Jeunes filles modernes

Well, at least there's a decent copy of this late silent, which show cases Joan Crawford at her peak - even if it does run too fast in order to accommodate the awful music track. The original audiences saw it this way but they were used to the problem and hadn't heard better film music.

OUR MODERN MAIDENS must be the only good film Jack Conway ever directed, possibly because the things that are enjoyable-preposterous in it seem to be a good fit with the idea we have of the so called "Jazz Age." The cast are just right - lively, sexy, authoritative star numbers with a distant connection to reality. It's a pity so little of La Roque's work is about. He's spot on in this and FIGHTING EAGLE. Doug jnr. does impressions, like Marion Davies or Gloria Swanson, and they are clever.

The Metro house style is pretty much the author of this one, as with the enormous, un-motivated track back to reveal Gibbons' auditorium size living room in magnate Gran's house, where Crawford does her skimpy Adrian outfit dance for the assembled jazz babies. We even get some zoom shots, done presumably with the old mechanical lens that was hardly ever used.

There's also MGM pre-code daring with the glimpse of the doctor card that refers to Stewart as "Mrs.", the clue, like Elizabeth Allen taking her Nurse's cap off in MEN IN WHITE or all the shock horror of Fairbanks' secret in WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (in the book it was V.D.). These films were made for grown ups - though possibly not the brightest grown ups.

This one still has the ability to catch our imagination. It's as close to living in the twenties as most of us will ever experience. I really enjoyed it.

Released a few months before the stock market crashed and Joan Crawford's final silent, this film definitely has the feel of the roaring 20's, and in the sexual freedom of its female characters, some pre-Code elements as well. Anita Page is dreamy, Joan Crawford is full of life, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. And Rod La Rocque hold up their ends as the guys in the middle of love triangles. The film has a mix of playfulness, liberation, scandal, and melodrama, the combination of which was entertaining.

It opens with a group of raucous college kids driving along the road side by side in two cars, nearly colliding with another coming in the other direction. They talk gaily for a bit and then one says "Come on...let's dance!" and they pile out and do just that. When they're on a train later, the porter says "Lunch is poured," and they all clamor for a drink. The women have a healthy interest in the opposite sex. One asks, "All together, children...what are our thoughts on leaving school?" and the response is "Men! Men! Men! Men!! MEN!!" When pondering the future one asks "Love! Beautiful love! Will it sweep me away in a cloud of glory or steal upon me...gently?" and the answer is "If you think there's anything gentle about love...you've never been necked by a Freshman!" Later we see Crawford frenetically playing drums at a lavish party, Page on the ukulele, and Fairbanks, Jr. At the piano, hey, my kind of band.

There are so many cute little moments here: Crawford dancing around in a bare midriff outfit courtesy Adrian, Fairbanks, Jr. Imitating John Barrymore, John Gilbert, and his father, and Crawford making him take a bow while he pretends he's a ventriloquist's dummy. The art deco adorned house has a wild curved staircase and ridged entryways stretching up to a very high ceiling, and the zoom out and in shots from afar that director Jack Conway feel modern, as does the first person point of view shot that comes later down the wedding aisle.

Things get considerably heavier when Fairbanks, Jr. Cheats on his fiancée (Crawford) with her friend (Page), and it's clear that they've had sex. "Don't be unhappy Gil...I'm not," says Page the next day when he feels guilty. Meanwhile, Crawford is using her charms with a guy with influence in political spheres (La Rocque) to get Fairbanks, Jr. A post in Paris, though it gets awkward when he responds by falling for her, and dangerous when he's angered upon discovering she's actually engaged. After getting to his house and out of a storm, her dress is soaking wet. She changes into a dry robe in the next room, but he enters menacingly, and with one thing on his mind. As it continues to pour outside (reminding me of Crawford's 'Rain' from a few years later), he snarls "What's the matter? I thought you were a 'modern'." Crawford's distress looks real and when he then flings her head back by the hair and looks down into her face, it's a shocking and powerful moment.

Crawford gives a great performance has several other great scenes, such as when she looks dolefully out at his house in the distance at night. Page is fine too, showing real grief over how her entanglement plays out, shock when she's discovered crying over it, and shame over being pregnant. Yes, pregnant, and I believe considering an abortion. The film shows the perils of being 'modern' but it doesn't come down on these two women in a heavy-handed way at all, and it's fantastic that Crawford holds her head up high and has complete freedom over her fate, something I loved. This one is lots of fun, a great vehicle for its cast, and a nice, uncensored window into the Jazz Age.

Our Modern Maidens was MGM's follow-up to the previous year's Our Dancing Daughters. Key personnel were the same: cast members included rising star Joan Crawford and second lead Anita Page, as well as supporting actor Edward Nugent. Josephine Lovett again wrote the story and "continuity," Cedric Gibbons again designed the sets in art deco fashion, and William Axt had a central role in music supervision which again consisted of popular tunes of the day matched carefully to the emotion or tone of the scene. It's almost like watching an opera without sung words. In this film the audio bits are more numerous and painstakingly crafted than in Our Dancing Daughters. Ambient sound is used as often as possible. If we are watching cars speed down a road we hear the engines. If a radio is playing, we hear the announcer as well as the music. When a crowd is shown we hear the hubbub of voices, the clapping of hands, etc.

The theme of both movies seems to be old morals vs new or good, straight-arrow behavior vs devious badness, topics not uncommon in American popular culture during the 20s. In both films Joan Crawford is the wealthy, spirited heroine who goes after what she wants without a second thought to the consequences; she makes mistakes and pays for them but gets her well-earned rewards in the end. She is again opposed to Anita Page who hankers after the same man. Crawford does a lot of gesturing with her fingers in both Daughters and Maidens and seems to have developed a tight repertoire of definite facial expressions, often involving motion of the lips. Page acts with her whole body and is more natural and convincing. But neither is unwatchable.

Both films examine "flaming youth," perpetually in motion, laughing uproariously about one thing or another, jumping into jalopies to go on midnight joy rides, swilling bootleg booze with gleeful abandon, encountering pitfalls and bouncing back in the endless, desperate quest to have fun and embody modernity, which in its essence seems to mean accommodation to a female equality. When the characters in this scenario talk about being "modern" they are referring to the notion that a newlywed bride can go her own way if she chooses, rather than accompany her husband on the honeymoon.

As for leading men, we get a very young Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as the fought-over fiancé. He comes across splendidly in the silence, looking much older than the 19- or 20-year-old he actually was when he made this. His early talkie performances were often stilted but here he seems a master of the craft. Rod LaRoque is perfect as the more mature and sophisticated love interest to the Crawford character. Edward Nugent returns as the perennial happy-go- lucky boy-man.

This was one of those films caught during the transition to sound and issued in a silent and sound version. Unfortunately, MGM didn't make separate continuity versions - they simply added a soundtrack (music and sound effects) to the silent version. But the silent film could be run at the proper speed - anywhere from 16 to 22 frames a second at the discretion of the projectionist - whereas the sound version had to be shown at 24 frames a second, the fixed speed to have the sound come out right. So you see the action faster than you are supposed to, making some of it seem rushed, quite noticeable and often annoying.

The plot is your basic love quadrangle with Crawford in love with and getting secretly engaged to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., while Page is in love with him. It's secret so Crawford can play up to influential Rod La Rocque, who can get Fairbanks a diplomatic job. She cruelly lies to La Rocque, who falls in love with her, saying Fairbanks is a friend, only a boy. While Crawford is getting to La Rocque, Fairbanks and Page have an affair, which he regrets, finally telling her of his engagement. Page simply says she will never tell Crawford, her best friend. After La Rocque gets Fairbanks the job, the engagement is announced, enraging La Rocque to the point he almost rapes Crawford. I was really surprised when they were alone in his cabin and he grabs Crawford, that he yanks her hair back violently so he could kiss her passionately. He finally leaves in disgust, after telling her he stopped not because of decency, but because he didn't want her. Crawford marries Fairbanks, but all four are in for some big surprises.

The love scenes are punctuated with a lot of jazz age fun. We see Crawford doing a nice interpretive dance at a party, and Fairbanks imitate John Barrymore doing his facial changes made in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), and then imitate John Gilbert passionately kissing a woman. Those two are mentioned by name, but then someone yells "Do Robin Hood," an amusing "in" joke because it referred to his real life father, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in Robin Hood (1922). And he does it very well, leaping and posturing just as his father did, a reason why he was able to make some swashbuckling films himself later on.

OUR MODERN MAIDENS (1929) comes with a synchronized audio track (music and sound effects) but is still a "silent" film, with dialogue conveyed via intertitle cards. The story concerns carefree young people, out of college and into society, the world in the palms of their hands. Joan Crawford hams it up to a ridiculous extent with her jazz baby routine. Although she was the star of the picture, Crawford is the least appealing character in the film. Her look here isn't very feminine. By contrast Anita Page is awfully cute as the sweet and naive friend.

Page loves dashing young Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who is pretty serious about Crawford, his longtime sweetheart. Meanwhile, Crawford is playing around with Rod La Rocque, a big shot diplomat of some kind. Melodrama ensues. Joan Crawford finds herself mixed up in two love triangles and, heroine that she is, must make noble decisions.

There's an interesting scene where Douglas Fairbanks Jr. does celebrity impressions at a party. His character impersonates silent-screen actors John Barrymore, John Gilbert, and then -- in the role of "Robin Hood" -- his own father Douglas Fairbanks Sr. It's a nice little treat for astute film buffs.

Starring together in a feature for the first and only time, Crawford and Fairbanks were married that same year in real life.

6.5/10