The Prodigal

Garbage, even when wrapped in silk and tied with a gold cord, is still garbage. They tried to clothe this film in all manner of finery, but couldn't hide the fact that it was garbage from the start. In the New Testament, Luke tells of the Prodigal Son in a bit less than 300 well-chosen words. In an effort to cash in on a mild flurry of interest in biblical films, MGM thought they could take the brief verses and expand them into just under two hours. Although the story had been retold before in the 1926 silent THE WANDERER (directed by Raoul Walsh and starring William Collier, Jr., as the son and Greta Nissen as the woman who tempts him), writer Larsen submitted it ...