The Wild Party

The first thing I had to wonder, just prior to watching "The Wild Party" was whether or not it was based on the novelette I'd ripped through, just a month or so ago: The Wild Party by Joseph Mancuso March--originally published in 1928. Discovering that this was a very different story was my only disappointment.

It often seems that no small number of people, out there, don't want to give the early days of Hollywood the credit it so richly deserves. And that's sad; as sad as, say, the somewhat dark story behind "It" Girl, Clara Bow--whose mother considered slitting the girl's throat when Clara declared her she wanted to be an actress.

(Fortunately that didn't happen. If it had, film fans of today might not have an inkling of a clue that, even way back then--in the days that would become infamously known as "The Great Depression"--girls just wanted to have fun.)

Clara Bow plays her role of mischievous college girl, Stella Ames, to-the-hilt. And a young, debonaire Frederic March as straight-laced college professor Gilmore is her perfect counterpart.

The way the two begin seeing eye-to-eye may be said to be expected, but not totally predictable--because the antics of Stella Ames and her sorority sisters provide just the right element of subplot. If there was any one flaw in this gem, it was that the sound quality was often so scratchy, I was unsure, now and again, what one actor or another had said.

Still, this in no way detracts from the film's overall quality. (One must taken into account, after all, that 1929 was the infancy of the "talkie" era). Come to think of it, I can

only imagine what a "wild party" '29 must've been for many Hollywood executives and stars alike--the huge stock market crash aside!

This film was not box office poison as people flocked to the Theater to hear the "IT" girl talk for the first time. During filming of the feature to capture clara bows voice as she moved they straped the mic on a fishing pole creating the boom mic we know today. It is so interesting to see college girls in the 1920s its such a fascination maybe because Im college aged as the time im writing this review. Clara bows voice is not what you expect, i feel like people expected something cute, and squeeky kind of like jean Harlow. While this is a very early talkie you can see many actors including bow still act as if it were a silent picture.

This is the 35th or so Fredric March movie I have seen to date...and the earliest one. I must say overall I was not impressed with it. Fred was handsome to be sure...but his part was not very challenging or deep for him. He was fine in the movie though...wonderful voice, got to see him in knickers again (other time in the Marriage Playground)...hey, if I were at a college and he was a professor, I would be like Clara and her pals; take his class just because he's such a swell guy!!

About Clara Bow...I didn't think she was so great,you could tell she was definately meant to be a silent actress with all her facial and eye expressions, and I have no idea why Fred fell for her instead of her friend Helen, who was more of a nice and sweet girl. I found Clara very boisterous, rebellious; I did not like her voice or manner or personality. I found the clothing styles in this film hilarious!! Did people actually wear that kind of stuff??? And it surprised me how Clara looked like she could be a modern person, a person of now, I think because her hairstyle was so different--more frizzy and loose.

This is not a film that leaves you sighing at the wonderful acting or story...it left me just thinking, "that was interesting..." It is in no way Fredric's best. For that, see him in The Eagle and the Hawk, The Best Years of Our Lives, Smilin' Through, Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, We Live Again...there are many others out there besides this one. Still and all, I am glad to have seen this, Fred's 2nd talkie.

Clara Bow is the most popular student at this staid women's college where classroom lectures are somber affairs but the dorm rooms are filled with personal drama. When the girls are able to sneak off campus and hit a party, they have some good times but run into danger as well.

This semester, all the girls are in love with handsome new professor Fredric March. A cautious friendship develops between March and Bow, but he tells her she is wasting her potential with all this partying. Eventually, Clara has a chance to prove her true worth - but will he understand the sacrifice she is making?

The plot here is fairly stodgy and the production is definitely early talkie era. As a fantasy of university life it's not too convincing but still, it's kind of fun.

Clara Bow is very much the center of the picture and she gives a good performance as the young woman who seems shallow when the story begins but grows into someone more mature, thoughtful, and generous. It's not a dramatic masterpiece by any stretch but Bow's character at least shows some development.

Fredric March, on the other hand, scowls his way through the whole picture. Why are all these girls in love with him?

Overall, it's a bit slow moving but not without interest.

In fact, on some levels it is a fascinating look at college girls at play at the end of the roaring twenties. The year is 1929 and the place is mythical Winston College, an all-girl school. Stella Ames (Clara Bow) is the most popular girl in school and life of the party, Helen Owens (Shirley O'Hara) is the smartest girl in school, and Faith Morgan (Marceline Day) is a trustee of sorts in the dorm where the girls live who is given to lecturing Stella and has a very stern outlook on life. All of the girls get along pretty well with the exception of one who seems to delight in snooping and gossiping - her antics enter heavily into the plot. The romance here is an unlikely one between young professor of anthropology Dr. Gilmore "Gil" (Fredric March) and party girl Stella. The relationship starts out antagonistically due to an incident a few months before Gil came to the college. A mishap in the sleeper car of a train had a sleepy Stella getting up in the middle of the night for a drink of water and returning to the wrong berth - Gil's, in fact. She's determined to get even with him for teasing her at the time, and is surprised when he doesn't seem to know she's alive.

The college stag dance with girls dancing with girls in which Stella and her two buddies enter the stag dance in a sort of conga line dressed in sequined bathing suits, raccoon skin coats, and high heels is truly an iconic moment in late 20's film. The story should hold your interest although there is nothing truly unique about it, and I thought that the acting and direction were quite good for an early talkie. Sure, Bow has a very noticeable New York accent, but it suits her in this and the other early talkie roles I've seen her in as it accentuates her brashness. Director Arzner keeps things moving by not letting a dead camera just hang there while actors endlessly speechify as is common in other films from this same year. As for the plot devices, there's a rowdy roadhouse, a near-attempted rape, a shooting, dorm fire-drills and head counts at embarrassing moments, and one of the girls falling asleep on the beach with a man at a party until 4AM and then losing the page of a letter in which she is writing about the incident. Wherever did that piece of paper go? I'd definitely recommend this to early talkie fans.