TWELVE MILES OUT
Starring John Gilbert, Joan Crawford and Ernest Torrence
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
October 1927
The reviewers drive home two points in their reports on this picture - the fact that Ernest Torrence just about steals the show and that the film breaks the bounds of what might be called movie tradition by having a sad ending. Aside from this, the critics are, as a whole, of the opinion that "Twelve Miles Out" contains qualities which will command the interest of theater patrons, in spite of the fact that they don't go out of their way to praise it. This is the film, according to report, that Gilbert himself was greatly dissatisfied with, but, all in all, his reported fears are not sustained by the reviewers. "Twelve Miles Out," says Edwin Schallert in the Los Angeles Times, "is a picture that has certain fundamental weaknesses because of its plot and the setting of the story, and because several very improbable incidents are introduced. It is, however, an interesting picture. . . The tragic finish is more of a shock than a surprise." Mr. Schallert is reminded of Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt of "What Price Glory" when he sees Gilbert and Torrence, as the promoters of contraband, wrangling over this and that and then over the society girl with whom the bootlegger-hero falls in love. Although he finds that the film is "fairly satisfying" program fare, Martin Dickstein, writing in the Brooklyn Eagle, asserts that, "the suspicion persists, somehow, that it could have been much better." Mr. Dickstein says the film is less entertaining than the stage play. Asserting that "Twelve Miles Out" boasts one of the most hectic fights that has ever been filmed, Regina Cannon, the American's reviewer, finds that "Gilbert registers brutality throughout, evincing only a few tender moments at the end. He has been so much better before that his 'not so good' stuff here may be attributed to characterization that permits very little variation in temperament or tempo." The reviewers regard Miss Crawford as quite easy on the eyes and opine that the direction is good.