Skyscraper Souls

Directed by Edgar Selwyn, Skyscraper Souls details the day-to-day exploits of several office workers within a 100-story building owned by Warren William’s David Dwight. It’s agreeable-enough subject matter that’s employed to partially watchable yet predominantly tiresome effect by Selwyn, and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that the picture fares especially badly within a meandering and hopelessly lackluster opening stretch – with the almost complete absence of intriguing, attention-grabbing attributes perpetuating the arms-length atmosphere. (The emphasis on all these bland, underdeveloped protagonists does little to allay the distressingly uninvolving vibe, to be sure.) And while the picture admittedly does improve somewhat as it progresses, particularly as the emphasis is placed on William’s deliciously smug figure, Skyscraper Souls, despite the inclusion of an appreciatively melodramatic closing stretch, generally comes off as an egregiously unfocused endeavor that is, on top of everything else, way too long at 99 minutes.

** out of ****