When I give this movie a score of 8, it is relative to other silents of the era. Seen today, viewers might be a little less charitable, though it is still a good and involving film.
The first portion frankly did not impress me. You had lots of party animals dancing about and the wildest among these was the flapper, Joan Crawford. She was uninhibited and not exactly the girl you'd take home to meet your folks--although deep down she really was a nice girl. She and the other two ladies featured in the film were trying to balance having a good time with finding a good husband. Unfortunately, Joan didn't play the game so well--convincing the man of her dreams that she wasn't exactly pure and innocent.
After Joan's love is taken, the movie moves into high gear. Up until then, the movie looked more like somewhat random film footage of flappers partying--with very little in the way of plot. However, the second half is much more plot driven and interesting. Some of this was because of how frankly the film dealt with sex for 1928 and some was because the overall messages were quite interesting. Joan, while a wild flirt, was a basically honest and decent flirt. Her rival was much more coy and "nice" but a liar through and through--leading to a dandy and rather amazing conclusion scene on the stairs (you have to see it to believe it).
An excellent silent Pre-Code film, though you may notice that the film moves too fast and jerky. While this isn't always noticeable, when the people are dancing, they appear to be hyperactive, amphetamine-pumping gerbils!!! This is because someone forgot to adjust the film speed to compensate for the differing frame rates for silents (between 16 and 22 frames per second) and talkies (always 24 frames per second). If the film were restored, the film could be slowed slightly and the occasionally dirty print could be cleaned (there are some hairs stuck on the print in a couple scenes, for instance). TCM or some film archive, I hope you are reading this!!
The first portion frankly did not impress me. You had lots of party animals dancing about and the wildest among these was the flapper, Joan Crawford. She was uninhibited and not exactly the girl you'd take home to meet your folks--although deep down she really was a nice girl. She and the other two ladies featured in the film were trying to balance having a good time with finding a good husband. Unfortunately, Joan didn't play the game so well--convincing the man of her dreams that she wasn't exactly pure and innocent.
After Joan's love is taken, the movie moves into high gear. Up until then, the movie looked more like somewhat random film footage of flappers partying--with very little in the way of plot. However, the second half is much more plot driven and interesting. Some of this was because of how frankly the film dealt with sex for 1928 and some was because the overall messages were quite interesting. Joan, while a wild flirt, was a basically honest and decent flirt. Her rival was much more coy and "nice" but a liar through and through--leading to a dandy and rather amazing conclusion scene on the stairs (you have to see it to believe it).
An excellent silent Pre-Code film, though you may notice that the film moves too fast and jerky. While this isn't always noticeable, when the people are dancing, they appear to be hyperactive, amphetamine-pumping gerbils!!! This is because someone forgot to adjust the film speed to compensate for the differing frame rates for silents (between 16 and 22 frames per second) and talkies (always 24 frames per second). If the film were restored, the film could be slowed slightly and the occasionally dirty print could be cleaned (there are some hairs stuck on the print in a couple scenes, for instance). TCM or some film archive, I hope you are reading this!!