The College Coquette

This is a movie to laugh at, more than with. I enjoyed it, but as a period piece rather than a good movie. If you like the 20's, you'll love the cars, the clothes and the dialogue.

Bad girl Betty and good girl Doris go to college. Dexter College consists of football for the boys, field hockey for the girls, and drunken parties for both.

Both girls get into trouble - Betsy because she is too worldly and Doris because she is to naïve. Eventually Betty, ashamed of her own behavior and worried for her friend, tries to reform. But is she too late?

This is currently showing at the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto, as a bookend to The Freshman. Both films were made in the 1920s, are about upper-class college life, swank parties, overdressed and overaged students, and football, and feature Jobyna Ralston. After that, most resemblances end.

The Freshman is a wonderful silent film, a comedy that combines slapstick with subtlety, and Ralston brings depth, tenderness, and a delicate beauty to her role.

The College Coquette is an early talkie melodrama, ground out by a bunch of hacks. Ralston is ineffective and one-dimensional, as are the other characters. The plot is clichéd and primitive.

Usually the old films that survive are good ones, and we thus become spoiled, and assume that they represent the norm of their time. This turkey reminds us that there must have been quite a few times when Hollywood laid an egg, this definitely being one of them.

Bottom line -- this is by far the worst movie I've seen in many years.

Well, look. The picture was made in 1929 and college life depicted here bears no resemblance to the modern reincarnation. It must have been sensational in it's time, but society is more sophisticated now. The goings-on here seem almost innocent in comparison. The on-campus scandals at Dexter College center around drinking, curfew breaking and (smelling salts, please) necking.

The star is Ruth Taylor, who looks terrific, playing a girl who tries to be vampy and wanton. Wouldn't work now, but she must have been hot stuff in the 20's. The story centers about her efforts to seduce (for lack of a better word) the football coach, who falls for her. In the meantime her best friend breaks up with her boyfriend of 0ne (1) day. She is crushed and Taylor feels responsible and then a lot of tedious back-and-forth follows. No nudity, no vulgar talk and no violence throughout.

I found it fascinating to think this movie, a) had some success once, and b) is a historical reflection of college life in a bygone era. Everyone overacts and the screenplay is banal beyond description. With those qualifications in mind, it's an almost enjoyable look at college life long ago.

***** 5/10 - Website no longer prints my star rating.

Shown at Capitolfest, Rome, NY 8/22.