The Barker is a 1928 American part-talkie pre-Code romantic drama film produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Pictures, acquired in September 1928. The film was directed by George Fitzmaurice and stars Milton Sills, Dorothy Mackaill, Betty Compson, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The Barker is a part-talkie with talking sequences and sequences with synchronized musical scoring and sound effects. According to the film review in Variety, 44 percent (or 38 minutes) of the total running time featured dialogue. The film was adapted by Benjamin Glazer, Joseph Jackson and Herman J. Mankiewicz from the play by Kenyon Nicholson.

Plot

Nifty Miller (Milton Sills), a veteran sideshow barker, is famed for his ability to draw crowds with his magnetic voice and pitch-perfect patter. Colonel Gowdy (S. S. Simon), owner of the carnival, calls him the best barker in the business. Nifty's colorful showmanship conceals a deep paternal hope: that his son Chris (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), currently away at school, will never enter show business but instead pursue a respectable career as a lawyer.