This Reckless Age (1932) User Reviews

It takes a lot for the children to really grow up.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 7 January 2020]

Happily awaiting the arrival of their children home for Christmas, Richard Bennett and Frances Starr hope for a happy holiday. But the innocence of their youth has turned them into impetuous young adults who haven't found a level of maturity in their private lives. Charles (Buddy) Rogers and Frances Dee are cast as their college age children who aren't as wise to the ways of the world as they think they are. Rogers returns with fiance, Shannon, and Dee has a crush on the much older Charlie Ruggles, an old family friend. The family gets into trouble because of a bad business decision, and this threatens to ruin the happiness that they struggled to achieve over the years.

This film version of a Broadway play is enjoyable with a mixture of comedic and dramatic elements in addition to the Romantic Intrigue of the younger cast members. Stealing the scene every time she appears is Maude Eburne as the family cook whose vinegary voice hides the fact that she's an old softie deep down and basically cries at the drop of a hat, blaming it on the onions that she's chopped.

Also very amusing is the çrush that Dee has on Ruggles, demonstrated in a scene where he's hiding from her while undressed and she's posing in his winter underwear. It seems absurd at first, but the way she acts towards him if not a bit creepy does make sense eventually considering her relationship with her father. This is a nice little curiosity with decent performances and a mixture of emotional seems that ultimately results in a decent film adaption of a forgotten Broadway play.

Frances Dee Was Paramount's New Young Hope!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 9 August 2015]

On Broadway Peggy Shannon had shown promise as a light comedienne and her career was guided by William A. Brady who thought she was star material. Then the movies beckoned but Hollywood only saw her as a substitute for Clara Bow and for most of her Paramount films her roles were obtained usually because another star rejected them. He role of Mary in "The Reckless Age" was all her own but it was so minor that any young actress on the lot could have played it and soon after Paramount terminated her contract amid gossip that she had become temperamental.

It was an adaptation of "The Goose Hangs High" and adapted and directed by Frank Tuttle. A typical "parents sacrifice everything for their ungrateful children" theme, this one about the Ingels who had found life a struggle but that doesn't mean their kids were going to miss out. Even though it takes a while for the youngsters to make an appearance their characters have been talked about - spoiled, avaricious, with a definite sense of entitlement!! Lois (Frances Dee) is a madcap who seems to disregard other people's feelings, having a fine old time with friends (Mary Carlisle etc) in an old jalopy!!

Bradley (Charles "Buddy" Rogers - for a while Paramount had dropped the "Buddy" in an effort to give him a broader appeal but by 1932 he was on his way out and who really cared??) brings home a surprise - his fiancé Mary, a girl from a working class background who understands the problems his parents face in trying to give their children the best, more than anyone realises. For all Peggy Shannon's top billing her screen time was minimal, her most impressive scene was in the kitchen when she was trying to explain to Mrs. Ingals the values her parents had instilled in her and why she thinks Bradley would benefit more from a loyal wife than a college degree. Frances Dee was Paramount's new young hope and apart from the parents (Richard Bennett and Frances Starr who also impressed as the mother with a past in "Five Star Final") had the biggest part as tearaway Lois whose wild ways conceal a yearning for Goliath Whitney (yes, Charlie Ruggles, old enough to be her father but a stabilizing influence).

One sequence that seemed to be made up as it went along concerns Mr Ingels and his boss Daggett. Too concerned with seeing his children for Christmas he hastily signs his name to an unfinished report which his boss uses for his own gain leaving Ingels to sink or swim when the irate buyer realises he has been duped. As usual David Landau is his sneaky and crooked self but at the start he was the perfect boss who had paid for Bradley's college fees!! A nice enough movie about the younger generation - was there any question that they wouldn't make their parents proud of them by the end!! Maude Eburne was a standout as Rhoda, the maid!!