THE FIGHTING EAGLE
Starring Rod La Rocque and Phyllis Haver
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
November 1927
While they regard this picture as more or less off the so-called
beaten path, the New York critics do not, for the most part, hand
it any great degree of praise. Neither do they go out of their
way to knock it. Rod La Rocque gives a good performance, the reviewers
believe. Joseph McElliott, the Mirror's critic, states
that the film, laid as it is in a "costume" period,
is done in the manner of vehicles produced for the late Valentino.
"Nor is Rod La Rocque a mean successor to the former peer
of the cinema romanticists . . ." says Mr. McElliott. The
World states that "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's semi-historical
tale of the Napoleonic times has been made into an intelligent
and amusing, though not overly exciting, film . . . The presence
in the cast of Phyllis Haver and Rod La Rocque helps enormously
to buoy up a not very substantial nor believable story . . . Following
the recent movie tendancey toward taking nothing too seriously
. . . the director and his chief players run through the fiilm,
playing it with a lightness which at times becomes a trifle too
obvious." Several of the reviewers find that the picture
is somewhat drawn out, and John S. Cohen, Jr., the Sun's
critic, has this to say: "Much of it is amusing in a Fairbanksian-swashbuckling
way, and the central character (La Rocque), with his Munchausen
bragging, is good film material. Yet somehow or other interest
and humor seem to die gradually in the last few reels of the film
. . . The production is expensive-looking and far above the average
made by its producing concern. However, as previously stated,
its head droops, and its sense of humor weakens before it winds
up its affairs." As to Phyllis Haver, the critics are divided.
Some believe she is miscast, and others think she gives a very
good performance.