Two stars of different generations combine their talents in This Modern Age which does not prove to be all that modern even for 1931. Pauline Frederick and Joan Crawford are mother and daughter in this MGM film and it's about a reunion that brings out a few issues and unpleasant truths. In later years it would be Joan cast as the mother with a past.
In her flapper years Crawford is looking forward to a trip to Paris where she will reunite with Frederick after many years separation. Along the way she meets All American Harvard football player Neil Hamilton and his straightlaced parents Hobart Bosworth and Emma Dunn.
But later on she meets two male acquaintances of Frederick, drunken playboy Monroe Owsley who might have been cast her instead of Crawford's good friend William Haines. It's very much a Haines type role. And there's this friend of Mom's the titled Albert Conti. They're very good friends indeed.
A great deal of Puritan moralizing is offered in This Modern Age. In the end it all works out for the lovebirds.
A really creaky old time vehicle, This Modern Age is palatable for today's audiences by the performances of Crawford and Frederick.
In her flapper years Crawford is looking forward to a trip to Paris where she will reunite with Frederick after many years separation. Along the way she meets All American Harvard football player Neil Hamilton and his straightlaced parents Hobart Bosworth and Emma Dunn.
But later on she meets two male acquaintances of Frederick, drunken playboy Monroe Owsley who might have been cast her instead of Crawford's good friend William Haines. It's very much a Haines type role. And there's this friend of Mom's the titled Albert Conti. They're very good friends indeed.
A great deal of Puritan moralizing is offered in This Modern Age. In the end it all works out for the lovebirds.
A really creaky old time vehicle, This Modern Age is palatable for today's audiences by the performances of Crawford and Frederick.