Anne Against the World (1929) - A strange, shaky look at city life

Should you watch this today? Honestly, only if you have a deep love for the silent era or you are a Boris Karloff completist.

Modern audiences will probably find the pacing a bit like watching paint dry in a very cold room. But if you like seeing how people dressed and worried back then, it’s a neat little time capsule.

Shirley Mason plays Anne, and she has these big, expressive eyes that do about 90% of the heavy lifting in the script. She moves to the city with that classic 'I can take on anything' attitude that you just know is going to get crushed in twenty minutes. 🏙️

The movie is a bit of a mess in terms of how it's put together. Some scenes feel like they were cut off mid-sentence, while others linger on a doorway for way too long.

There is a specific moment where Anne is looking out a window and the reflection on the glass is so thick you can barely see her face. I can't tell if that was a deep artistic choice or just a bad lighting day on set.

It reminds me a bit of the vibe in The Night Workers, but maybe with a little less grit. It’s more of a polite struggle, if that makes any sense at all.

Let’s talk about Boris Karloff. He’s in this! He isn't a monster yet, obviously, but he still has that haunting presence even in a smaller role.

He plays a character named 'Vane' and he just looks so much more intense than everyone else in the frame. It's like he's acting in a different, much better movie while everyone else is just doing a standard melodrama.

The plot moves along these very predictable tracks where men are either saints or total creeps. There isn't much middle ground, which I guess was the style at the time, but it makes the 'twists' feel more like gentle curves. 🎢

The office scenes have this strangely empty feeling. Like, there are three desks but you get the sense the building is actually just a cardboard set held up by two guys and a prayer.

I noticed the titles cards have a few weird phrasings too. One of them describes a character's 'burning ambition' but then they just sit around and drink tea for the next five minutes.

If you've seen Stranded, you know this kind of 'girl in the city' story has been done with a bit more punch elsewhere. This one feels a bit more like a rehearsal for a better film that never quite got made.

There is a dance hall scene that is actually pretty lively. You can see the flapper energy starting to really take over the culture, even if the movie is trying to be moralistic about it.

The costumes are the real stars here. The hats are absolutely massive—like, I don't know how Shirley Mason kept her neck straight with those things on her head. 👒

It’s not a masterpiece. It isn't even really 'good' in the way we talk about movies now, but it’s human.

You can see the actors trying to figure out how to be natural in front of a camera that doesn't move. It feels a bit stiff, like they are afraid if they move too fast they'll blur out of existence.

I wouldn't go out of my way to find a high-quality print of this. But if it’s playing on a rainy Sunday and you have a strong cup of coffee, it’s a fine way to spend an hour.

It makes you realize that people in 1929 were just as stressed about their rent and their reputations as we are now. Just with way better coats.

The ending feels a bit rushed, like the film ran out of money or the actors had a train to catch. It just... stops. No big grand speech, just a quick fade to black that leaves you blinking at the screen. 🎬