ORCHIDS AND ERMINE
Starring Colleen Moore, Jack Mulhall and Gwen Lee
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
July, 1927
This is about a much sought after but shy young millionaire who wants to be left in peace to woo and (if she possibly can overcome her prejudice against his money) win a little telephone girl. To this end, he exchanges suits and personalities with his valet who is well able to cope with the onslaught of feminine fortune-hunters. Jack (yes, the millionaire is none other than Jack Mulhall) wins her heart and hand until he tries to tell her who he really is. Then all he gets is dirty looks from the girl, sly winks from the valet, and a trip to the police court. Most of the humor arises from his entirely futile efforts to establish his identity. It's brightly directed, full of gags and sometimes funny subtitles, and Colleen Moore. Sam Hardy as the valet and Gwen Lee as the flower girl who marries him in a defenseless moment provide most of the amusement. But that's quite a fair amount.
ORCHIDS AND ERMINE
Starring Colleen Moore, Jack Mulhall and Gwen Lee
SCREENLAND
July, 1927
Hello, hello -- are you there? Colleen Moore on the wire as a little buzz-and-busy girl who knows her signals. When the star claps her metal ear-muffs over her slick black bob, you had better listen in. And you're not apt to hang up on "Orchids and Ermine" unless you're disconnected. The hello girls are certainly having their innings this screen season -- and their outings, too, although Colleen chooses the top of a Fifth Avenue bus on a rainy day for hers. Jack Mulhall is along, though, so "don't mind the rain."
Colleen is Cinderella again -- as you like her. Jack is Prince Charming, of course -- but the way the plot makes a Prince out of a valet is a long-distance connection. The orchids and ermine are mostly in the title, so the fashion show in which the star dons gorgeous raiment is confined to a brief scene or two. Will you excuse it, please?
ORCHIDS AND ERMINE
Starring Colleen Moore, Jack Mulhall and Gwen Lee
PICTURE PLAY
July, 1927
Beyond being her bright young self, Colleen Moore hasn't a fair chance in "Orchids and Ermine." The plot could be written on a postage stamp with a wide margin, and her characterization of Pink Watson, a switchboard operator, is not unusual enough to carry a picture with little or no story. It is all very expensively and thoroughly done - swell sets, high-priced actors, flossy clothes - but the result is just so much fluff, and not funny fluff at that. Miss Moore's remarkable success in the past with sequences in pantomime might just as well never have been achieved, because she is given no opportunity in the film to add to it. She presents the sad sight of an artist wasting her time on a role that almost any one could play.
What must be called the story, for lack of a better word, consists of the arrival at Pink's hotel of a young man who has fallen heir to a fortune. The heir changes places with his valet - oh, what fertile imagination seized upon that chestnut! - but after he has married Colleen, no one will believe he is other than the valet. And he goes to jail because he is, apparently, too dumb to prove his identity. This role is played by Jack Mulhall, whose characterization of the man from Oklahoma consists of English clothing and a pince-nez. Sam Hardy is the valet, and Gwen Lee gets her first big chance as Pink's gold-digger friend. She makes the most of it.