A broadway actress uses her sex appeal to ruin a marriage only to dump her lover for a richer prospect.A broadway actress uses her sex appeal to ruin a marriage only to dump her lover for a richer prospect.A broadway actress uses her sex appeal to ruin a marriage only to dump her lover for a richer prospect.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn a print ad for this film, it was being billed as "SEX CRUSHED TO EARTH" (Pittsburgh ((Penna.)) Press, 29 August 1920)
- Quotes
Adrienne Renault: You only live once, kid. Grab everything you can get and never feel sorry for anyone but yourself.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Alice Guy - L'inconnue du 7e art (2021)
Featured review
Lavish, Sensational and Definitely Worth a Look!
We film buffs who delight in silent movies are always delighted when we find a complete print of a popular title from 1920. SEX is one that thrilled me because the print I saw from Grapevine Video and its appropriate musical sound track, was a real revelation on many levels. The black and whites and grays were ideal and the titles delightfully witty and wise.
I had watched only one of the handful of movies made by Theda Bara's main competitor--Louise Glaum--THE TIGER WOMAN and was impressed with her screen personae and talent.
In SEX, she has a starry, meaty role as Adrienne Renault, the sensational star of the Frivolity Club where she brings down the house nightly when she does her Spider Dance.
She also has an army of male admirers and is having a strong affair with a married man while his wife stays home nightly. Louise runs the gamut of emotions as the entertainer but she also captivates. Although she may give off the impression of being jaded and world-weary, there's a sweetness to her, too, although she does offer her protogee, Daisy, played very effectively by long-forgotten Peggy Pearce, on how to snare a sugar daddy.
Fred Niblo brilliantly directs this fast-moving, witty and very lavish production, with numerous interiors, shots of audiences, backstage life, and some striking costumes for its femme cast members. Louise's Spider Dance is wonderfully modern and very watchable even today.
In watching this entertainment, I often thought of how incredibly fast the art of movies had progressed by 1920--from movie-olas to short features, to full length features by 1915.
SEX is slick, lush, beautifully photographed and edited with a colorful script and knock-out performances by its cast, but especially the enchanting Louise who faded into obscurity by the early 1920s. She's remembered by some film historians for her "special mannerisms" in using her hands. You can see her doing this in several scenes when her hands convey certain ideas and emotions very effectively.
I've read she became a drama teacher over the decades and a popular social matron. A real tragedy is that these early silent screen stars were never interviewed in later years or given televised one-on-one's like Robert Osbourne did on TCM. What a wealth of stories and details on how these early movies were made!
It would be wonderful if SEX had a restoration, promoted so that a new generation of film buffs can see what movie-goers were being treated to in 1920 and beyond.
By the way, SEX was not surprisingly, a great movie title to bring in the crowds and they did come, according to records. But in some cities the moralists demanded the title be changed. So it was but it still didn't stop patrons from mobbing the ticket office.
I had watched only one of the handful of movies made by Theda Bara's main competitor--Louise Glaum--THE TIGER WOMAN and was impressed with her screen personae and talent.
In SEX, she has a starry, meaty role as Adrienne Renault, the sensational star of the Frivolity Club where she brings down the house nightly when she does her Spider Dance.
She also has an army of male admirers and is having a strong affair with a married man while his wife stays home nightly. Louise runs the gamut of emotions as the entertainer but she also captivates. Although she may give off the impression of being jaded and world-weary, there's a sweetness to her, too, although she does offer her protogee, Daisy, played very effectively by long-forgotten Peggy Pearce, on how to snare a sugar daddy.
Fred Niblo brilliantly directs this fast-moving, witty and very lavish production, with numerous interiors, shots of audiences, backstage life, and some striking costumes for its femme cast members. Louise's Spider Dance is wonderfully modern and very watchable even today.
In watching this entertainment, I often thought of how incredibly fast the art of movies had progressed by 1920--from movie-olas to short features, to full length features by 1915.
SEX is slick, lush, beautifully photographed and edited with a colorful script and knock-out performances by its cast, but especially the enchanting Louise who faded into obscurity by the early 1920s. She's remembered by some film historians for her "special mannerisms" in using her hands. You can see her doing this in several scenes when her hands convey certain ideas and emotions very effectively.
I've read she became a drama teacher over the decades and a popular social matron. A real tragedy is that these early silent screen stars were never interviewed in later years or given televised one-on-one's like Robert Osbourne did on TCM. What a wealth of stories and details on how these early movies were made!
It would be wonderful if SEX had a restoration, promoted so that a new generation of film buffs can see what movie-goers were being treated to in 1920 and beyond.
By the way, SEX was not surprisingly, a great movie title to bring in the crowds and they did come, according to records. But in some cities the moralists demanded the title be changed. So it was but it still didn't stop patrons from mobbing the ticket office.
helpful•01
- jery-tillotson-1
- Feb 10, 2022
Details
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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