The Wild Party

"SEE CLARA BOW ESCAPE THE BIG BUTTER AND NECK MAN. IF YOU LIKE YOUR WOMEN WILD, THIS IS IT!"

1929 1h 17m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 15

ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Wild girls at a college pay more attention to parties than their classes. But when one party girl, Stella Ames, goes too far at a local bar and gets in trouble, her professor has to rescue her. Gossip linking the two escalates until Stella proves she is decent by shielding an innocent girl and winning the professor's respect.

“SEE CLARA BOW ESCAPE THE BIG BUTTER AND NECK MAN. IF YOU LIKE YOUR WOMEN WILD, THIS IS IT!”

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Cast

Clara Bow
Stella Ames
Fredric March
James Gilmore
Shirley O'Hara
Helen
Marceline Day
Faith Morgan
Adrienne Dore
Babs (als Adrienne Doré)
Joyce Compton
Eva 'Evie' Tutt
Jack Oakie
Al
Jack Luden
Georgie

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dorothy Arzner
Writers: Samuel Hopkins Adams, Samuel Hopkins Adams, E. Lloyd Sheldon
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 77-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

97 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dorothy Arzner, shot by Victor Milner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by John Leipold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Otho Lovering shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Clara Bow and Fredric March and Shirley O'Hara carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "SEE CLARA BOW ESCAPE THE BIG BUTTER AND NECK MAN. IF YOU LIKE YOUR WOMEN WILD, THIS IS IT!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0020590 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dorothy Arzner directs. Victor Milner behind the camera. John Leipold scores. Otho Lovering cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 77-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
297 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Dorothy Arzner, shot by Victor Milner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by John Leipold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Otho Lovering shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Clara Bow and Fredric March and Shirley O'Hara carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "SEE CLARA BOW ESCAPE THE BIG BUTTER AND NECK MAN. IF YOU LIKE YOUR WOMEN WILD, THIS IS IT!".
8IMDB entry: tt0020590 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 15 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Victor Milner
Original score: John Leipold
Editing: Otho Lovering
Runtime: 77 min · 1h 17m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Wild Party (1929)

Also by

Dorothy Arzner

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Parker2024-12-20
★ 10/10
• director dorothy arzner, one of two prominent female directors of this time, was a lesbian!!! she spent 40 years of her life with choreographer marion morgon!!! • with this in mind, i would say there is some delightful queercoding in this (particularly helen, who spends her run time studying and expressing her distaste in boys, though it's also blatant in bow's character, despite the entire film being about her relationship with a man). i also think that, despite many typical tropes, you can feel the woman's touch radiating from this (particularly in how the women interact, and how the school itself was built by a woman despite what people said of her). • dorothy arzner is credited as the inventor of the boom mic!!! she put a microphone at the end of a fishing rod to allow clara bow to move around more on set!!! A LESBIAN INVENTED THE BOOM MIC !!! • speaking of clara bow, this is her first talkie!!! and as much as i know she hated talkies, i love her voice so much. your accent is adorable, sorry queen! • also because this is such an early talkie, there are SO many silent film aspects in this, like title cards, and long shots on bow that allow her to do a lot of the acting she's used to. yes, it means a lot of this movie is clunky, but it makes it very endearing too.

Production companies