There are some amusing moments in 'Subway Sadie', but there's really nothing here that hasn't been done better in several other films ... in fact, I watched this low-budget silent with a definite sense of deja vu.
Dorothy Mackaill plays Sadie Herman, who works in a very posh Manhattan fur shop, but she's a working-class girl who commutes to her job from the Bronx 'where the subway comes up for air', as she puts it in the funniest line in this movie. One day during the crush of rush hour, she meets handsome Herb McCarthy, a subway guard on the uptown express. Soon they're dating. They rendezvous in Central Park, whence Herb takes Sadie to a nightclub that seems rather expensive for a subway motorman's salary.
I would have liked 'Subway Sadie' better if it had included some authentic scenes in New York City exteriors circa 1926, as was done not much later in 'Speedy', 'The Crowd' and (briefly) Keaton's 'The Cameraman'. We see a bit of New York stock footage, but most of the Manhattan sequences in this movie are clearly studio mock-ups, and not very convincing with it.
SPOILERS COMING. Sadie and Herb decide to marry, but they have an argument over something very trivial and they decide to break it off, forever. Herb goes back to his job on the subway, where he's soon involved in a derailment. When Sadie learns that Herb is in hospital, she rushes to him. Fortunately, Herb suffered only a broken leg. The reconciled lovers decide to marry after all.
Oh, yeah. And here's where the deja vu kicks in. It turns out that motorman Herb is actually the son of the millionaire who owns the subway lines. (I know that the New York subway lines were originally financed by private capital, but did anybody actually OWN them? I'm just asking.) I really dislike this Cinderella nonsense of the poor working girl who falls in love with a handsome young prole, only to learn (after she proves she sincerely loves him) that he's actually the son of a millionaire. We saw this in 'My Best Girl' and in 'Easy Living', both of which are better movies than 'Subway Sadie'.
Charlie Murray, the former Keystone Cop, is very funny in a running gag as a cab driver who's kept waiting while his meter keeps clocking up nickels. Murray had one of the most expressive faces in silent films, and he puts his rubber features to splendid advantage here; it's a pity he didn't have a significant talkie career. 'Subway Sadie' is a nice little film, but most of what's good about it has been done better elsewhere, so there are no real surprises here. I'll rate this movie 6 out of 10.
Dorothy Mackaill plays Sadie Herman, who works in a very posh Manhattan fur shop, but she's a working-class girl who commutes to her job from the Bronx 'where the subway comes up for air', as she puts it in the funniest line in this movie. One day during the crush of rush hour, she meets handsome Herb McCarthy, a subway guard on the uptown express. Soon they're dating. They rendezvous in Central Park, whence Herb takes Sadie to a nightclub that seems rather expensive for a subway motorman's salary.
I would have liked 'Subway Sadie' better if it had included some authentic scenes in New York City exteriors circa 1926, as was done not much later in 'Speedy', 'The Crowd' and (briefly) Keaton's 'The Cameraman'. We see a bit of New York stock footage, but most of the Manhattan sequences in this movie are clearly studio mock-ups, and not very convincing with it.
SPOILERS COMING. Sadie and Herb decide to marry, but they have an argument over something very trivial and they decide to break it off, forever. Herb goes back to his job on the subway, where he's soon involved in a derailment. When Sadie learns that Herb is in hospital, she rushes to him. Fortunately, Herb suffered only a broken leg. The reconciled lovers decide to marry after all.
Oh, yeah. And here's where the deja vu kicks in. It turns out that motorman Herb is actually the son of the millionaire who owns the subway lines. (I know that the New York subway lines were originally financed by private capital, but did anybody actually OWN them? I'm just asking.) I really dislike this Cinderella nonsense of the poor working girl who falls in love with a handsome young prole, only to learn (after she proves she sincerely loves him) that he's actually the son of a millionaire. We saw this in 'My Best Girl' and in 'Easy Living', both of which are better movies than 'Subway Sadie'.
Charlie Murray, the former Keystone Cop, is very funny in a running gag as a cab driver who's kept waiting while his meter keeps clocking up nickels. Murray had one of the most expressive faces in silent films, and he puts his rubber features to splendid advantage here; it's a pity he didn't have a significant talkie career. 'Subway Sadie' is a nice little film, but most of what's good about it has been done better elsewhere, so there are no real surprises here. I'll rate this movie 6 out of 10.
