Re-watched Wine of Youth (1924) tonight with a music score by my friend Jeff. I had a mute version of this King Vidor film which is oddly pretty much unknown.
Based on a play be Rachel Crothers, WINE OF YOUTH is a solid drama about "the modern young generation" and how they think they know it all. It's also a play about love and marriage.
Eleanor Boardman stars as Mary. She lives at home with her mother, father, brother, and grandmother. The three women (all named Mary) battle and argue over the "younger generation" and what is was like when the older women were girls. Boardman sees no relevance and argues back that's it a different world.
Boardman is pursued by two men (William Haines and Ben Lyon) and can't decide which she wants or even IF she wants them because marriage seems so old fashioned to her. All her friends seem to be party crazy, and no one is very serious. They hit upon an absurd idea that if Boardman is to get to really know either of the guys they need to go away for 2 weeks (no sex) and live together. Her girlfriend (Pauline Garon) thinks it's a swell idea and drags along her boyfriend (William Collier, Jr.).
She makes the mistake of telling her mother and grandmother and all hell breaks lose at home. So they all sneak away after a party and head for a remote camp. She's very serious but the others all go nuts with drinking and midnight swims. When Haines forces his way into her tent she pretends to pass out so they drag her back home.
At home there is a battle going on between the parents. He blames the mother for the wild daughter and as Boardman listens, the parents declare their disappointments in their marriage etc. The drama builds as the parents discover they can't possibly live together and the mother (Eulalie Jensen) goes upstairs to pack her bags. She grabs a bottle from the medicine cabinet and collapses.
They rush upstairs and discover her on the floor with a smashed bottle of poison next to her. The father goes into a panic that she has died and he declares his love and sorrow over the argument. The mother comes to and the crisis is over as she never swallowed the poison.
Boardman calls up Lyon and she decides that "intelligence" has nothing to do with love and marriage.
Boardman is excellent. Haines and Lyon are terrific as the rivals. Jensen is also excellent as the mother and was terrific in UNCLE TOM'S CABIN as well. E.J. Ratcliffe is the father. Gertrude Claire is the grandmother, and Jean Arthur plays one of the party guests.
Jeff does a good job with the music, matching up "Bicycle Built for Two" and "You Gotta See Your Mama Every Night" and uses some terrific vintage tango music.
WINE OF YOUTH (1924)
Re: WINE OF YOUTH (1924)
See? Lying and chicanery, the basis for most movie marriages.drednm wrote: They rush upstairs and discover her on the floor with a smashed bottle of poison next to her. The father goes into a panic that she has died and he declares his love and sorrow over the argument. The mother comes to and the crisis is over as she never swallowed the poison.
(Blink.)Boardman calls up Lyon and she decides that "intelligence" has nothing to do with love and marriage.
Fred
Fred
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Jordan Peele, when asked what genre we should put his movies in.
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"Who really cares?"
Jordan Peele, when asked what genre we should put his movies in.
http://www.nitanaldi.com"
http://www.facebook.com/NitaNaldiSilentVamp"
While Colleen Moore's FLAMING YOUTH may be considered lost, this similarly titled and themed King Vidor feature released probably less than a full year later, is still with us. WINE OF YOUTH is a delightful Silent that deserves some attention from Warner Brothers. Another friend of mine saw this just recently and had these comments: "I watched Wine of Youth last night and oh boy, what a film! I love movies like this, that show the "Roarin' 20s " at their most salacious, or at least seemingly so. I thought Boardman was terrific and Haines was quite restrained, at least in regards to his later films. The whole first part, with all of the parties, is so much fun, and your music is absolutely perfect. What a great film. I did notice a great deal of artifacting, and assume it's from the source. This is a film that should certainly be restored with some care, as it is a great reflection of the times (at least Hollywood's interpretation)."
I agree Jeff.... this one has the young set going off on a "trial honeymoon" as an intelligent approach to choosing a mate, a wild party with free-floating booze, speeding roadsters, and skimpy clothes, and mornings after.
Framing the film are the three generations of Marys, showing each as a "wild young thing" in her youth and doing the scandalous dance of each generation (polka, waltz, charleston).
The underrated Eleanor Boardman plays all three Marys as young women and is excellent as the flapper Mary with a brain. Ben Lyon did the play on Broadway (with Louise Huff) and gets his first big film role here. This was also an important step up for William Haines.
This is one of the best "jazz age" films I've seen. Now if we could only find Flaming Youth !!!
Framing the film are the three generations of Marys, showing each as a "wild young thing" in her youth and doing the scandalous dance of each generation (polka, waltz, charleston).
The underrated Eleanor Boardman plays all three Marys as young women and is excellent as the flapper Mary with a brain. Ben Lyon did the play on Broadway (with Louise Huff) and gets his first big film role here. This was also an important step up for William Haines.
This is one of the best "jazz age" films I've seen. Now if we could only find Flaming Youth !!!
Ed,
Picture quality is about the same. Or at least it should be. However, I used U-Lead "Auto Enhance", and it probably would have been better off, if I had just left it as was. It made the picture a little brighter during the darker segments, but at times probably to bright, at the expense of some detail. Although, you can't really tell for sure without a side by side comparison. If anything there is to much compression. Just adding music should not have affected the picture any at all. There was still plenty of room on the disc left to spare.
Picture quality is about the same. Or at least it should be. However, I used U-Lead "Auto Enhance", and it probably would have been better off, if I had just left it as was. It made the picture a little brighter during the darker segments, but at times probably to bright, at the expense of some detail. Although, you can't really tell for sure without a side by side comparison. If anything there is to much compression. Just adding music should not have affected the picture any at all. There was still plenty of room on the disc left to spare.Ed,
There is probably some type of Software that could make the picture look allot better. Unfortunately, I don't know what it is, nor how to use it. Where there are really allot of pixels moving around is the scene where Eleanor talks to Mother outside the house, just before she leaves on the Camping trip. I will probably do this over and not use Auto-Enhance this time.
There is probably some type of Software that could make the picture look allot better. Unfortunately, I don't know what it is, nor how to use it. Where there are really allot of pixels moving around is the scene where Eleanor talks to Mother outside the house, just before she leaves on the Camping trip. I will probably do this over and not use Auto-Enhance this time.