There are a few historical errors in the earlier reviews which I'll try to sort our here. R. C. Sherriff's (note the spelling) "Journey's End" was first produced on stage in London in 1928 by the Incorporated Stage Society, one of the so-called "private clubs" formed in the 19th century to evade Church of England restrictions on public performances on Sundays. Laurence Olivier was the first Captain Stanhope, but when director Basil Dean cast him in an adaptation of "Beau Genre: Olivier quit the play after the Society performances and Colin Clive replaced him when the play opened at the Savoy Theatre on the West End of London. Clive continued to play Stanhope on stage in Maurice Browne's Savoy production and the film producers had to pay Browne a loan-out fee to get him (which is why the "By Arrangement with Maurice Browne" note appears before his credit). "Journey's End" as a movie is a powerful reproduction of the play but suffers from Whale's inexperience as a filmmaker and also being saddled with the three-camera technique of early talkies that was out of date by 1930. There's also an annoying performance by David Manners, who would act far more subtly in later films (notably Frank Capra's "The Miracle Woman") but here is way too chipper as Lt. Raleigh and one wonders why Whale didn't (or couldn't) turn him down. On the good side, however, is the naturalistic delivery of Sherriff's dialogue (there's none of the slow pacing and dreadful pausing that makes many early talkies almost unwatchable today) and the absolutely brilliant performance of Colin Clive. After seeing "Journey's End" it's easier to understand why Whale fought Universal so hard to get Clive to play the lead in "Frankenstein."
Review of Journey's End
