Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

LuvSopr The story is indeed hackneyed, and the title cards ("it's gran", "Baa- Baa") are a minus, but this is a simple little romance back when sentiment and honest emotions were allowed to be expressed, instead of drowned in cynicism as they often are in today's films. Janet Gaynor was the bigger star, but Charles Farrell is the heart and soul of this film and he gives a moving performance. He never allows Tim to be an object of pity even when the script presents him as one. He expresses his emotions on such a pure level. There's a scene where Tim hugs Mary ("Baa Baa") and as she clings to him, we see expressed on his face the full, startling realization of how much he loves her. It is a gorgeous performance and one which, if you see the film, I don't think you will forget.

museumofdave If someone wants to understand what happened between the end of the silent period and the beginning of sound, to experience an immersion in the sort of lyrical romance that people responded to at the time, there are few better films than Lucky Star. Both of the featured players, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell had already established themselves as audience favorites in films from Seventh Heaven on, and this simple tale of a crippled soldier finding love with a rustic local girl allowed both of them to give rich, likable performances without gross exaggeration or hysteria. For contemporary moviegoers, accustomed to multiple layers of irony and a cynical take on romance between a man and a woman, this film may be laughable, but for those willing to transport themselves to another world (which is what film can do so well!) director Frank Borzage's magical, shadowy, soft-focus rustic never-never land creates a sweet, idyllic romance

silentmoviefan This is not an all-time great film, but it is surely washable. One thing that amazed me was Janet Gaynor's performance. Two years earlier, she played a rather haggard-looking wife in Sunrise (1927) and yet she plays a very believable child in this movie. Then there's Charles Farrell. In every other film I'd ever seen him in, he looked like he'd been beaten up a short time earlier, but in this one, he looks quite a bit cleaner. Speaking of Sunrise (1927), this film's atmosphere very much reminded me of it. It had that dark surrealistic type of setting. It was the same company (Fox), but different director (Frank Borzage as opposed to F.W. Murnau). It was also neat to see Paul Fix in an early role. I've seen nearly every episode of The Rifleman, where he played Micah, the Marhsall, but here he is many years earlier. He looks quite a bit different, too. Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, he did fine. His character was supposed to be a jerk and he does a good job on it, too. The reason I don't rate this film higher is because of his character, particularly when he's a boss over Charles Farrell. Like I say this film is watchable, but the ending made me go "huh?" For much of the film, Charles Farrell's character is crippled, but all of a sudden, he isn't anymore! While I do like happy endings, it's bit far-fetched. It sort of reminded me of a 1923 Warners Brothers movie in which a mute actress all of a sudden speaks (so to speak in a silent film), but the sudden change was handled better in that film than this one. While not great, I do say it is worth a look.

boblipton I have said here and elsewhere that in their collaborations it was Gaynor who carried Farrell, a competent actor who would have had a decent career based on his looks and talent rather than genius: think Richard Arlen. It was the teaming with Gaynor that made him, for a while anyway, a star.Or so I thought until I saw this movie. In this one, sitting in a wheelchair, scrubbing Gaynor's hair ("Why, Baa-baa! You're a blond!"), and later, Gaynor lets him carry the scenes, and he does it: aggressive, funny, dynamic, angry and thunderstruck.There are the usual Borzage touches, including the surrealistic farmhouse -- attributed to the Murnau influence, but really, Borzage was going that way already. It had everything to do with his mysticism, I think. His impressionistic sets helped create a private world where miracles could happen. Or maybe make it apparent.