Wine of Youth (1924)
(King Vidor, US 1924, 72 min., 16mm)
Described by director King Vidor himself as an “exploitation piece,” this is the first of four “Jazz Age flaming youth pictures” he directed in the mid-1920s before his breakout with The Big Parade in 1925. Mary (Eleanor Boardman) is the third in her family line with the same name. Her mother and grandmother approached romance in the Victorian era in a very romantic fashion, but Mary III questions the validity of marriage in her search for adventure. She and her friends organize a faux honeymoon outing in the forest that includes alcohol, cigarettes, and more as she decides between the considerate Lynn (Ben Lyon) and the aggressive Hal (William Haines).
Live piano accompaniment by Dr. Philip Carli.