Beyond London Lights is a weirdly petty silent drama about mean moms

If you have ever wanted to see a movie where a rich lady is so incredibly mean that it becomes almost funny, you should probably watch Beyond London Lights. It is a silent film from 1928, so you have to be in the mood for reading title cards and watching people move a bit too fast, but it is actually pretty fun. I think people who like 1920s fashion or 'rags-to-riches' stories will get a kick out of it. If you hate slow stories where characters make obviously bad choices, you might want to skip this one.

It is definitely not a deep masterpiece like Greed. It is more like a piece of candy that is slightly stale but still tastes okay. The whole thing starts because a wealthy mom (Florence Wix) hates that her son is engaged to a postmaster's daughter. Her solution is just... insane. She hires the girl to be her maid just to show her son how 'low class' she looks in a uniform.

Who even does that? It is such a supervillain move. I was watching this and thinking, surely the son will see through this? But no, he is basically a wet noodle. He just goes along with it and starts flirting with a rich heiress his mom picked out. 🙄

Jacqueline Gadsdon plays the girl, and she has these huge, expressive eyes. There is a specific moment where she is scrubbing the floor and the son walks by with the new girl. The way she looks at her soapy hands is actually really sad. You can feel her heart breaking, even without any sound. It is one of those small moments that silent movies do so well.

Then the movie shifts gears and she heads to London. This part feels a bit like a travel video from the twenties. She gets help from a friend and becomes a fashion model. The dresses are incredible. There is this one sequence with a feathered hat that looks like it belongs in Salome or something equally fancy.

I noticed a weird smudge on the lens during the London street scenes. It is just a tiny dark spot on the left side of the screen. I spent about five minutes just watching that spot instead of the actors. It makes the movie feel old in a way that I actually like. Like you are looking through a dusty window into the past.

The son, played by Bill Elliott, shows up in London later to try and win her back. He looks so ridiculous in his high-society clothes. His hat looks about half a size too small for his head. He tries to look very serious and regretful, but honestly, he just looks like he has a headache. I kind of wanted her to just tell him to get lost.

The pacing gets a bit clunky in the middle. It feels like they had a lot of footage of people walking into rooms and didn't want to cut any of it. It reminded me of The Lady Outlaw where you just want them to get to the point. But the sets are so pretty I didn't mind too much.

I forgot to mention the postmaster's house at the start. It is so tiny and cluttered compared to the mansion. It really hammers home the class difference without saying a word. The movie is very good at showing you exactly how much money everyone has just by looking at their wallpaper. 🏰

There is a scene near the end where a letter gets delivered, and the camera lingers on it for way too long. We get it, it is an important letter. We don't need to read the address five times. It’s one of those moments where the director clearly thought the audience was a bit slow. But maybe people in 1928 liked reading letters on screen?

Is it a great film? Not really. It is a bit predictable and the son is pretty much the worst boyfriend in history. But as a piece of 1920s fluff, it works. It is much more watchable than something like Our American Boys in the European War, which feels like a homework assignment.

I think my favorite part was actually the ending, even if it was rushed. The way the mom finally gets what's coming to her is very satisfying. She has this look of pure shock that made me laugh out loud. Sweet justice.

Anyway, if you find a good print of this, give it a shot. Just don't expect it to be a life-changing experience. It is just a story about a girl who got a better job and a better wardrobe after a bad breakup. And honestly, we’ve all been there, right?