The Age of Consent (1932)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

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

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:

Dora Swale: [As Mike enters the restaurant where she is a waitress] Hello, polliwog.
Michael 'Mike' Harvey: Hello, Dora.
[While looking for an empty booth to sit in, he overhears a couple talking loudly.]
Unseen Female I: Whaddyou care if they're sharp or not? You can rub your beard off with a towel.
Unseen Male I: Wait'll you start to shave. Alright, alright, what about free love?
Unseen Female I: There's nothing free about MY love, Romeo. Just remember that.
Unseen Male I: You for sale?
Unseen Female I: Let's broaden the conversation.
Unseen Male I: When I get on a subject I like to stay with it. Hey, how about that butter?
[Disgusted with what he's hearing Mike gets up and moves to a different booth.]
[...]

Soundtrack:

St. Louis Blues

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.