Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

kidboots Quietly beautiful Dorothy Wilson first started work as a "secretary to the stars". She was taking dictation from Gregory La Cava, who was preparing to cast "The Age of Consent", when, giving her a second look, he organised a screen test. Surprisingly, she won the lead role and embarked on her short though interesting career.This was one of a series of films that purported to give the real "low down" about youth of the day (ie "Confessions of a Co-ed" (1931), "Are These Our Children" (1931)). Set on the campus of State College, it tells of the lives and loves of Nigel, Betty and Duke, plus one father figure professor of Biology (John Halliday). Nigel (John Cromwell) is a conflict of emotions - a dedicated student who feels that the youth of today has gone to the dogs. His moodiness is driving Betty (beautiful Dorothy Wilson) into the arms of campus romeo "The Duke" (Eric Linden) - so he decides to quit school and marry Betty. Before he can put his plan into action, he is caught in the clutches of Dora (Arline Judge) a mercenary waitress. He walks her home. she plies him with liquor - he wakes up to find he is charged with corrupting a minor and faces marriage to girl he doesn't love or jail!!! After an emotional scene with Betty - she decides to "go to the Devil" herself - with Duke, if he'll have her. He just takes her for a long ride and proclaims "you couldn't be bad if you tried". The ending is pretty dramatic - Nigel and Dora are waiting for a preacher, when word comes of a dreadful car accident - Duke is dying and Nigel rushes to Betty's side. When Dora sees the love and devotion Nigel shows to Betty - she tells her father that for once she wants to do the right thing and calls the wedding off. There is also a subplot involving Professor Mathews and Barbara (Aileen Pringle), a teacher and confidante of Betty's , who had faced the same dilemma when they were young, decided not to marry and lived to regret it.John Halliday made every part he played interesting viewing. The rest of the top billed cast were young up and coming stars on the threshold of fame. Arline Judge was often cast as floozies and left films (late 30s) to concentrate on matrimony and divorce. Artistic Richard Cromwell had found fame in the remake of "Tolable David" (1930) but it was with "The Age of Consent" that he found his niche, as the good looking (almost ageless) young hero. Eric Linden was definitely the most talented of the bunch and he was excellent in a variety of roles ie the hysterical young father in "Life Begins" (1932), a boy who gets into bad company and goes to jail in "Are These Our Children" (1931) and the weak mother dominated younger son in "The Silver Cord" (1933).Recommended.

calvinnme This little precode film deals with the unfortunate fact that hormonal activity peaks at the same time in life that critical decisions must be made. In this case we have a couple half-way through college - Betty and Mike - that are starting to suffer certain "urges". Mike wants to get married, but Betty thinks that if Mike drops out of college to marry her, he'll regret it someday and she wants them to wait. In the meantime, popular coed Duke Galloway sees an opportunity in this romantic intermission and starts to put the moves on Betty.All of this angst leads Mike to drink heavily one night and fall for the charms of local waitress Dora Swale. Dora is OK with the fact that this is a one night stand, but just as Mike is getting ready to leave her house, Dora's dad appears, and he is not at all happy about the situation.If this seems very frank and daring for 1932, it is. There are no big name stars in this film. The biggest name is John Halliday as Professor David Matthews who acts as a father figure to Mike, even though he is given to handing out confusing advice. He and Barbara act as an analog for the possible future Mike and Betty - they were in love and waited to finish their education. After graduation they found that there was nothing to pick up where they had left off, and are now heading into middle age alone. The best lines go to Arline Judge as Dora. She doesn't look like her, but Arline's voice, her movements, and definitely her attitude are precode Stanwyck.I've already mentioned how things stay the same - the hormonal challenges of late adolescence/early adulthood. How things have changed is the lesson this film seems to teach - that college is optional and even a possible obstacle in seeking true happiness, and maybe it was in 1932 when people married earlier and needed less skill to make a living wage. Today, however, it is an essential rite of passage to a middle class lifestyle, and even then there are no guarantees.

movingpicturegal At State College, while most of the young men are more interested in "free love" than marriage, handsome Michael aka "Mike" (Richard Cromwell, an exact cross between Leonardo DiCaprio and Jude Law) is full of old-fashioned ideals and he loves to get advice and talk things over with his favorite "Prof", a real sort of mentor to our young heartthrob. Meanwhile, Mike's girl Betty seems to like to flirt around, mainly with a hotshot named Duke who has a snazzy new car. As Betty chirps "I'm not my Grandmother - I like to have FUN - I'm modern!". Well - Mike and Betty really *are* in love, so he gives her his fraternity pin and proposes quitting college so they can be married. But when Betty says they should wait until they graduate before they marry (two whole years!), a "frustrated" Mike turns to flirtatious Dora, waitress at the local diner/college hangout, who he ends up getting drunk and spending the night with. Problems ensue for Mike as Dora's angry father walks in on them, then pushes marriage or prison onto poor, poor Mike (seems our little waitress was underage).This film, at first glance, seems like it is going to be a light piece of college romantic fluff, with all the college kids drooling over each other and the guys trying to convince the girls to "drop some of their morals". Instead it takes a turn toward the quite serious, and with an emotional wallop, really comes off to be quite an excellent film. There is a lot of discussion in this film about "what's right, what's wrong" and other morality issues, and most of the performances are pretty top-notch here, I thought Arline Judge especially good as waitress Dora.

ifb666 I caught this movie on TCM during a tribute to the director Le Cava and was stunned and surprised by its trenchant wit and charm. The movie focuses on the obvious fact that adolescents and teenagers and kids in college spend an inordinately high portion of their waking hours thinking about sex. This is a wonderful breath of fresh air and shows that teen sexuality need not be told on screen by the use of a deus ex machina like the pathetic loser Lucas in "Lucas" and, alternatively, by genuinely depraved social deviants as in "American Pie" or "Porky's". Though this movie is about sex it is suitable for family viewing and even by pre teens. There is also to me a bigger message about the danger of censorship in our society. In an era where prudery and censorship are more and more being viewed by politicians as a way to protect ourselves from ourselves it may be useful to consider how much damage was done to our posterity by the Hays code and the Catholic League. Watch this movie!