The Flapper

Olive Thomas was a terrific actress. Too bad she died so young (see her IMDb biography for more on this). This is one of her last films as she died later in 1920--at only age 25. And, it's the most accessible as it can be downloaded for free from the link on IMDb or you can get it from Netflix (which also includes a documentary about her).

The film is a parody of the 'flapper' attitude of the post-WWI years. Many women were becoming more liberated--socially and even sexually. In the film, Olive plays a 16 year-old who desperately wants to become one of these worldly flappers. She throws herself at an older man and pretends to be a lot older and MUCH more experienced girl to impress him--all the while ignoring a nice young man who is interested in her. Towards the end, she accidentally drifts into a robbery--and is implicated although she is innocent. But, as the worldly and wicked woman she's been pretending to be, the authorities are more than willing to believe she is involved.

This film would make a terrific double-feature along with Clara Bow's "It". Both show a similar sort of character but from different perspectives. Plus, both are quite enjoyable and well written. Worth seeing and a must-see if you are a fan of silents (like me).

By the way, the bad guy in the film is played by Arthur Housman. Housman was a VERY prolific guy in silents and talking pictures and mostly played silly and affable drunks. Here he plays a very, very different sort of man.