Cathardincu
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Donald Seymour
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Frances Chung
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
drednm
This late silent film with synchronized music score and sound effects made Joan Crawford a star at MGM. The film was a huge hit at the box office. Crawford stars as wild Diana Medford, a rich rich who is a leader in her set of young wealthy country club types. She's a real life-of-the-party type but is actually "good." Her rival is Ann (Anita Page), a beautiful blonde who has been raised as a mantrap. She's a deceitful liar just like her mother (Kathlyn Williams). There's also Bea (Dorothy Sebastian) who's made a few "mistakes" but is a decent young woman.Into this swirl of country club dances and rivalries comes a handsome young millionaire (Johnny Mack Brown) who's taken with Crawford's high spirits, but as soon as she learns how rich he is, Page moves in on him.Brown seems helpless against Page's simpering helpless act, and with the help of her grasping mother, they corner Brown into marrying Page. Crawford is devastated. Meanwhile, Sebastian's new husband (Nils Asther) is having trouble accepting his wife's "past."A year later, the marriage between Page and Brown in rocky, especially since she's now dallying with Freddie (Edward Nugent). They show up drunk at a party where Crawford is, and the sparks fly. Brown discovers exactly how he was tricked by Page and admits if was really Crawford he loved ... and still does.Things come to a violent climax.Crawford and Page are excellent. Crawford does a couple of wild dances and Page excels in a drunken hysterics bit. Brown is suitably handsome. The film is also famous for its spectacular Art Deco sets and snappy jazz baby costumes. This film established Joan Crawford as a star at MGM where she joined Marion Davies, Norma Shearer, and Greta Garbo as a queen of the lot. It also positioned Anita Page, Johnny Mack Brown, and Dorothy Sebastian at MGM as it transitioned to talkies. This is one of the great surviving flapper films from the jazz era.
Antonius Block
The movie that launched Joan Crawford's career, and which so nicely captured some of the spirit of the flappers in the late 1920's. The scenes of her cutting loose with the Charleston amidst art deco furnishings are certainly the highlight. The plot itself is a pretty thin morality tale. Crawford and Anita Page pursue the same newly minted millionaire, who confuses who is "the pure one" and of course gets it wrong. Perhaps it's understandable, since there is a lot of dancing, legs, and playful kissing of guy friends to go around. There is an undercurrent of the double standard common for the time (how interesting this was made in the same year Woolf gave her 'A Room of One's Own' speeches); Dorothy Sebastian plays another character who must live down her past, and convince her husband to forgive her for it. The movie is silent and not in the greatest shape anymore, but that might have added a little to its charm. It's also interesting to see the short hairstyles, cloche hats, and the dialog:Offering a drink: "Li'l hot baby want a cool li'l sip?"After a big kiss: "What a service station *you* turned out to be!"By the shoreline, to a pretty song; ah youth: "It's such a pleasant thing – just to be alive!" "You want to taste all of life – don't you?" "Yes – all! I want to hold out my hands and catch it – like the sunlight."
claudiacasswell
The 1928 silent film OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS is the story of three flappers and their efforts to marry the men of their dreams. Ann (Anita Page) is a conniving little tramp who passes herself off as a 'good girl' in order to win the affections of Ben Blaine (Johnny Mack Brown), millionaire from Birmingham. Diana (Joan Crawford) is a good girl who passes herself off as a bad girl as she too pursues Ben's affections. Bea (Dorothy Sebastian) used to be a bad girl but is now a good girl and hopes to marry Norman (Nils Asther), who must live with the agony of knowing that Bea was once 'free with her love'. Ben doesn't seem to know what the hell he wants and doesn't seem to know very much about women either. Throughout the film, the girls' mothers dispense motherly advice and, inexplicably, share underwear with their daughters.Ms Crawford was hitting her stride with MGM in '28 and OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS is the best of seven Joan Crawford films released that year and the one that launched her to stardom. The scene in which she danced the Charleston was the highlight of this movie. Unfortunately the title is a bit misleading because there is in fact very little dancing in this film.Claudia's Bottom Line: Rather boring and predictable, but check out Joan's Charleston.
Pat-54
When Joan Crawford signed with M-G-M studios, her name was Lucille LaSeur. Feeling the name was too long for the marquees, M-G-M held a contest in Photoplay Magazine to find their starlet a new name. "Joan Crawford" was the winning choice. Now with a new identity, the studio cast her in various "flapper roles," with the most famous vehichle; "Our Dancing Daughters." It made her a star and she remained so until her death in 1977.
