This Modern Age

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Movie
Original title This Modern Age
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1931
length 69 minutes
Rod
Director Nick Grinde
script Sylvia Thalberg , Frank Butler , John Meehan
production MGM
camera Charles Rosher
cut William LeVanway
occupation

This Modern Age is a 1931 American film starring Joan Crawford .

action

The a little bit aging lady Diane Winters is about to go on a short trip to the Riviera with her current lover when her 19-year-old daughter Valentine is at the door without warning. Diane divorced shortly after the birth of her daughter and lost custody to Valentine's strictly conservative father.

After initial problems, mother and daughter soon form a strong bond, and the two women enjoy a life of luxury and without material worries. They become the toast of Paris and become welcome guests in the elegant world. One day Valentine, who has since acquired a reputation as a party girl, meets the rich Harvard student Robert Blake. While Diane advises her daughter to live with Bob without a marriage license, Valentine wants to become an honorable woman and accepts her boyfriend's proposal. Everything seems perfect when Robert’s bigoted parents raise moral concerns about their son’s choice. Many tears later and after some unpleasant revelations from Diane's past, Valentine and Robert finally manage to be happy.

background

Joan Crawford reached a first career high point in the early 1930s. After gaining fame in films like Our Dancing Daughters by portraying fun-loving young women, then called flappers , she began to take on increasingly serious roles from 1930. Most of the time Crawford was seen as a self-confident woman who fought for her own happiness against any resistance from society. This Modern Age is a typical example of the then popular genre of Confession Tales , which presented moral problems of women with more or less compassion. The basic pattern mostly portrayed the heroine's adventures, who must maintain her moral integrity against all kinds of temptations and temptations. Modified slightly, the protagonist recognizes the value of decency, custom and morals after initial missteps and a life of sexual debauchery and sin. This Modern Age has some notable parallels to two other films from the year: Illicit, starring Barbara Stanwyck, and The Common Law , a film directed by Constance Bennett , deal with the question of whether the institution of marriage is still at all in the face of changing morals is contemporary.

After a short sequence in Our Blushing Brides and the role in Laughing Sinners , This Modern Age is one of three films in which Joan Crawford appears with dyed blonde hair. The reasons lay in the original casting of the role of Diane with the light blonde actress Marjorie Rambeau . To highlight the similarity of mother and daughter, Crawford agreed to bleach her hair. Shortly after shooting began, Rambeau fell seriously ill and was replaced by former silent film star Pauline Frederick, a brunette whose career peaked around 1915. The two actresses got on well privately, but both had a gestural, emotionally charged acting style, which in combination gave the scenes together an exaggerated drama. The actress Emma Dunn specialized in the portrayal of bigoted, prudish women who act with self-righteousness and moral severity against all who maintain a more permissive treatment of the opposite sex.

Joan Crawford wasn't particularly fond of the film and later told Roy Newquist succinctly:

"Forget 'This Modern Age'."

Theatrical release

With a budget of $ 361,000, This Modern Age was a barely average expensive production. Revenue was $ 708,000 less than most of the actress's previous films. With foreign revenues of just $ 183,000 and total earnings of just under $ 891,000, the film fell short of expectations. In the end, MGM made a profit of $ 218,000, but this was below previous previous results on a Crawford film.

Reviews

Mordaunt Hall was quite impressed in the New York Times :

“A flax-blonde Joan Crawford is the focus of 'This Modern Age' […]. It's a film that babbles along most of the time, but occasionally has its moments. [Joan Crawford] gives one of her better portrayals compared to her previous appearances in talkies. [...] It convinces in both happy and serious situations. "

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford. Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • 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. ^ This Modern Age (1931) Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved on May 4, 2019 : "Forget This Modern Age"
  2. ^ Mordaunt Hall : THE SCREEN; Her Loyal Daughter. A German Danton. Movietone News. On other screens. In: The New York Times . September 7, 1931 (English, online at NYTimes.com [accessed May 5, 2019]): “A flaxen-haired Joan Crawford is the principal figure in“ This Modern Age ”[…]. It is a film story which glides along merrily most of the time, but now and again it has its off moments. [Joan Crawford] gives a better portrayal here than she has in any of her previous talking pictures […] she succeeds in being quite convincing in cheery and serious moments. "