I started watching this by chance and discovered that it was an adaptation of the abbé Prévost's novel Manon Lescaut. It's not particularly faithful to the original, but that doesn't matter - if you want to learn about the novel, read it and not a movie Cliff's notes.
What I particularly liked about this movie was the lengthy end, the revolt of the prisoners on ship and their take-over of the ship. It's filmed very well, and becomes very exciting.
Part of the credit for the success of this movie is the music. I get the impression, since the movie was made in 1927, that the score was composed and recorded then, and more or less added to the movie using the Vitaphone process, which synced records to movies. The music definitely heightens a lot of the scenes here.
What I particularly liked about this movie was the lengthy end, the revolt of the prisoners on ship and their take-over of the ship. It's filmed very well, and becomes very exciting.
Part of the credit for the success of this movie is the music. I get the impression, since the movie was made in 1927, that the score was composed and recorded then, and more or less added to the movie using the Vitaphone process, which synced records to movies. The music definitely heightens a lot of the scenes here.