Customer Reviews

Our Modern Maidens [VHS]

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Joan Crawford finally became a star in this 1929 film, which was her last silent picture. "Our Modern Maidens" was a follow-up to her big hit of 1928, "Our Dancing Daughters" (which is actually the better picture). Both were written by Josephine Lovett, who provide Jazz Age audiences with modern tales of sexy flappers who toyed with the emotions of their boyfriends, which is either a progressive idea or merely a slip of the conventional stereotype. To make things even more interesting, Crawford and her co-star Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. had just announced their engagement prior to the film starting production. So the happy couple were cast as flapper Billie Brown and her fiancee Gil Jordan. He wants to be a diplomat, but she is the fun loving daughter of some tycoon, so the relationship is strained, especially because Fairbanks worked for a studio other than MGM and Louis B. Mayer decreed that two Metro stars needed to live happily ever after at the end of this one. So Billie figures out she really is in love with Glen Abbott (Rod La Rocque), and Gil gets drunk at one of their wild parties and ends up getting a wild young girl named Kentucky (Anita Page) pregnant. So I was rather surprised when Billie and Glen go through with the wedding, but, of course, this is not the end of the story. Jack Conway does a competent job of directing this tale of reckless youth, but it is the art-deco sets by Cedric Gibbons and the lavish gown from Adrian that really catch you eye when watching "Our Modern Maidens." There is even a final film in the "trilogy," the 1930 "Our Blushign Brides," which is decidely more somber. However, it is not available in video to the best of my knowledge.

Back before the Production Code, Joan Crawford became a star by being the 20's equivalent of Madonna. She was just as shockingly sexual to the 20's as the Material Girl was to us in the 80's. (F. Scott Fitzgerald even wrote about her as "the perfect example of the flapper" one of the "Young things with a talent for living") To people who have only seen the axe-wielding Crawford of the 60's (or the battle-axe Crawford of the 50's), get a copy of this movie. You'll be surprised.

Our Modern Maidens has much of the same cast as Our Dancing Daughters, which serves as sort of a prequel to this film. The stories are not the same, and neither are the characters, but the sentiments are. Billie Brown (Joan Crawford) and Gil Jordan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) are childhood sweethearts who are secretly engaged, but they don't want to publicize their engagement until Gil gets a better job. That leaves plenty of time for Billie to woo Glenn Abbott (Rod LaRoque), an important figure who can help Gil get his job. Gil becomes jealous of Abbott's affection, so he spends plenty of time with lovestruck Kentucky (Anita Page). The whole situation becomes a giant mess, and the wedding that should have brought them together ends up tearing Billie and Gil apart.

For the most part, the characters in this film have no worries. They are young with their entire futures ahead of them. The film opens with them driving recklessly and ends with them falling in and out of love multiple times.

This film was highly publicized thanks to Crawford and Fairbanks's real life marriage. Ironically, the two separated for similar reasons as in this film; both were too young and too reckless to stay together.

Whilst Joan Crawford is still fresh in moviebuff's minds, Anita Page is almost completely forgotten, but in OUR MODERN MAIDENS her innocent ingenue acts Joan off the screen! Joan looks good but her moderness masks an insecurity as she is not as modern as she thinks or behaves, whilst the fresh naivete of Pages's character comes across as genuine and sympathetic. Doug Fairbanks Jr gives strong support as the handsome but shallow man they both love.

Kingsley Canham, Norwich, Norfolk.

Joan Crawford in her final silent film, before she became the Joan Crawford, elegant and mannered, that we know and love today. Her she plays a free-thinking Jazz Age hottie, a flirty flapper of a college gal whose refusal to take life seriously, or to settle down with the right man, has serious repercussions. One one hand, the ultimate slant of the movie is conventional and moralistic, on the other, keep in mind that the moral conventions of the time were very well established, and by just presenting her wild and crazy lifestyle, the filmmakers were making a strong artistic statement. A cool chance to see the swinging '20s lifestyle pretty much as it was happening... And some of Hollywood's most luminous young stars as American film was really coming into its own.

Being a fan of old movies, I loved this one. Can be hard to find. Pleased w/ tape, as I still have a VCR. Quality good. Delivery time excellent by dealer.

"Our Modern Maidens" is one of Joan's only silents that is available on home video. This was somewhat of a follow-up to Joan's hugely successful "Our Dancing Daughters."

In this movie Joan plays Billie Brown a typical girl of the twenties who enjoys parties and dancing and being free-spirited, who is otherwise known as a flapper. Joan goes out of her way to give an exceptional performance and even though this is a silent, I can almost hear every single syllable that she is saying. Speaking of silents, after 20 pictures, "Our Modern Maidens" became Joan's final silent movie and it's among her very best. Because it's more like a talkie than a silent because all of the performances are so first-rate and on par with the golden age of cinema during the '30s.

The movie is a total of 75 minutes in length and is in black and white. It was produced by MGM and currently is in the Warner/Turner collection. Look for an upcoming DVD-R of this film within the next couple of years.

Once speaking about "Our Modern Maidens," Joan said, "the first one that gave the wardrobe department a chance to go all out and make Crawford a clotheshorse."

Before betamaxes and blu-rays Joan Crawford was the defining movie star of 6 decades. Her films will live on forever because they are not dated, but classic depictions that include universal stories and themes that are still important to this very day.