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Variety,
December
19, 1933
The Sin of
Nora Moran (1933)
Majestic production
and release. Features Zita Johann, Alan Dinehart, Paul Cavanagh
and John Miljan. Directed by Phil Goldstone. Based on stage play
by W.M. Goodhue; adaptation, Frances Hyland; film editor, Otis Garrett;
photography, Ira Morgan; recording, Earl Crain. At Strand, N.Y.,
week Dec. 12. Running time, 62 mins.
| Nora
Moran |
Zita Johann |
 |
| John
Grant |
Alan Dinehart |
| Bill
Crawford |
Paul Cavanagh |
| Paulino |
John Miljan |
| Mrs.
Crawford |
Claire
Dubrey |
| Mrs.
Watts |
Sarah Padden |
| Father
Ryan |
Henry B.
Walthall |
| Mr.
Moran |
Otis Harla |
Narratage, as
Jesse L. Laske or his press agents called it, here in a clumsy and
jumbled form, with flashbacks telling why the girl is in prison
waiting for the electric chair. A district attorney, in a manner
of telling a story that isn’t dramatic, tries to give it punch
as he narrates the incidents and circumstances leading to the girl’s
capitulation for a murder she didn’t commit, but he never succeeds.
As Majestic has done it the results are technically, and from the
entertainment standpoint, considerably under average.
Because the
continuity often becomes involved in an attempt to bring the technique
of narratage to the screen with practicability, it is frequently
difficult to follow the story. The most confusing sequence is the
footage which deals with the governor, who, conscience stricken
over the fact that the girl is taking the blame for the murder,
is finally driven to a last minute pardon. This can be taken either
as a nightmare or a scene in which the governor is actually trying
to do something and finally phones to order a pardon but finds he’s
too late.
By the flashback
method, with cuts now and then to the district attorney, the story
unfolds a circus girl’s experiences, tracing her from childhood
to the point where she’s the illicit friend of the governor.
When a former circus boss shows up to tantalize her, the governor
kills him in a struggle, the girl shouldering the guilt. In this
respect, with the governor not even commuting the sentence to life
imprisonment in view of the circumstances, the story is lacking
in conviction.
Zita Johann
plays the girl and never makes much of an impression under these
circumstances. Alan Dinehart steals the picture as the d.a., with
the governor entrusted to Paul Cavanagh, who seems ill cast. John
Miljan, as always, provides a good menace.
copyright ©
1933 Variety
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