This notorious early talkie dismisses the often believed falsehood that Clara Bow's voice ruined her sound film career. While it's obvious that she is not from the best finishing schools, Bow's voice is fine, and her acting talent suited to talking pictures. As one of the most vibrant of party girls at an all girl's college, Bow knows how to make an entrance, knows how to attract a man, and knows how to deal with the jealous girls who don't have "it". There's very little plot here other than her immediate attraction to an anthropology professor (the handsome but dull Frederic March) and the scandal that it causes the university. This is more worthy for the lengthy party sequence at the beginning, a costume ball where overly dressed college girls "jazzing" it up are all of a sudden upstaged by the chorus girl outfits worn by Bow and her entourage. The sexual misunderstandings of the basic plot are rather innocently portrayed, and Bow ultimately comes out to be a decent girl who like Jessica Rabbit was simply "drawn that way".
March's performance isn't so much bad as it is just dull when compared to Bow's effervescent acting. His character is written as stuffy and nearly sexless, so when the romantic clinch does happen between the two, it is eye rolling and completely unbelievable. The writing for Bow's character is much more character driven, with various elements revealed about her even early on to indicate the decent girl behind all the rah-rah'ing and boo-boo-be-doing that she does. I'd love to see a college dorm room like the one they apparently have the party in here; It looks like something out of an early movie musical rather than something you'd see at any Ivy league school, let alone some prim and proper all girls's school. The performances of the basically forgotten actresses as the other female students are believable, with a combination of "types" thrown in to show that not every female college freshman was there simply to land a man. Had March been directed to give his character more soul or even smiled once or twice just to give a little wink to the audience, I would have given this a higher rating, but as it stands, I have to call this a fascinating relic that stands up on some merits but mostly falls on the part of its dull leading man who would go on to much more fascinating roles over the next 40 something years.
March's performance isn't so much bad as it is just dull when compared to Bow's effervescent acting. His character is written as stuffy and nearly sexless, so when the romantic clinch does happen between the two, it is eye rolling and completely unbelievable. The writing for Bow's character is much more character driven, with various elements revealed about her even early on to indicate the decent girl behind all the rah-rah'ing and boo-boo-be-doing that she does. I'd love to see a college dorm room like the one they apparently have the party in here; It looks like something out of an early movie musical rather than something you'd see at any Ivy league school, let alone some prim and proper all girls's school. The performances of the basically forgotten actresses as the other female students are believable, with a combination of "types" thrown in to show that not every female college freshman was there simply to land a man. Had March been directed to give his character more soul or even smiled once or twice just to give a little wink to the audience, I would have given this a higher rating, but as it stands, I have to call this a fascinating relic that stands up on some merits but mostly falls on the part of its dull leading man who would go on to much more fascinating roles over the next 40 something years.