Reckless Youth

Here is a simple film with a complex, or perhaps confused lesson about feminine behavior towards men. The story first shows how stifling the heroine's (Elaine Hammerstien) home life is with possibly cruel parents with archaic rules that oppress her youthful spirit. (Can't say for sure, as the extant film is short the home footage, but she describes it as such.) She convinces a wealthy young man (Niles Welch) who's taken an interest in her to do something about it, and he elects to marry her (the fool!) before he really knows her. First night married, she makes it pretty clear she likes shopping with his money, but he's not allowed to "consumate", as it were, the marriage. He doesn't even get to neck with her. He meekly accepts it. Next thing you know, she's going out with a wastrel playboy (Huntley Gordon), even gets caught by Welch in front of his friends- and she goes home with the guy, leaving Welch to get drunk with his pals, singing the cuckold blues. A little later, she feels a pang of remorse, maybe, and drops in on hubby while he has a female house guest (Constance Bennett). It's entirely innocent, but she feels hurt, for second, but just continues running around with the playboy roué. I won't drop the payoff here, but it seems to me she's very unsympathetic, and it's pretty obvious that Mr. Welch is a spineless sap that deserves what he gets. He's a female-fantasy doormat. Incidently, the miniatures in this film are so bad, they wouldn't pass muster in a Gamera movie.

To get away from her stifling home, Elaine Hammerstein espouses a doctrine similar to 'live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse'..... but remain a good girl. Niles Welch, who loves her, suggests they get married and she goes for the idea.... but when he he asks for his conjugal rights, his bride tells him that the marriage is just for show.

And so it goes on, with Miss Hammerstein playing with fire in the person of Robert Lee Keeling, thinking she'll never get burnt.

In other words, Miss Hammerstein is a spoiled brat. I've seen this done before, and done well, but almost invariably in a comedy. This movie is no comedy. It is offered as a drama of gross coincidences, and I wanted to beat Miss Hammerstein about the head with a 2x4 as she complains about her unseen parents, cheats her husband, and behaves like a nitwit.

This sort of movie, with its normative conclusion, was pretty much a standard of the era. Unhappily, the way the lead character is written and portrayed, she wears out this audience member's goodwill long before she learns her lesson.