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"Loose Ankles", though released in 1930, was made in 1929. According to IMDB, the director died and the studio held the film for release until the following year. As you watch the movie, you need to consider when it was made. In 1929, sound films were still very new...and studios were still experimenting on how to use this new technology. While the sound quality is pretty good in "Loose Ankles" as you can clearly understand what folks are saying (this is NOT true with many other films of the day), the film suffers from a problem some films dealt with at the time...relying too much on dialog in order to show off the new technology It also tries too hard to be wacky! In other words, folks talk very rapidly and the dialog is practically shouted at the screen...and subtle, is sure ain't!

When the story begins, a strange will is being read. Ann (Loretta Young) has just been told that she'll inherit a huge amount IF she marries and gets her family's consent. But Ann dislikes her annoying family and she wants to break the will...because then no one will inherit anything. How will she break it? By creating a scandal...and the will stipulates if there are any newspaper scandals then the money will be donated to help pets instead of spoiled relatives. So, she advertises for a terrible, disreputable man to marry her...hoping for the worst. Of couse, along the way, she ends up meeting a dreamy guy instead (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.).

This is a very watchable film but probably won't appeal to folks who aren't already old movie buffs. For 1929, it's very good....but compared to films made just a year or two later, it is a bit dated.

"Loose Ankles" has a lively start (certainly any movie that opens with a close-up of Loretta Young's legs starts on the right foot - pun intended), Young and Jr. (Douglas Fairbanks Jr., that is) are appealing, and Inez Cortney is a joy as Young's cousin. But when the focus switches to Young's two middle-aged aunts and their two "professional escorts", especially in the extended "circus cafe" segment, the film becomes dreadfully unfunny. ** out of 4.

This film is a little known entry from the early days of "talkies" that deserves better recognition. Not a masterpiece by any means, it is still a forerunner of the screwball comedies of the later 30s and 40s and, as such, is pleasant and delightful in its own way.

The cast is very good. It is hard to believe that Loretta Young, playing an heiress who wants to create a family scandal, was only sixteen or seventeen when this movie was made. She has a charm and sensuality that belies her years. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who was nearly as young, does a nice job as a bumbling wannabe gigolo who falls in love with Loretta. Also, as noted by other reviewers, Louise Fazenda, as Young's aunt, and Daphne Pollard, as the "helpful" maid, give very funny performances.

The next time that this movie is on TCM, try to catch it or tape it. There are a lot worse ways to spend an hour or so.

I enjoyed so many of the performances in this movie. The plots been summarized in other reviews, so let me just mention my favorites. Louise Fazenda as Aunt Sarah lets loose with some great physical comedy. According to IMDB she was 45 when this was made, but had performed in Mack Sennett comedies and her training shows in this. I also enjoyed the maid (Inez Courtney?) who responds to Loretta Young's comment that she "must have been in a comprising position at one time" -- "Oh, the position wasn't so bad....." The help she provides to the young and innocent Loretta as she tries to involve herself in scandal is quite funny.

A very enjoyable way to spend just over an hour.

Based on a successful play and moderately pre-Code, this look at 1930 Flaming Youth has Loretta Young as a not-that-interesting heiress and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., looking younger than I've ever seen him, as the nice boy forced to pose as a gigolo by his roistering buddies. There's some amusing pre-Code clucking about overnight guests of the opposite gender, and a lot of footage given over to Louise Fazenda, as a too-prim aunt unwittingly given some liquor and turning into a loose woman; this was the era when alcohol was still automatically hilarious. Warners peddles its own contemporary hit songs in the background ("Am I Blue?", "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine") and there's some clunky choreography in the nightclub sequence, but the focus is mostly on Loretta and Doug, who are quite charming together. His lack of experience shows, but he's convincingly a young man in love, and what young man could wish for a lovelier conquest than Loretta. An undemanding time capsule, with sufficient spirit.