| Flaming Youth | |
|---|---|
 Lobby card | |
| Directed by | John Francis Dillon |
| Written by | Harry O. Hoyt(scenario) |
| Based on | Flaming Youth 1923 novel bySamuel Hopkins Adams |
| Produced by | John McCormick |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | James Van Trees |
| Edited by | Arthur Tavares |
| Distributed by | Associated First National |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (Englishintertitles) |
Flaming Youth is a 1923 Americansilentdrama film directed byJohn Francis Dillon and starringColleen Moore andMilton Sills, based on thenovel of the same name bySamuel Hopkins Adams.Associated First National produced and distributed the film. In his retrospective essay "Echoes of the Jazz Age", writerF. Scott Fitzgerald citedFlaming Youth as the only film that captured thesexual revolution of theJazz Age.[1] The film is now considered partiallylost.[2] One reel survives and is housed at theLibrary of Congress.[3][4]
When Mona Frentiss dies, she has her confidante "Doctor Bobs" watch over her family, especially her youngest daughter, Patricia. The family has been raised in a most unconventional manner, with Mona having a much younger lover and the father Ralph keeping his own lover on the side. As Patricia grows older, she attracts the attention of her mother's former lover, Cary Scott, who is much older than Patricia (who in the book is in her early to mid-teens). Patricia tempts fate with her wild ways, nearly loses her virtue to a musician aboard an ocean-going boat, and is saved in time by Cary. Realizing that he is the man for her, Patricia settles down into an experimental marriage.
Prior toFlaming Youth, several films used theflapper cultural phenomenon as subject matter, such asThe Flapper (1920) starringOlive Thomas, but the financial success ofFlaming Youth made it the movie credited with launching a cycle of movies about flappers and helping Colleen Moore be seen as the originator of the screen flapper.[5][6]
The film's marketing emphasized the racier aspects of the story, and a "skinny-dipping" sequence shot in silhouette (which still largely survives in the Library of Congress) was used in the film's advertising extensively. The ads also boasted "neckers,petters,white kisses,red kisses,pleasure mad daughters, [and] sensation craving mothers."[7] The book contained adult subjects which were largely glossed over in the film. To counter potential negative backlash, the filmmakers injected a good deal of humor into their adaptation so that many audiences thought the film was actually a burlesque of the whole flapper movement when, in fact, it was intended to be a dramatic film.[8]
The public reaction to the film was enthusiastic, and it firmly fixed a new kind of female behavior in the public's imagination.[7] In his retrospective essay "Echoes of the Jazz Age", author F. Scott Fitzgerald citedFlaming Youth as the only motion picture that captured the sexual revolution of theJazz Age.[9] He lamented that its runaway success prompted "Hollywood hacks" to create a number of similar but less daring films and to run "the theme into its cinematographic grave."[1] He also emphasized the fact thatFlaming Youth persuaded certain moralistic Americans that their young girls could be "seduced without being ruined."[1] Fitzgerald also praised Colleen Moore's performance in the film, remarking that: "I was the spark that lit upFlaming Youth, Colleen Moore was the torch."[7][10]
WhileFlaming Youth was successful enough to be held over in most American cities, reactions from film critics were mixed.[11] The January 12, 1924, issue of theExhibitor's Trade Review cites a review from theChicago News which called the film "one of the best-told screen novels that has come along", and another review from theCincinnati Enquirer in which the critic pointed out that the film was not completely faithful to the book. He added that "throughout the production, scarcely a single admirable character appears, and the audience is regaled with the antics of a lot of childish adults and adulterated children. Consequently, the members of the cast, though many of them are talented, work against unfair handicaps."[12] A reviewer for theIndiana Star wrote, "In spite of an awkward story, Miss Moore contributes much merriment to the occasion and Elliott Dexter and Milton Sills lend the frontier element of the film a certain degree of stability."[12]
A critic forThe New York Times wrote, "Colleen Moore gives a vivid performance of the jazz-devoted novice once she gets her hold of the theme. There are moments in the beginning when her rendition is a little artificial. But after her awkward trip downstairs in exotic pajamas—which are not really graceful—she lives the part of a pert young thing, whose hair is cut with a bang on the forehead, whose eyes are full of mischief and whose arms are long and slender." TheNew York Times critic also described Milton Sills as "sympathetic" and Myrtle Stedman as "charming."[13]
BiographerJeanine Basinger inSilent Stars (1999) reports that "the movieflapper really came into focus in 1923, when Colleen Moore"—heretofore playing ingenues "with no distinctive traits"—appeared inFlaming Youth, and "she more than anyone became the prototype."[14]
The flapper signaled the transition from the pre-World War I feminine ideals, such as theGibson Girl, to the post-war modern era. She acted out the changes that were taking place "in fashion, sex, social awareness, and politics."[15] Basinger describes the iconic image of the flapper: "flat-chested and angular, big-eyed and lively, and with her hair cut short, very short, straight across the bottom and topped off with bangs"—the distinctive "Dutch Boy bob".[16] Basinger insists that the Dutch Boy was popularized by Colleen Moore, and not by her contemporaryLouise Brooks, whose hairdo appropriates the "trademark" flapper cut.[17]
Films during that period were subject tocensorship by state and city censor boards. The Board of Motion Picture Review ofWorcester, Massachusetts, banned the showing ofFlaming Youth, even though it had been passed by the state board.[18]
WhenFlaming Youth debuted inQuébec cinemas in January 1924,[19] JudgePhilippe-Auguste Choquette was petitioned by a delegation ofMontreal women to ban the motion picture. It asserted the foreign American film was "obscene" and morally corrosive to young Canadian girls.[20] In response, Judge Choquette ordered all film prints to be seized and alllobby cards to be confiscated. Additionally, theater owners and projectionists who exhibited the film were arrested.[19] Those highly publicized actions caused a legal court case to ensue over the film. The case regarding the film was transferred to JudgeArthur Lachance of the Court of Sessions.[19] Lachance privately viewed the film and deemed its content to be "immoral."[20] Shortly thereafter, the Canadian board of censors rescinded its previous approval of the film andFlaming Youth could no longer be shown at any cinema in Canada "without violating the Canadian criminal code."[20]
