DbcultAccessing Vault...
Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you are looking for a movie with a lot of action or fast-talking 1930s detectives, skip this one.
Lummox is for the people who like to sit in a quiet room and just feel a little bit melancholy for an hour and a half.
It’s a movie about Bertha, an immigrant woman who is just... big.
She is taller than everyone else and she moves like she is carrying the weight of the whole city on her shoulders. 🏙️
I think most people today would find it painfully slow, but if you like watching how movies tried to handle emotions right when sound was starting, it is actually pretty cool.
Bertha is played by Winifred Westover and she does this thing where she barely speaks.
She mostly just looks at things with these huge, sad eyes while she scrubs floors or carries heavy trays.
The rich people in the houses where she works treat her like she is part of the wall. 🧱
It’s actually kind of hard to watch sometimes because they are so casual about being mean to her.
They call her a 'lummox' because she is clumsy, but really, she’s just tired.
Then there is this guy, Rollo, who is a poet.
He is the only one who really looks at Bertha, but even he is a bit of a jerk in his own way.
He sees her as a 'muse,' which is just a fancy way of saying he likes how her sadness helps him write better poems.
He doesn't really want to help her, he just wants to watch her exist.
There is this one scene where he is talking to her and she just stands there, totally silent.
You can see the shadows on her face and it feels like the movie stopped being a 1930s talkie and went back to being a silent film for a second.
The lighting in those moments is really something else. 🕯️
It reminded me a little bit of the vibe in The Woman Suffers, where everything just feels a bit heavy and unfair.
I kept waiting for Bertha to stand up for herself and maybe hit someone with a broom, but that’s not this kind of story.
The sound quality is a bit crunchy, which is normal for 1930, but it makes the silence feel even louder.
There is a scene with a baby later on that is just... a lot.
Bertha has to give up her kid because she is poor and alone, and the way she holds the baby's blanket is a tiny detail that actually made me feel a bit choked up.
Most movies from this time are very 'stagey' and people yell their lines, but Westover plays it so quiet.
It’s a very physical performance.
She hunches her shoulders and tucks her chin in like she is trying to disappear into herself.
I wonder if the director told her to try and look like a statue.
The houses she cleans are so cluttered with stuff—vases, lace, heavy curtains—it feels claustrophobic.
It’s a huge contrast to how 'big' Bertha is compared to the narrow hallways.
Sometimes the camera lingers on a pile of dirty dishes for a few seconds too long.
I liked that, though. It felt real.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a downer. 🌧️
If you’re already feeling sad, maybe watch Sailor Izzy Murphy or something lighter like The Hug Bug instead.
But if you want to see a movie that actually tries to understand what it’s like to be invisible, give it a shot.
It’s not perfect. Some of the side characters are very annoying and they talk way too much.
The poet is especially exhausting after about twenty minutes of him rambling about 'the soul.'
But Bertha stays with you.
I found myself thinking about her while I was washing my own dishes later that night.
That is usually a sign that a movie did something right, even if it’s a hundred years old.
It’s much more serious than something like A Perfect 36, which is basically just about being pretty.
Lummox is about the opposite of being pretty—it’s about being useful and how much that sucks.
The ending is kind of abrupt, too.
It doesn't give you a big happy hug, it just sort of... ends.
Which I guess is how life goes for most people like Bertha.
I’m glad I watched it, but I don’t think I could watch it twice in one week. It’s too heavy for that.
The way she looks at the poet when he’s reading his stuff... man. She just wants to be seen, not studied.
Anyway, it's a weird little gem if you have the patience for it.
IMDb 6.6
1926
Community
Log in to comment.
