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6.9/10
Archivist John
Senior Editor
A definitive 6.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Shopworn Angel remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you are looking for something that feels like a dusty old postcard come to life, this is the one. 🎞️
It is perfect for people who like watching hard-hearted characters slowly crack under the pressure of actual kindness.
You will probably hate it if you need things to blow up every ten minutes or if you can't stand the slower pace of the late 1920s.
Gary Cooper is just... staggeringly young here.
He plays Bill, this kid from Texas who looks like he has never seen a building taller than a barn in his entire life.
He has this way of standing where he leans slightly forward, like he is trying to apologize for being so much taller than everyone else in the room.
Then you have Daisy, played by Nancy Carroll.
She is a Broadway actress but she looks *tired* in a way that feels very real.
Not just sleepy, but that kind of bone-deep fatigue that comes from seeing too many stage doors and fake smiles in New York City.
The whole setup is that Bill wants to look cool in front of his soldier friends.
He tells them he is dating this big star, and for some reason, she just... goes along with it.
There is this one scene where they are in her dressing room and the air feels thick.
The lighting is a bit harsh, and you can see the heavy layers of makeup on her face while she smokes.
She is looking at him like he is a strange animal from a different planet, something she hasn't seen in years.
It is not a "meet cute" like you see in modern rom-coms where everything is sparkly.
It is more like a collision between someone who still believes in things and someone who stopped believing a long time ago.
I noticed the way the extras in the background of the New York scenes seem a bit stiff, almost like they were told not to move too much so they wouldn't distract from the leads.
It gives the city this oddly empty, stage-managed feeling that actually works for the movie.
Unlike The Blue Eagle, which feels much more like a standard "movie" movie, this one feels like a secret you're overhearing.
The way the war is handled is mostly through the anxiety of the characters rather than the actual fighting.
You know he is going to leave, and every time a clock appears on screen, it feels like a literal threat to their happiness.
There is a tiny moment where she touches his rough uniform and then pulls her hand back really fast.
Like she is afraid she will get some of his sincerity on her and it might ruin her cynical reputation.
The soldier friends are kind of annoying, honestly.
They hover around and make these big, exaggerated gestures that feel very "silent film acting," whereas Cooper and Carroll are much more natural.
It makes the romance feel like it’s happening in a different movie than the army stuff.
The ending is where things get really heavy and the title starts to make total sense.
I won’t ruin it, but you should probably keep some tissues nearby just in case.
It makes you realize that "shopworn" is such a cruel, perfect word for what the world does to people who stay in one place too long.
It’s a lot more grounded and less flashy than something like Diplomacy.
Just a simple story about two people who really shouldn't have met but did anyway.
Some of the intertitles are a bit clunky and have some weird phrasing, but you barely notice because of their eyes.
Nancy Carroll has these eyes that seem to hold all the smoke from every theater she has ever worked in. 🚬
It’s a bit of a heartbreaker, but the good kind that stays with you for a couple of days.
The scene where he shows her the picture of his home is maybe twenty seconds too long, and it gets a bit sappy, but Cooper sells it.
You can almost feel the movie trying to make you cry right there, and it almost works.
The costumes are surprisingly detailed, especially Daisy's stage outfits which look heavy and uncomfortable.
It's a solid watch if you want to see how movie stars used to look before everything became so polished. ✨
IMDb 5.2
1918
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