The Great Gabbo
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The Great Gabbo (1929) is an early musical drama. As originally released, it featured sequences in Multicolor; current prints are only in black and white. The film starred Erich von Stroheim and Betty Compson and was directed by James Cruze, with a story by Ben Hecht. The movie follows a ventriloquist (Stroheim, the title character) who, as he spirals down into madness, increasingly uses his dummy as his only means of self-expression--an artist driven insane by his work. In 1929 as well as today, the stark drama was oddly juxtaposed with the somewhat overblown and gauche musical sequences, especially "The Web of Love" and the now-lost number "The Ga Ga Bird."
[edit] Influence
The film's basic plot and themes would later be resurrected many times, in Dead of Night (1945), an episode of the popular television series The Twilight Zone ("The Dummy," Season 3, Episode 33) and the 1978 Anthony Hopkins film Magic. An episode of The Simpsons, "Krusty Gets Kancelled," also featured a ventriloquist's dummy by the name of Gabbo. The Batman villain Ventriloquist (and his dummy Scarface) are arguably based on the Great Gabbo as well, also depicting the madness that comes from one person living two personas.
