Released a few months before the stock market crashed and Joan Crawford's final silent, this film definitely has the feel of the roaring 20's, and in the sexual freedom of its female characters, some pre-Code elements as well. Anita Page is dreamy, Joan Crawford is full of life, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. And Rod La Rocque hold up their ends as the guys in the middle of love triangles. The film has a mix of playfulness, liberation, scandal, and melodrama, the combination of which was entertaining.
It opens with a group of raucous college kids driving along the road side by side in two cars, nearly colliding with another coming in the other direction. They talk gaily for a bit and then one says "Come on...let's dance!" and they pile out and do just that. When they're on a train later, the porter says "Lunch is poured," and they all clamor for a drink. The women have a healthy interest in the opposite sex. One asks, "All together, children...what are our thoughts on leaving school?" and the response is "Men! Men! Men! Men!! MEN!!" When pondering the future one asks "Love! Beautiful love! Will it sweep me away in a cloud of glory or steal upon me...gently?" and the answer is "If you think there's anything gentle about love...you've never been necked by a Freshman!" Later we see Crawford frenetically playing drums at a lavish party, Page on the ukulele, and Fairbanks, Jr. At the piano, hey, my kind of band.
There are so many cute little moments here: Crawford dancing around in a bare midriff outfit courtesy Adrian, Fairbanks, Jr. Imitating John Barrymore, John Gilbert, and his father, and Crawford making him take a bow while he pretends he's a ventriloquist's dummy. The art deco adorned house has a wild curved staircase and ridged entryways stretching up to a very high ceiling, and the zoom out and in shots from afar that director Jack Conway feel modern, as does the first person point of view shot that comes later down the wedding aisle.
Things get considerably heavier when Fairbanks, Jr. Cheats on his fiancée (Crawford) with her friend (Page), and it's clear that they've had sex. "Don't be unhappy Gil...I'm not," says Page the next day when he feels guilty. Meanwhile, Crawford is using her charms with a guy with influence in political spheres (La Rocque) to get Fairbanks, Jr. A post in Paris, though it gets awkward when he responds by falling for her, and dangerous when he's angered upon discovering she's actually engaged. After getting to his house and out of a storm, her dress is soaking wet. She changes into a dry robe in the next room, but he enters menacingly, and with one thing on his mind. As it continues to pour outside (reminding me of Crawford's 'Rain' from a few years later), he snarls "What's the matter? I thought you were a 'modern'." Crawford's distress looks real and when he then flings her head back by the hair and looks down into her face, it's a shocking and powerful moment.
Crawford gives a great performance has several other great scenes, such as when she looks dolefully out at his house in the distance at night. Page is fine too, showing real grief over how her entanglement plays out, shock when she's discovered crying over it, and shame over being pregnant. Yes, pregnant, and I believe considering an abortion. The film shows the perils of being 'modern' but it doesn't come down on these two women in a heavy-handed way at all, and it's fantastic that Crawford holds her head up high and has complete freedom over her fate, something I loved. This one is lots of fun, a great vehicle for its cast, and a nice, uncensored window into the Jazz Age.
