... the movie a postcard image teased me into hunting down—
The advertisement above is from Variety, August 17, 1927, page 19.
Yes, 1927, I'm going back a little further than usual, though coverage of silent films is not unprecedented on the site.
This was one of two films that Richard Barthelmess received an Academy Award nomination for at the first awards ceremony in 1929 (the other being The Noose [1928]). Emil Jannings beat him out, and while I haven't seen Jannings in (mostly) lost film The Way of All Flesh (1927), I can't argue with him emerging as the winner because his performance in The Last Command (1928) is one of the most intense I've ever seen.
Boxing and World War I? I was sold on The Patent Leather Kid from the moment I took the time to read about it. Once more, here's the postcard that caused me to look it up:
The review will likely mail to subscribers on Monday morning.
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