1929 was a bad year for movies. I think the transition from silent films to talkies was a rough one. As a result we got some rudimentary plots, choppy dialogue, and bad sound. "The Wild Party" (TWP) is no exception.
TWP stars Clara Bow as Stella Ames. She attends Winston College, an all-girls school, and she's the most popular girl there. She's also mischievous, and part of her mischievousness is using her sexuality. The main plot is the inappropriate relationship she gets into with Professor James Gilmore (Fredric March), her anthropology professor.
Professor Gilmore, or Gil as Stella calls him, is painted as a man with integrity. So, even though he falls in love with his student and kisses her on two occasions, he doesn't let that affect his objectivity in grading her assignments. So I guess the relationship is alright then, right?
TWP simply wasn't good. It wasn't compelling and I had no real interest in either main character. Then it got very predictable.
Towards the end Stella's roommate Helen (Shirley O'Hara) lost a letter that would get her in trouble with the board should they find it. At that point I didn't even need to see the rest. Since this movie both Fredric March and Clara Bow went on to do more projects. As for Fredric March, I've seen him in some decent movies. As for Clara Bow, I've yet to see her in anything good.
Free on Internet Archive as "Stella's Virtue"
TWP stars Clara Bow as Stella Ames. She attends Winston College, an all-girls school, and she's the most popular girl there. She's also mischievous, and part of her mischievousness is using her sexuality. The main plot is the inappropriate relationship she gets into with Professor James Gilmore (Fredric March), her anthropology professor.
Professor Gilmore, or Gil as Stella calls him, is painted as a man with integrity. So, even though he falls in love with his student and kisses her on two occasions, he doesn't let that affect his objectivity in grading her assignments. So I guess the relationship is alright then, right?
TWP simply wasn't good. It wasn't compelling and I had no real interest in either main character. Then it got very predictable.
Towards the end Stella's roommate Helen (Shirley O'Hara) lost a letter that would get her in trouble with the board should they find it. At that point I didn't even need to see the rest. Since this movie both Fredric March and Clara Bow went on to do more projects. As for Fredric March, I've seen him in some decent movies. As for Clara Bow, I've yet to see her in anything good.
Free on Internet Archive as "Stella's Virtue"