Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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.

mark.waltz All great stars had to start somewhere, and for Barbara Stanwyck, it was on Broadway. The play "Burlesque" made her famous and brought her to the attention of film producers. It would take a man named Frank Capra to get ahold of her and teach her to love the camera and teach the camera to love her. But between "Burlesque" on Broadway and "Ladies of Leisure", Stanwyck made several films in which she did her best to find her niche' on screen. "The Locked Door" and "Mexicali Rose" are the two I've seen, and in each, I have to admit that my favorite actress of the 30's and 40's just hadn't found her place yet. It doesn't help that the films are stagy, filmed like old theatre melodramas, and are stiff and rigid. Stanwyck has presence; She just needed the right Svengali to come along and show her the way. "The Locked Door" is certainly better than "Mexicali Rose" (the Brooklyn gal as a Latina?), but not much better. Rod La Rocque is the slimy villain she fights off then defends her sister-in-law from; He is an exile of the silent movies, a character that has thankfully faded from view in films, TV and theatre except for parody (most memorably in the Broadway musical "The Drowsy Chaperone"). No one else in the cast really is worth mentioning except for Zasu Pitts as the chatty operator who adds on some much needed laughs. Thankfully this has been rescued from obscurity by recent TCM airings, one of the last Stanwyck films I needed to see to complete my viewing of all her work. As Stanwyck herself proclaimed, "They never should have opened the damned door!"

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.

Neil Doyle BARBARA STANWYCK was never too fond of her first talkie and it's easy to see why. Filmed at a time when stage actors were just getting familiar with sound technique in films, it has a multitude of problems with regard to script, direction and performances.ROD LaROCQUE is insufferably hammy as the bad guy who tries to seduce Stanwyck aboard an illegal rum boat and turns up some eighteen months later paying court to her sister (BETTY BRONSON). Stanwyck and hubby WILLIAM BOYD decide to stop LaRocque from carrying through with his plans to run off with Bronson and the plot thickens, going from one melodramatic mess to another before the story crawls to an end.Best aspect of the film is the photography of Ray June, especially the overhead shots looking through the glass ceiling of a dance floor on the riverboat and the panning shot of bar customers ordering drinks.Everyone sounds like they're reading their lines for a run through rehearsal, but Stanwyck at least shows emotion well in some good close-ups. Bronson and LaRocque are the worst with the new mikes.