"What are ideals? They're just notions we get someplace about what's right and wrong. Soon they become a part of you, so that after a while even though believe something that's wrong is right, you can't do it. That doesn't prove that it's wrong."
I really enjoyed this pre-Code film, with its fine cast, snappy script, and examination of the shifting morals in the younger generation, circa 1932. Women's sexuality and "free love" are topics that were taboo after the Production Code was enforced, and here we get a little window into those things in the context of a college campus. The stars don't include any big names - Dorothy Wilson, Arline Judge, Richard Cromwell, and Eric Linden - but they have enormous screen presence, and each of them is earnest and natural in their performance. What I love most about it is its acknowledgment of physical desire and it recognizing that at least some of our societal conventions are arbitrary.
The relationship Cromwell's character has with a professor (John Halliday) is a nice touch, and points out that the younger generation is forever struggling with their direction in life and pushing boundaries ("Girls are wilder than they were then") and the older generation was young once too ("Only we used to 'spark' instead of 'neck'"). Despite changes in the world over time, there is a recurrence of the dynamic between older and younger generation, and between men and women, and seeing the film nearly 90 years later emphasizes that.
Wilson is wonderful in this, and it's great to watch her character navigate between asserting herself with the guys who hit on her and giving in to her passion. When a smooth-talking rich guy (Linden) dances with her and says "You know, you'd be much nicer if you'd loosen your morals," she replies, "I'd be much more comfortable if you'd loosen your grip." On the other hand, she has the nerve to follow Cromwell's character into the men's bathroom to get an apology and a kiss, which is open-mouthed and far steamier than we usually see in these old films. She's also explained to him why it's perfectly fine for her to take a drive with the other man: "Just because two people like each other that's no reason for them to sit around and dry up. I'm not my grandmother. I like to have fun. I'm modern."
Judge more than keeps up her as a waitress who is attracted to the same guy. She gently flirts with him, calls him Precious, and says to him so simply "You'd make a swell missionary. You arouse my savage instincts." As she's not a student there are thus elements of class in the story, and while her father threatens the young man with jail or marriage for "seduction of a minor" (it's not clear how old she is, but I assumed 18-21), the film as a whole is remarkably non-judgmental for them having spent a drunken night together with the implication that they've had sex. The professor speaks up against convention that goes against "natural impulses," the DA admits there are laws he's not in sympathy with, and the young woman ultimately isn't punished in some harshly unnatural way. We know that while heartbroken, she will be fine, and if anything, her father has learned something from the experience.
Even Linden's character, a rather annoying playboy constantly ogling women, honking his expensive car's horn to get their attention, and whose motto is "life, liberty, and the pursuit of women" gets a nice moment. It's in a melodramatic yet touching deathbed scene, where after saying something to the effect that his short life was full of joy, he hilariously says in his last words: "Well, go buy a light suit, and get yourself some sex appeal." Life is short and the universe is sometimes unfair, the film seems to say, follow your instincts and get pleasure out of it while you can.
Some other fun quotes: "Let's get away from this campus. Let's do things. Let's go places. Let's drink. Let's do everything that's bad. ... I tried being good and everything turned out wrong. Maybe if I tried being bad for a while things would be different."
And this one in the diner: Man: "The trouble with you is you're old-fashioned." Woman: "Maybe so, but what was good enough for my grandmother is good enough for me." Man (as she's leaving): "Well, I don't want to be honorable with you unless it's absolutely necessary."
I really enjoyed this pre-Code film, with its fine cast, snappy script, and examination of the shifting morals in the younger generation, circa 1932. Women's sexuality and "free love" are topics that were taboo after the Production Code was enforced, and here we get a little window into those things in the context of a college campus. The stars don't include any big names - Dorothy Wilson, Arline Judge, Richard Cromwell, and Eric Linden - but they have enormous screen presence, and each of them is earnest and natural in their performance. What I love most about it is its acknowledgment of physical desire and it recognizing that at least some of our societal conventions are arbitrary.
The relationship Cromwell's character has with a professor (John Halliday) is a nice touch, and points out that the younger generation is forever struggling with their direction in life and pushing boundaries ("Girls are wilder than they were then") and the older generation was young once too ("Only we used to 'spark' instead of 'neck'"). Despite changes in the world over time, there is a recurrence of the dynamic between older and younger generation, and between men and women, and seeing the film nearly 90 years later emphasizes that.
Wilson is wonderful in this, and it's great to watch her character navigate between asserting herself with the guys who hit on her and giving in to her passion. When a smooth-talking rich guy (Linden) dances with her and says "You know, you'd be much nicer if you'd loosen your morals," she replies, "I'd be much more comfortable if you'd loosen your grip." On the other hand, she has the nerve to follow Cromwell's character into the men's bathroom to get an apology and a kiss, which is open-mouthed and far steamier than we usually see in these old films. She's also explained to him why it's perfectly fine for her to take a drive with the other man: "Just because two people like each other that's no reason for them to sit around and dry up. I'm not my grandmother. I like to have fun. I'm modern."
Judge more than keeps up her as a waitress who is attracted to the same guy. She gently flirts with him, calls him Precious, and says to him so simply "You'd make a swell missionary. You arouse my savage instincts." As she's not a student there are thus elements of class in the story, and while her father threatens the young man with jail or marriage for "seduction of a minor" (it's not clear how old she is, but I assumed 18-21), the film as a whole is remarkably non-judgmental for them having spent a drunken night together with the implication that they've had sex. The professor speaks up against convention that goes against "natural impulses," the DA admits there are laws he's not in sympathy with, and the young woman ultimately isn't punished in some harshly unnatural way. We know that while heartbroken, she will be fine, and if anything, her father has learned something from the experience.
Even Linden's character, a rather annoying playboy constantly ogling women, honking his expensive car's horn to get their attention, and whose motto is "life, liberty, and the pursuit of women" gets a nice moment. It's in a melodramatic yet touching deathbed scene, where after saying something to the effect that his short life was full of joy, he hilariously says in his last words: "Well, go buy a light suit, and get yourself some sex appeal." Life is short and the universe is sometimes unfair, the film seems to say, follow your instincts and get pleasure out of it while you can.
Some other fun quotes: "Let's get away from this campus. Let's do things. Let's go places. Let's drink. Let's do everything that's bad. ... I tried being good and everything turned out wrong. Maybe if I tried being bad for a while things would be different."
And this one in the diner: Man: "The trouble with you is you're old-fashioned." Woman: "Maybe so, but what was good enough for my grandmother is good enough for me." Man (as she's leaving): "Well, I don't want to be honorable with you unless it's absolutely necessary."