The Age of Consent (1932)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Gregory La Cava

Writers:

Martin Flavin (play)
Sarah Y. Mason (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 August 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

College co-eds learn to handle the responsibilities of romance. |

Plot Keywords:

College | Male Female Relationship | Hospital | Marriage | Premarital Sex

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Nov. 16

6:00 AM

TCM

Cast

Dorothy Wilson	...	Betty Cameron
Arline Judge	...	Dora Swale
Richard Cromwell	...	Michael 'Mike' Harvey
Eric Linden	...	Duke Galloway
John Halliday	...	Prof. David Mathews
Aileen Pringle	...	Barbara
Reginald Barlow	...	Mr. Swale (Dora's father)

Also Known As:

Crossroads (USA) (working title)
Fraternity House (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The play opened in New York City, New York, USA, on 11 November 1929 and had 28 performances. In the cast were Sylvia Sidney, 'Franchot Tone' and Dennie Moore.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The onscreen play title is listed as "Crossroads", but the actual title is "Cross Roads".

Quotes:

Michael 'Mike' Harvey: You're a good-lookin' girl.
Dora Swale: Ya think so?
Michael 'Mike' Harvey: You're bright...
Dora Swale: Oh, I get it. Bein' bright don't getcha nowhere--just lookin' dumb. When I first got this job, I usta go home nights and study grammar. I thought it might help me if I talked better. But after goin' out with a couple of these apes around here, I threw the grammar out the window and went in for self-defense.
Michael 'Mike' Harvey: Well, after all creation didn't stop when they made THESE gorillas. You oughta know some nice fellas that...
Dora Swale: Sure, you mean in my own class.
Michael 'Mike' Harvey: Oh well, I didn't mean...
Dora Swale: Oh, it's ok. Listen precious, it ain't much fun after workin' hard all day and goin' home nights and just goin' to bed, but it's much better than sittin' around the rest of your life listenin' to some iceman's helper yawnin' himself to sleep.
Michael 'Mike' Harvey: Yeah, I guess you got life pretty tough at that.
Dora Swale: Oh, I ain't complainin'--not as long as YOU think I'm goodlookin'.
[...]

Soundtrack:

Paradise

Separated-at-birth alert!

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.