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This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Is it because it's the beginning of the talkies that both McLaglen's and Myrna Loy's playing are almost ridiculous ?One should forgive the actress for her part of an Indian Joan Of Ark -but a maid who is fond of men,we are told- is not exactly what you call the part of her life.All that takes place in a pasteboard India looks like a poor man's "lifes of a Bengal Lancer"(which would appear six years later):even two names (Mohammed Khan and McGregor) are used in both movies.On the other hand ,all that takes place in Scotland shows John Ford's touch :the manly camaraderie, the brothers in arm singing "Auld Lang Syne" before leaving for France (WW1),the officer wrongly accused of cowardice -his superior warns him:"you will be a pariah"-;and more prosaically ,the missus ' piece of advice to the private about his privates and the soldier confessing later that at least at war he was left alone.The scene of the crystal ball almost predates the one in Mankiewicz's "Cleopatra" when Julius Cesar is murdered.

THE BLACK WATCH (1929) is John Ford's first full fledged sound picture. Previous efforts featured music, sound effects and some muffled voice overs. Here the dialog is clearly heard and sound effects do not trample over it. FOX had long been using 'sound on film' recording by Western Electric Sound System for their 'Movietone News'. This not only gave them practical experience in managing sound, but the system was simpler and better then its competitors such as WARNER BROTHERS' 'Vitaphone'. THE NUTS; Early in World War One (WWI) The Black Watch a Scottish Regiment is committed to the front. Captain King is detached under special orders to go back to India to quell a possible revolt near the Khyber Pass. Since it must be kept a secret, Captain King leaves under a cloud of suspicion and is considered a "shirker". King preservers and succeeds in his duty returning in honor to the regiment. For details watch the movie, it is worth watching, nuff said.Though the film is fairly pedestrian, John Ford gives it his usual panache. The Ford touches are particularly evident in his attention to the details of military traditions. If you did not know that it was Ford film you would have come to that determination in the first ten (10) minutes. The principals, Victor McLaglen (King) and Myrna Loy (Yasmani) and other actors handle their roles well enough for the time. You could see though they were getting used to the idea of sound dialog rather then the pantomime of the Silent Film. It is especially interesting to see Ms. Loy in her early erotic period before she became best friend and wife over at M.G.M. Film was later remade in 1953 in WideScreen as KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES starring Tyrone Power. Rating IMDb Six******Stars.

John Ford is in my opinion the greatest director that ever lived, and he rarely ever made a misstep. Many people have listed The Black Watch as a misstep, but in context I do not think that it is. It is true that it is dated in the way that the dialogue is spoken, but find me one sound picture from 1929 that is not.The problem was with sound pictures themselves, the movies had developed into near perfection in 1927-1928. But then sound became all the rage, and it wasn't profitable anymore for the studios to invest in silent movies. So the masterpieces of the late silent era were put on the back burner for stagy dramas with too much dialog or musicals even more stagy than the dramas.The Black Watch has Ford's German expressionism influenced photography that he started in the late twenties after meeting F.W. Murnau. It also has the Ford themes of Integration into a society, self sacrifice, and the bond between men.The one major drawback is the extremely stilted dialogue. No one really understood at the time how sound should be recorded live, which led to really irregular ways of saying lines. With long pauses between each others lines, since they did not want to step on each others' lines, so as to overwork the early microphones.Victor McLaughlin's acting wasn't his best, but he was much better than Myrna Loy who honestly seemed as though she had been hypnotized before going on the set. I thought the guy who asked forforgiveness for his violence towards his fellow man, who would then do something violent was funny.Compared to all of John Ford's other films this is near the bottom, but compared to everything else made in sound in 1929 this is at the top of the heap.

John Ford had notched up almost 50 films in the director's chair when he took on this project in the late 20's coinciding with the advent of sound.Far less well known than its 1953 re-make (known AS KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES) with Tyrone Power in the Victor McLlaglen role, the story is that of British Army Officer Captain King, who encounters way more than he expected when he is asked to put down an Indian rebellion up around the Khyber Pass.Very dated now and without the benefit of wide screen color which so enhances desert dramas especially, BLACK WATCH is still an interesting time-capsule. I saw it many years ago on late night TV, both to compare with the later version and to see how John Ford's direction held up in 1929. On both counts, the film scored well!