The Age of Consent (1932)

'What do I care about my Daughter's happiness…I'm only concerned about what's right and what's wrong."This Movie is Another Side of the Pre-Code Expression that is Rarely Mentioned or Discussed because it isn't Lurid, Steamy, or Filled with Lingerie Shots. It is the Freedom (without restrictions from the thought policing of Hays, Breen and the League of Decency) for Films to be Informative, Thought Provoking, Educational, Stimulating, and Socially Redeeming.It is a Snappy Movie Filled with Great Verbal Flourishes about "Free Love" (the Hippies didn't invent the term), Right and Wrong, Moral or Immoral, and Simply a Coming of Age Paradox of Hormones and Society's Restrictions and Legislation of Private and Personal Behavior. It Tries to Answer, or at Least Discuss, if Anyone has any Say on What Goes on in a Person's Bedroom.It is Not the Movie that You Think it is Going In. It is a Thoughtful Exploration about a Controversial Subject and is Intelligent and Engaging. Well Acted by Mostly Young Unknowns but Without Much Style, the Film Figures its Straightforward Narrative and Filming Techniques were Better Suited for the Academic Like "Lectures" about a Universal and Timeless Truth.Certainly Worth a Watch for Film Historians as Well as Culture War Combatants that will Discover Something to Think About. The Ending May be a bit Hokey and Dated but the Film's Basic Subject Matter is Definitely Not.

Quietly beautiful Dorothy Wilson first started work as a "secretary to the stars". She was taking dictation from Gregory La Cava, who was preparing to cast "The Age of Consent", when, giving her a second look, he organised a screen test. Surprisingly, she won the lead role and embarked on her short though interesting career.This was one of a series of films that purported to give the real "low down" about youth of the day (ie "Confessions of a Co-ed" (1931), "Are These Our Children" (1931)). Set on the campus of State College, it tells of the lives and loves of Nigel, Betty and Duke, plus one father figure professor of Biology (John Halliday). Nigel (John Cromwell) is a conflict of emotions - a dedicated student who feels that the youth of today has gone to the dogs. His moodiness is driving Betty (beautiful Dorothy Wilson) into the arms of campus romeo "The Duke" (Eric Linden) - so he decides to quit school and marry Betty. Before he can put his plan into action, he is caught in the clutches of Dora (Arline Judge) a mercenary waitress. He walks her home. she plies him with liquor - he wakes up to find he is charged with corrupting a minor and faces marriage to girl he doesn't love or jail!!! After an emotional scene with Betty - she decides to "go to the Devil" herself - with Duke, if he'll have her. He just takes her for a long ride and proclaims "you couldn't be bad if you tried". The ending is pretty dramatic - Nigel and Dora are waiting for a preacher, when word comes of a dreadful car accident - Duke is dying and Nigel rushes to Betty's side. When Dora sees the love and devotion Nigel shows to Betty - she tells her father that for once she wants to do the right thing and calls the wedding off. There is also a subplot involving Professor Mathews and Barbara (Aileen Pringle), a teacher and confidante of Betty's , who had faced the same dilemma when they were young, decided not to marry and lived to regret it.John Halliday made every part he played interesting viewing. The rest of the top billed cast were young up and coming stars on the threshold of fame. Arline Judge was often cast as floozies and left films (late 30s) to concentrate on matrimony and divorce. Artistic Richard Cromwell had found fame in the remake of "Tolable David" (1930) but it was with "The Age of Consent" that he found his niche, as the good looking (almost ageless) young hero. Eric Linden was definitely the most talented of the bunch and he was excellent in a variety of roles ie the hysterical young father in "Life Begins" (1932), a boy who gets into bad company and goes to jail in "Are These Our Children" (1931) and the weak mother dominated younger son in "The Silver Cord" (1933).Recommended.

This little precode film deals with the unfortunate fact that hormonal activity peaks at the same time in life that critical decisions must be made. In this case we have a couple half-way through college - Betty and Mike - that are starting to suffer certain "urges". Mike wants to get married, but Betty thinks that if Mike drops out of college to marry her, he'll regret it someday and she wants them to wait. In the meantime, popular coed Duke Galloway sees an opportunity in this romantic intermission and starts to put the moves on Betty.All of this angst leads Mike to drink heavily one night and fall for the charms of local waitress Dora Swale. Dora is OK with the fact that this is a one night stand, but just as Mike is getting ready to leave her house, Dora's dad appears, and he is not at all happy about the situation.If this seems very frank and daring for 1932, it is. There are no big name stars in this film. The biggest name is John Halliday as Professor David Matthews who acts as a father figure to Mike, even though he is given to handing out confusing advice. He and Barbara act as an analog for the possible future Mike and Betty - they were in love and waited to finish their education. After graduation they found that there was nothing to pick up where they had left off, and are now heading into middle age alone. The best lines go to Arline Judge as Dora. She doesn't look like her, but Arline's voice, her movements, and definitely her attitude are precode Stanwyck.I've already mentioned how things stay the same - the hormonal challenges of late adolescence/early adulthood. How things have changed is the lesson this film seems to teach - that college is optional and even a possible obstacle in seeking true happiness, and maybe it was in 1932 when people married earlier and needed less skill to make a living wage. Today, however, it is an essential rite of passage to a middle class lifestyle, and even then there are no guarantees.

This is a better cultural artifact than a movie . . . but it's a very watchable movie. Catch it on TCM. The alert is for Richard Cromwell, who plays the young man in what I'll call "a situation" with a townie waitress. He's a pretty good actor I've not seen in any other pictures -- and a 24-carat ringer for Leonardo DiCaprio! Their resemblance is beyond close; it's frightening: looks, body language, the whole package. (I am not a good judge of voices, but I don't think they're too far apart.) . . . Since IMDb is insisting on 10 lines' worth of comment even tho' I'm done, I agree w/ the other posted comments about the snappy yet smarmy pre-Code tone of this movie. That's what makes it such an artifact. If I were Robert Osborne (and we're all SO lucky I'm not), this movie would be double-billed with "The Story of Temple Drake," a bleaker look at the same good-time era starring Miriam Hopkins.