BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

st-shot Ramon Novarro's pedestrian sound period hastened an end to his film career and Call of the Flesh may well be the vehicle that pushed him over the cliff. In the silent era Novarro's handsome chiseled features, dark eyes and killer smile showed him adept at both drama (The Red LIly, The Pagan) and romantic comedy ( The Student Prince of Heidleberg) but in Call of the Flesh he is a triple fret as speaks, sings and dances dreadfully. Juan Di Deos is a carefree entertainer that loves to play tricks and chase the ladies. His fiery dance partner Lola (Renee Adoree) is often the victim of his childish pranks but is crazy about the guy. Nun in training Maria Vasquez however is the one that captures his heart. Career wise he has the same laissez faire attitude which frustrates his mentor Esteban who pulls strings to get him an audition with an opera impresario. When Juan botches it Esteban reverts to bribery to get him on the stage. Meanwhile Lola gets wind Juan's romancing the good sister and tries to break it up. Call of the Flesh is early sound at its worst. Without his title cards doing the talking Novarro comes across like a mischievous twelve year old. The timber in his voice fails to live up to his look and his singing and dancing would get the hook at a local amateur show. Aquitting themselves as shabbily as Novarro fellow silent film alumni Ernest Torrence and the ailing Renee Adoree overact monstrously while fresh faces Dorothy Jordan and Russell Hopton make it clear they will have short careers.Charles Brabin's direction is haphazard and flat as he allows his troupe to step on each others lines and display bad timing; some of it so poor you get the feeling he might have had his face buried in a newspaper oblivious to the action being recorded. One could hardly fault him for averting his eyes since Call of the Flesh is dead meat from the opening reel.

calvinnme I realize that this is an operetta from the first generation of early sound musicals, but the film could have benefited from tighter pacing and therefore a shorter running time. There is no portion of the movie that I would call padding - it all seems necessary to tell the story and maintain the atmosphere, but there are lulls here and there that are short in and of themselves that begin to add up. Plus there is virtually no back-scoring in this film, also typical for early sound, that just makes the lulls seem more pronounced. The story opens at a convent in Spain as a group of postulates prepare to take their vows and become actual nuns. Maria Vargas (Dorothy Jordon) gets a visit from her soldier brother Enrique (Russell Hopton). From their conversation it is clear that Maria is here because her entire family wants a nun in the family, not because of any independent will on Maria's part. As a result of a weird and possibly unfortunate choice of zoning, Maria hears Juan de Dios (Ramon Navarro) singing at the cabaret next door. (What is a cabaret doing next to a convent???) Maria climbs up to the top of the convent wall, sees Juan and it is love at first sight. This is most unfortunate for her, since Juan de Dios seems to love nothing but trouble. Maria, who has not yet taken her vows, runs away from the convent in search of him.Juan callously casts girls aside, steals from local vendors for the thrill of it all, and then runs across Maria staring at him adoringly as he evades the police for the latest chaos he has caused at the market. He takes the girl in and takes advantage of the fact that she obviously adores him to have her cook for him, clean for him, and take extraordinary criticism from him anytime he wants to feel better about himself - however relations between them are squeaky clean thus belying the film's title. In what seems like a bit of miscasting, Ernest Torrence, a big craggy mountain of a man who looks like he should be playing a pirate sailing the seven seas, instead plays Juan's mentor and voice instructor. Why he puts up with this selfish kid's abuse and insubordination is beyond me. There is a reason for making Navarro's character so unlikable though. At his audition for the opera in Madrid, Juan's mentor is told that Juan will never be a great singer because his heart has not been broken - there s no there there in short. Since Juan seems to have no heart that could possibly ever be broken it seems like his soul and his singing have hit a dead end. What can turn all of this around? Watch and find out.Dorothy Jordan starred opposite Navarro in the first three of his sound films - this was their third appearance together. Navarro had been an effective romantic lead in the silent era, but the coming of sound both blessed him and cursed him. It blessed him by allowing MGM to showcase his marvelous tenor voice. Sound cursed him because the pitch of his speaking voice projected sweetness rather than masculinity. This would explain Jordan as a frequent costar. Yes, she was a talented singer whose voice meshed well with his, but she was also capable of being femininely unintimidating which made Navarro's lack of machismo in sound films less stark. For example, in this film she is almost mimicking Minnie Mouse in her diminutive portrayal of Maria. Once more powerful female sound stars begin to take the field such as Barbara Stanwyck and Jean Harlow, there was just no way Navarro could hope to hold on to the leading roles he had once had, especially after musicals went out of fashion for a couple of years starting at the end of 1930. I'd recommend this one because it is put together pretty well although it does have that characteristic of MGM films of the time - an abrupt right turn in the plot that causes an outlandish happy ending for all concerned.

drednm I watched The Call of the Flesh and enjoyed it despite the dueling accents. Ramon Novarro plays a saucy singer who teams with Renee Adoree to appear at local cantinas and is pushed by his friend (Ernest Torrence) to get serious about opera. But then he meets a "runaway" from a convent (Dorothy Jordan) who knows nothing of the world. He falls in love and dumps Adoree. But Adoree gets even by finding Jordan's military brother who tracks them down and sends her back to the convent. Meanwhile Novarro is turned down by a local opera house because he's never had his heart broken and his singing has no soul. Torrence buys a night for Novarro to sing at the opera and he grudgingly does to, bringing down the house. But his heart is so broken he's actually dying until Adoree takes action.Novarro is quite good here, especially when singing. A few of the dramatic scenes are badly done, but the rest of the film is lively. Novarro co-wrote the song "Lonely" with Herbert Stothart. I have no idea what Novarro sings in the finale but he's good despite having rather thin high notes. It's quite a shock to see Torrence break out in song, but the burly Scottish actor, a dependable heavy in silent films, was a trained opera singer. Jordan and Adoree handle the music well.There's a great scene where Torrence at the piano joins Novarro in a burst of song only to be joined by the landlady (Mathilde Comont). It all seems so spontaneous.Sadly this was Adoree's final film. Her other talkie was Redemption with John Gilbert.

David Atfield Ramon Novarro is really great in this fairly ordinary film about a young singer and his love for an innocent girl. The plot calls on him to sing a lot - and he does so quite brilliantly. He is also called upon to go through some pretty heavy emotional stuff and he is nothing short of astonishing in these scenes. Also he demonstrates his usual charm, wit and joy of life - and proves yet again that he deserved better material than MGM offered him.It's easy to see why this sweet film was so popular in its day, and why it was re-made twice (in Spanish and French) in 1931, with Ramon starring in and directing both versions. It's all impossibly romantic and quite charming.Ramon's regular leading lady, Dorothy Jordan, is pretty good here, Ernest Torrence hams a bit as Ramon's dad, and Renee Adoree is wonderful in her last screen performance (she died very young of TB) - just as in "The Pagan" her love for Ramon is unrequited and she is ultimately self-sacrificing. Russell Hopton is, unfortunately, wooden as Jordan's brother and, as a consequence, his crucial climactic scene with Ramon does not work as well as it should have.Charles Brabin's direction and the screenplay are uninspired, but the film is worth seeing for Ramon Novarro's extraordinary performance.