A prohibition agent with three identities? The original multi-tasking queen of crime.
Blockade was one of those curious 1929 hybrids known as a "part-talkie." The story of a dauntless female prohibition agent. In her pursuit of a gang of Florida rum-runners, Bess assumes three identities. At various junctures, she is "herself," a society belle and a gangster's moll.
Acting
Anna Q. Nilsson's three-role juggling act.
Production
The awkward birth pangs of talkies grafted onto silents.
Director
George B. Seitz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Most 'part-talkies' were obsolete within months of release; Blockade survives as a fossil of Hollywood's awkward teenage phase.
Anna Q. Nilsson was a major silent star whose thick Swedish accent helped doom her talkie career—making her casting as a master of vocal disguise almost tragically ironic.
US
