Reckless Youth

To get away from her stifling home, Elaine Hammerstein espouses a doctrine similar to 'live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse'..... but remain a good girl. Niles Welch, who loves her, suggests they get married and she goes for the idea.... but when he he asks for his conjugal rights, his bride tells him that the marriage is just for show.

And so it goes on, with Miss Hammerstein playing with fire in the person of Robert Lee Keeling, thinking she'll never get burnt.

In other words, Miss Hammerstein is a spoiled brat. I've seen this done before, and done well, but almost invariably in a comedy. This movie is no comedy. It is offered as a drama of gross coincidences, and I wanted to beat Miss Hammerstein about the head with a 2x4 as she complains about her unseen parents, cheats her husband, and behaves like a nitwit.

This sort of movie, with its normative conclusion, was pretty much a standard of the era. Unhappily, the way the lead character is written and portrayed, she wears out this audience member's goodwill long before she learns her lesson.