Mad Youth

1st watched 2/19/2007 - 3 out of 10(Dir-Melville Shyer): Mediocre drama about a battling mother and daughter over the affections of a gigolo named "Count." Advertised as an exploitation movie about the horrors of youth but instead it's just a run-of-the-mill romance where it just happens that the mother and daughter are the competitors. The mother is trying to live out her youth all over again by hiring young escorts to take her to wonderful places but one young suitor is more impressed with her daughter. After a spat, the daughter decides to move out and hooks up with an old friend of hers who happens to be trapped in a brothel. The "Count" then comes to the rescue and the rest is cinema history(kind of…)!! This is a very bland drama with professional dancing thrown in to keep us entertained around the silly story. The problem is that the dancing is better than the story, so I guess they should have made the movie around them instead of using them as window-dressing. Of course, that would have been a different movie but possibly a better one.

American society dames get a cuffing and a lecture on parenthood from a faux count gigolo in this pre-war cheapie looking to cash in on lurid sensationalism. Disjointed and sloppy most of the way it unintentionally (or indifferently)entertains with titillating moralizing as women of all ages pre-sage this age of narcissism with self centered abandon.

Upper cruster Lucy Morgan (Betty Compson) spends most of her time playing bridge with fellow elites and buying the attention of phony counts from an escort service while ignoring daughter Marian (Mary Ainslee) who throws wild parties while she is absent. Enter Count Dehoven (Willy Castello), gigolo with a conscience and the attention of both mom and daughter. The Count falls heavily for the daughter much to mom's consternation, causing a major rift that sends Marian off to live with her star struck friend who in reality is being held hostage in a bordello, a fate now awaiting Marian. Can she be rescued? Looks like a job for the Count.

This crass high society expose may lack subtlety, second takes and production values of any kind but it does offer some warped incite into the era ( jitterbugging teens, absentee parents) via cautionary tale and the offbeat casting of a suave two bit gigolo as its moral conscience. Battling the hackneyed script and his own limited abilities Willy Costello brings both the unctuous and noble out in his Count DeHoven.

Ainslee's Marian is a bit long in the tooth for a confused teen but silent screen superstar in career free fall Compson is indomitable in a low key Billie Burke sought of style as an incurable romantic and while their scenes together lack smoothness they do confront the heart of the matter.

Mad Youth puts on no airs as it plows its way to its tepid climax but it does score points with its Code challenging moments and fun juxtaposing of the generations; the younger caught up in an energized frenzy at a party (featuring in another bizarre twist a baton twirler in full uniform) while their ever so proper parents battle ennui at bridge tables in another part of town with Ma Morgan attempting to bed the count, forever lying about her age.

Mad Youth may be a bad film but under the right circumstances it can be quite entertaining.

This movie is quite mature in its themes, and i recommend it as a better than average "exploitation" film. It stars Willam (Willy) Castello, the suave, often villainous Dutch-born actor, as the Count de Hoven. This is not the same actor as William Costello, born in Rhode Island, USA, who voiced Popeye. It is also of interest to note that some scenes from "Mad Youth" were later excerpted and used alongside other Willy Castello exploitation film clips to make an entirely new feature, "Confessions of a Vice Baron," in which the Castello character narrates his life of crime and multiple name-changes -- as if every character he had played in each of the earlier movies had been one man in disguise. I have never seen another movie that uses this device, and so i have made an effort to watch every film that contributed to "Confessions of a Vice Baron." So far, "Mad Youth" is by far the best of the lot.

Shapely sweater-clad Mary Ainslee (as Marian Morgan) enjoys wild nights partying while "lonesome" mother Betty Compson (as Lucy) prefers quieter evenings playing bridge with "dedicated and refined" gigolos like accented immigrant Willy Castello (as "Count" DeKoven). With her alimony check spent, Ms. Compson can't afford the extra charge for Mr. Castello's "love" on their first date, but future funds mean "necking" sessions. Then, when Castello meets Ms. Ainslee, both mother and daughter desire the same man. Are Castello's intentions good, or "strictly dishonorable?"

"Mad Youth" takes an unexpected turn for a last act, after skirting with some actual depth. The performances of Ainslee and Compson become quite good, and intriguingly natural. It's nice to see women portrayed as interested in sex (for a change). After the rival mother and daughter share a marvelous scene, the story returns to its lurid roots. The dissolve and double exposures used for Ainslee's "drunk scene" and Compson's discovery of her daughter's diary are well done. The uninhibited dancing of Tommy Wonder and the "Jitter Bugs" is another highlight. Watch for the slinky blonde prostitute to stand in front of a revealing lamp, and one of the fighters to split his pants, in the film's final minutes.

****** Mad Youth (5/5/40) Melville Shyer ~ Mary Ainslee, Betty Compson, Willy Castello, Tommy Wonder

Nothing really mad going on here at all, of course, apart from the heavy-handed moralizing as delivered by gigolo Count Willy Castello which will have you laughing out loud. And that is the point of these type of films - they are unintentionally hilarious in parts. It's what makes them good entertainment.

The story starts with Betty Compson (Lucy) phoning up for an escort as usual. On this evening she gets Willy Castello and she is not shy in coming forward! She takes him home where they meet up with her daughter Mary Ainslee (Marian). Big mistake. Castello takes a shine to the daughter and they start dating behind the mum's back. Ha ha. This must have happened so many times in real life. Well, the youth party and dance away but there is a new storyline introduced when Ainslee's best friend Betty Atkinson (Helen) absconds from home in response to an advert. The reality is that she has become a prossie and Ainslee unknowingly gets caught up in her plight when she pays her a visit. We need a hero to come and save them.

Meanwhile, Compson ends the film as she started it - by calling up an escort/gigolo to spend her evening with. She really has got life sussed. A good role model.