FINE MANNERS
Starring Gloria Swanson and Eugene O'Brien
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
December 1926
That high mark is for Gloria Swanson only (the reviewer rated the movie 85% - SAG). Th story and other accessories don't rate even a passing mark. Nevertheless, the picture is entertaining almost continuously, due solely to the vitality and humor of Miss Swanson. The worse Gloria's pictures become, the more we admire Gloria. She has an earnest, earthly quality that makes the most false and unplausible plots seem almost convincing. Like no one else on the screen, she can hold you interested and amused thru reeels and reels of deadly story, she can work up a gripping suspense where there is no suspense -- just thru the sheer force of her personality. And this despite the fact that her beauty, of face and figure, is not quite what it used to be.
Her unfortunate story in this case is of Orchid Murphy, a little music-hall girl of the lower East Side who captures the heart of a Park Avenue gentleman. He proceeds to have her rough edges smoothed away only to find that with her crudities have vanished her vivacity, her originality, all that endeared her to him. And no wonder! For the "fine manners" invented by these well-meaning movie people would make a wooden image of anyone. Really, stars and directors have lived on Park Avenue or its outskirts long enough, now, to know better.