Les briseurs de joie

Lois Moran is the daughter of Noah Beery. She is a young girl who takes innocent pleasure in dance and her young companions, but Beery is one of those people who think that if you enjoy it, it's sin. After he drives his wife, Florence Turner, to death, he immediately brings in Helen Jerome Eddy. A sour-faced spinster who, he proclaims will guide her in righteousness. Miss Moran runs away and becomes a dancer at a suburban cabaret, where young, virtuous Allan Simpson loves her honestly, and Charles Lane (not the character actor of the sound era) dishonestly. Beery and Miss Eddy, now married, turn up. When Miss Moran refuses to go home with them, they send her to a reform school. Now Miss Eddy's family of no-goodniks show up with their sinful ways -- sets of golf clubs are prominently displayed -- and make his life as much a misery as he had mad of his wife's and daughter's.

In contrast to Demille, showing that sinning is great for seven reels, so long as you reform in the eighth, this movie directed by Allan Dwan from a novel by Rex Beach, makes the point that there are innocent pleasures and familial love is important, too. It's certainly as heavy-handed in its approach as Demille, and at times a bit ludicrous, but it gives a chance for Miss Moran to shine, as well as early roles for Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Richard Arlen.