Watch The Great Gabbo (1929) Free Online

Release Date: 1929

Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Betty Compson, Don Douglas

Categories: Movies, Musical, Melodrama, Romance Film, Black-and-white

The Great Gabbo (1929) is an American early sound film musical drama film directed by James Cruze, based on a story ("The Rival Dummy") by Ben Hecht and starring Erich von Stroheim and Betty Compson. As originally released by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, the film featured sequences in Multicolor. The current prints, restored by the Library of Congress and released by Kino International on DVD, are only in black and white. The movie follows a brilliant ventriloquist "The Great Gabbo" (Stroheim) who, as he spirals down into madness, increasingly uses his dummy "Otto" as his only means of... MORE

The Great Gabbo (1929) is an American early sound film musical drama film directed by James Cruze, based on a story ("The Rival Dummy") by Ben Hecht and starring Erich von Stroheim and Betty Compson. As originally released by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, the film featured sequences in Multicolor. The current prints, restored by the Library of Congress and released by Kino International on DVD, are only in black and white. The movie follows a brilliant ventriloquist "The Great Gabbo" (Stroheim) who, as he spirals down into madness, increasingly uses his dummy "Otto" as his only means of self-expression—an artist driven insane by his work. Gabbo's gimmick is his astonishing ability to make Otto talk—and even sing—while Gabbo himself smokes, drinks and eats. Gabbo's girlfriend and assistant (Betty Compson) loves him, but is driven to another performer (Donald Douglas) by Gabbo's deteriorating personality. Though not a musical, the stark drama is oddly juxtaposed with the somewhat overblown and gauche musical sequences, especially "Every Now and Then", "I'm in Love with You", "The New Dance Step", "Caught in a Web of Love", and the now-lost color number "The Ga-Ga Bird". The "Web of LESS