the smart set ( 1928 ) be a typical late silent era feature that m. g. m. crank out to fulfill their quota of fifty ( 50 ) plus feature a year . even though a mall film it clearly show that it be make by a major studio and have all the standard m. g. m. gloss . the nut while blowhard and egocentric polo star thomas tommy van buren ( william haines ) be select to join america big four championship polo team . upon arrival he manage to put off his teammate start with team captain and nelson ( jack holt ) . he promptly move in on nelson intend love interest polly durant ( alice day ) who he have meet earlier in a failed pickup . tommy also offend her father and mr. durant ( hobart bosworth ) and who he have replace on the team . story continue with his suspension from the team an act of heroism and finally redemption in the championship match against great britain and win the girl . standard stuff all around . the main problem with the film be with it star and matinée idol william haines . his constant mugging and upstaging of his costars be more appropriate to mack sennett then m. g. m. he perform antic in this film that would endear him only to his mother and only if she be addle head . some have comment on that his career fail because of his homosexuality . that may have be true but it be more likely his style do not translate well to the sound era . not the era of james cagney and gary cooper and clark gable and william powell and spencer tracy and etc . they define how a man be to act in sound . in fact his acting in silent film be hard to take today and especially compare to his contemporary ronald colman and lon chaney and john gilbert and ramon novarro . who film do hold up well in the 21st century . as hard to take a haines be the rather ordinary look alice day . the rest of the cast do the best they could with what little they have to work with . though we give it a relatively low rating of four ( 4 ) star it be still worth a watch at least once . the print on tcm be in fairly good condition and it be interest to see a film revolve around the sport of polo . which appear to be like hockey on horse . addendum while go back too this film today ( 04/08/09 ) on tcm too see if a second look would alter our opinion . no and haines still come off a a prissy ham with none of the charm he show in show people ( 1928 ) and the first of his film we have see .