two stars. Look them up on Wikipedia and weep.

bkoganbing In viewing Laughing Boy today I counted elements of Camille, Romeo and Juliet and Duel in the Sun in the plot of this Indian love story.Ramon Novarro plays the title role and he's a Navajo from way off in the rural part of the reservation. Lupe Velez is also a Navajo, but an orphan who is the live in mistress of William B. Davidson. It's doomed from the start. Lupe's been living too long in the white man's world and Ramon's family simply will not accept her. It ends bad for both of them.I've got a mixed reaction to the film. I've got to give some credit to MGM at that time for even attempting to make a film showing Indians as three dimensional people. They do in fact include some stereotypes, but give the studio credit for trying.Both Lupe and Ramon were big stars in the silent era and did make the transition to sound. They both had pleasant speaking voices. But both led lives that given the times should have been more discreet. They were both descending into B films at a steady pace. In Ramon's case the vogue for Latin lovers which crested with Rudolph Valentino in the silent era with Ramon as one of his imitators had long passed. MGM had trouble casting him. Laughing Boy might have been a better film if MGM had been trying to build Lupe and Ramon up instead of looking to be rid of both.

David Atfield The combination of the two dynamic Mexican actors Ramon Novarro and Lupe Velez should have guaranteed a dynamite movie.But someone at MGM, in their wisdom, cast them as Native Americans - a disastrous decision that doomed this film to failure even before it was begun.Both struggle to make their characters even slightly believable, as they try to curb their Mexican passion into some sort of wise aboriginal spirituality. The spitfire in Lupe just can't help but surface, and all Ramon can do is try to maintain some dignity under that terrible wig. His singing is nice but anachronistic, and there is far too much of it.Hard to believe this disaster was directed by Woody Van Dyke, who had made one of Ramon's best silent movies "The Pagan". Novarro was deeply ashamed of this film, and it's no wonder. What is saddest of all about it though is the way it wastes what could have been one of the most exciting star combinations of all time. Just imagine if Novarro and Velez were playing a pair of violently passionate Mexican lovers - what fireworks we would have seen!Shame, MGM, Shame!