Modern girls

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Movie
German title Modern girls
Original title Our Modern Maidens
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1929
length 72 minutes
Rod
Director Jack Conway
script Josephine Lovett
production Harry Rapf for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music William ax
camera Oliver T. Marsh
cut Sam Zimbalist
occupation

Modern Girls (OT: Our Modern Maidens ) is an American silent film with Joan Crawford from 1929. The film borrows in the title of Crawford's previous success Our Dancing Daughters , but is neither a sequel nor does it refer to the plot of the previous production.

action

Billie Brown and Gil Jordan are members of the better society and lead lives of luxury and worry-free. The two decide to get married one day. Billie, who only wants the best for Gil, persuades an old family friend, diplomat Glenn Abbott, to intercede on her fiancé. The wedding is celebrated with pomp and a few hundred guests. Just as Billie is about to leave for her honeymoon, Kentucky, her best friend, tells her that Gil has made her pregnant. Billie is horrified and takes the only possible consequence. She steps in front of the assembled guests and announces that she is introducing a new fashion: a honeymoon without a groom. Some time later, she finds true happiness in the arms of Glenn, who has always loved her.

background

Since the surprise success of Our Dancing Daughters , Joan Crawford had risen to become one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most popular stars since mid-1928 . Her strength was the portrayal of young, fun-loving women, then known as flappers , who understood life as an uninterrupted sequence of flirts and lavish parties. Crawford's growing popularity among young audiences contributed in no small way to her relationship with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , the course of which was traced and commented on in the press for months. The studio capitalized on the continued public interest by using Fairbanks alongside Crawford in the production of Our Modern Maidens . The title of the film refers to the previous year's success, but has nothing in common with that in terms of content. In 1930, Our Blushing Brides was the last of a total of three films with Our in the title.

Joan Crawford appears again as a bright young woman with her own ideas, who likes to and often flirts, but never oversteps the boundaries of good taste. The decision to do without Gil and go on a honeymoon without a husband is commented on by Ginger, a party girl with no morals or decency, with the cynical words:

"Is that modern morality or just immoral modernity?"

Billie alludes to Ginger's reputation when she answers:

"Would you even know the difference, honey?"

Joan Crawford, for whom this was the last silent film, was relatively satisfied with the result, albeit for more private reasons, as she told Roy Newquit decades later:

"Modern Girls" introduced me to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and we all know where that has led. Still, a good film and the first in which the costume department gave everything to make Crawford the fashion icon. "

Crawford and Fairbanks were married six weeks after filming was finished. The marriage lasted until 1933.

Theatrical release

At $ 283,000 to produce, Our Modern Maidens was one of the studio's comparatively inexpensive productions for the year. As a silent film, it had the problem of getting into distribution at the height of Talkie Craze, the audience's run on talkies. He therefore only made 675,000 US dollars in the US and another 182,000 US dollars on the world market, which corresponded to a cumulative box office of rather modest 857,000 US dollars and a profit of 248,000 US dollars.

Reviews

Mordaunt Hall found in the New York Times :

"Our Modern Maidens tells in a very interesting way another adventure about a group of exuberant youngsters in these fast-moving times [...] Miss Crawford copes well with the role of the girl [...] Douglas Fairbanks gives a competent portrayal."

Photoplay was about too optimistic in its assessment:

“Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in a sequel to Our Dancing Daughters. Do we have to tell you that it is a guaranteed hit? "

Variety knew what fans wanted from a Joan Crawford film:

“Miss Crawford's fans will get their money's worth. She wears her clothes as usual and goes to the limit with a half-naked dance at a party. "

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • Shaun Considine: Bette and Joan. The Divine Feud . Dutton, New York 1989, ISBN 0-525-24770-X .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
  • Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography . University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
  • Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Is this a modern moral or just another immoral modern ?.
  2. ↑ Do you think you'd know the difference, darling?
  3. ↑ '"Our Modern Maidens" paired me with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and we all know what that led to. Good film, though, and the first one that gave the wardrobe department a chance to go all out to make Crawford a clotheshorse.
  4. ↑ Further adventures of a group of skylarking youngsters of this age of speed are depicted rather interestingly in "Our Modern Maidens" [...] Miss Crawford does well enough as the girl [...] Douglas Fairbanks gives a competent performance.
  5. ^ Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in a sequel to Our Dancing Daughters. Must you be told that it's a sure-fire hit?
  6. ↑ Miss Crawford's fans won't be disappointed, even a little bit. She wears her clothes as she always does and gives them the limit in a half-clad dance at one of her own house parties.