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6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. I'll Tell the World remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Okay, so let’s talk about I’ll Tell the World. If you’re into those early 30s comedies that just throw everything at the wall, you might get a kick out of this one. It's got a frantic energy that’s hard to ignore, even if it often feels like it's tripping over its own feet. If you expect tight plotting or believable characters, you'll probably hate it. This is for folks who enjoy watching old movies for their sheer audacity and sometimes bewildering choices. Definitely worth a watch if you’re a classic film buff who enjoys a good head-scratcher. 🤔
The premise alone is a whole thing. We meet Stanley Brown, this “ace reporter”—though honestly, he seems more like a magnet for chaos. He’s supposed to be trailing Grand Duke Ferdinand, a dignitary from a place called Ruritania. Right away, you know you’re in for some silly business. Ruritania, after all, is the go-to fictional kingdom for this kind of story. Anyway, Stanley follows the Duke through various “accidents” and eventually ends up in Paris.
Then things get… stranger. Stanley, trying to avoid his rival reporter William S. Briggs, pretends to be a cripple at a health spa. This bit, frankly, is pretty weird. Not sure what they were going for, but it feels like a setup for a much darker comedy than this film actually is. But then a girl, Jane Hamilton, crashes her bike into his wheelchair. She’s from Baltimore, she says. And naturally, they fall in love, because that’s how these movies work.
Turns out, Jane isn't just some girl from Baltimore. Nope. She's Princess Helen, a deposed royal from Ruritania! And the Grand Duke? He’s actually plotting to put her back on the throne. This twist comes out of nowhere, honestly. It’s like the movie suddenly remembers it needs a plot with stakes beyond Stanley just getting his scoop.
The rivalry between Stanley and Briggs is pretty central, or at least it tries to be. Briggs is always one step ahead, or so it seems. He scoops Stanley about Jane’s real identity and the whole royal plot. They agree to a truce, which Stanley immediately betrays. Classic reporter move, I guess, but it makes you wonder about Stanley’s character. He's supposed to be our hero, but he's kind of a jerk sometimes. Goes to show how much these early films sometimes just had characters doing things because the plot demanded it, not because it made sense for them.
Stanley follows Jane and Ferdinand to Grau, a village near the Ruritanian border. Here, the Duke and Count Strunsky (another plotter) ask Stanley, the guy who just betrayed his rival and is romancing their princess, to convince Jane to accept the crown. As you do. It's a moment that makes you pause. They trust this American reporter with their entire plan? Really?
Briggs shows up again, because of course he does. Stanley, being Stanley, just locks him up. Then he finds out Jane is engaged to her cousin, Prince Michael. So Stanley tries to wire the news, but guess what? Briggs sabotaged all communications in town! You gotta respect Briggs’s commitment to petty revenge, even from behind bars. 🤣
Prince Michael arrives, and Jane is, predictably, not thrilled about marrying him or becoming queen. She’s more into Stanley, who, let's remember, just imprisoned his rival and is now involved in a royal coup. Strunsky then locks Stanley and Briggs together. They try to escape, and Stanley, true to form, double-crosses Briggs again and flees alone. You almost start rooting for Briggs at this point. Stanley is just… so much.
The movie takes a surprisingly dark turn. Stanley overhears that Strunsky isn't just plotting a coup; he's planning to assassinate Jane and Michael! And then Michael *is* stabbed to death by the count. This felt jarring, like suddenly the screwball comedy switched genres. One minute it's slapstick, the next it's a murder mystery. Stanley finds the body, wires the news – always the reporter first, even after witnessing a murder. He then rescues Jane, who’s still clueless about the assassination plot, just as she’s heading into Ruritania. He brings her back to Grau, scoops Briggs *yet again*, and then they plan to marry. Wow. Just… wow. 😳
So, is I'll Tell the World a good movie? I don't know, honestly. It’s certainly… a movie. It’s got so many moving parts, so many sudden shifts in tone, and characters who behave in the most baffling ways. The dialogue is snappy in parts, then completely falls flat in others. Lee Tracy as Stanley has this frantic energy that keeps things moving, even when the plot makes no sense. Gloria Stuart as Jane/Helen is charming, even if her character is mostly just reacting to the madness around her.
It’s like watching a train derail in slow motion, but with a bunch of clowns on board, and one of them is secretly a princess. You can’t quite look away. The pacing is relentless, sometimes to its detriment. The scenes don't always breathe. It's just one thing after another, like they had too many ideas and tried to cram them all in. The entire sequence with Stanley pretending to be a cripple just for reporter subterfuge, that’s a specific, odd detail that really stuck with me. Like, why *that* disguise? It just feels so… random.
You can see glimpses of what they were trying to do here – a fast-paced reporter adventure with romance and intrigue. But it’s so overloaded with twists and turns that it feels less like a cohesive story and more like a series of increasingly bizarre events. It's the kind of film where you’ll probably spend half the runtime asking “wait, what just happened?” or “why would he do that?”. But hey, for an hour or so, it’s never boring. It’s a curiosity, for sure.
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