| Interference | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Lothar Mendes, (silent version) Roy J. Pomeroy, (sound version) |
| Written by | Roland Pertwee (play) Harold Dearden (play) Louise Long Hope Loring (screenplay) Ernest Pascal (dialogue) Julian Johnson (titles) |
| Produced by | J. G. Bachmann |
| Starring | Clive Brook,William Powell Evelyn Brent |
| Cinematography | Henry W. Gerrard Farciot Edouart J. R. Hunt |
| Edited by | George Nichols Jr. |
| Music by | W. Franke Harling |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 10 reels |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English Also silent version with English intertitles |
Interference is a 1928 Americanpre-Codedrama film directed byLothar Mendes, as Paramount Pictures' first feature-lengthall-talking motion picture. It starsClive Brook,William Powell,Evelyn Brent, andDoris Kenyon, all making their sound film debuts. InEngland, when a first husband turns out not to be dead, blackmail leads to murder.[1][2]
At aRemembrance Day service in London, Deborah Kane spots her old flame Philip Voaze who was supposedly killed duringWorld War I. She discovers that he has actually survived the fighting and has been living under an assumed identity. Aware that his wife Faith is now remarried to Sir John Marlay, a famous heart surgeon, she tries to force Philip to return to her by threatening to reveal Faith's inadvertentbigamy. Philip eventually concludes that the only way to defend Faith's present happiness is to kill Deborah.
The film was originally produced as a silent which was directed by Lothar Mendes. However, after its completion, Paramount halted its release and decided to remake the film completely in sound.[3] The sound version was directed by special effects technician-turned-directorRoy J. Pomeroy, as the basis forParamount Pictures' first feature-length all-talking motion picture. Since Pomeroy lacked experience as a director, he was assisted byWilliam deMille during the filming. It was based on the 1927West End playInterference byRoland Pertwee andHarold Dearden. It was shot on a budget of $250,000. A silent version was also released to cater for theaters that had not yet wired for sound. While the sound version survives, the silent version is nowlost.[4]
In 1935, it was remade by Paramount asWithout Regret.
The film was praised in theNew York Times as "a specimen of the strides made by the talking picture". However, aVariety review was more negative, describingInterference as "indifferent entertainment".[5]
At the London premiere, Clive Brook's mother remembered a gaff during the screening that put the crowd in an uproar. In one scene, Brook receives a postcard, tears it up and says, "Another one of those damn postcards." The needle on the disk for sound got stuck and kept repeating, "Another one of those damn postcards," over and over again while Brook, on-screen, took his wife into his arms and kissed her.[6]
