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NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

atlasmb "Under 18" is a charming pre-Code film that includes the best of the genre: beautiful art deco sets, stunning period fashions, and scenes that were titillating for their time.According to notes in the bio of Ms. Marsh, the film was not a critical success, but I do not understand why. The film's best asset is the performance of Marian Marsh herself, who is cute as a Kewpie doll. She plays Margie, a seamstress in the back room of Maison Ritz--a couture fashion house--where she is enthralled by the happenings in the front salon, where rich men bring their women to select expensive gowns and furs.Margie's friends and relatives exist on the lower end of the financial spectrum, trying to get ahead. Her boyfriend, Jimmy, is an optimist. He always tells her that good times are just around the corner. But when times get worse, Margie is tempted to take a short cut.In 1931, as skyscrapers captured the imagination of the public, it must have felt like there were two worlds--the life of penthouse luxury that existed in the sky and the life of the hoi polloi down on street level. This film captures that concept very well (similar to Fitzgerald's vision of a distant, unattainable East Egg in "The Great Gatsby").There is nothing about this film that I would criticize. It offers a wonderful view of the life and times of the early thirties, including the changing mores that some saw as opportunity and others saw as the demise of traditional values.

secondtake Under 18 (1931-22)A light-hearted comedy drama with a few very serious moments. It's a sincere and touching story about two sisters trying to make it in the poor tenements of New York. They each have a man from the same neighborhood, one a loafer (and pool shark) and the other a sweet and goofy grocery delivery driver. Mom lives with one of the sisters who is the title character, a bit young to know what she wants.But not too young for the rich ladykilling man who sees the girl modeling an expensive fur. Which leads, roundabout, to the highlight of the movie, and twenty minute frenzy on the roof of a tall building in Manhattan. This pool party is a real height of the Roaring Twenties as they were winding into the early Depression. It's pure wild decadence, and director Archie Mayo really knew how to ramp it up without getting totally obscene. Great stuff.And a great contrast with the humble lives of the impoverished stars. None of the leading ladies or their men are names most of us recognize (the main star, Marian Marsh, has several great films to her name, namely "Svengali" and "Crime and Punishment"). It's Warren William, the rich fellow, who is the most famous of the bunch, and he's always a hoot to watch, slyly winning over women despite (or because of) his age. But there is another serious side to all of this, and that is the trap women faced then (far less than now) in having to find a man to help survive economically. The Depression has clearly made jobs scarce, even in New York (which was still humming in some ways). When Marsh's sister realizes her new husband would rather play pool than work, things go bad—and get worse when she has a child. So Marsh sees the folly of marriage even though her own boyfriend is a decent chap with a job. This fairly realistic portrayal of life at the time is the largest part of the movie.The party, however, is the most fun, and I would say you could, if impatient, skim ahead to that section, a little after halfway, and just see the craziness of the times. It reminded me of "Madame Satan" which uses the same kind of party—in a blimp—that is so wild and compelling it makes you wonder why these kinds of scenes disappeared by the time of the Hays Code.There is a slightly awkward feel to the script throughout the film, unfortunately, and the acting of some of the lesser characters is fair but not great, bringing the whole thing down to earth. Still, the best of it…well, give it a shot. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

mitchflorida First of all this was a Warner Brothers film.One of several Pre-Code dramas helmed by Warner Bros. contract director Archie Mayo in 1932, Under Eighteen is a cautionary tale for the working girl that was lost in the shuffle of too many similar programmers released that same year. Seen today, it provides a unique window into the past when studios like Warner Bros. catered to blue collar audiences, particularly women, with movie plots that mirrored situations and circumstances in the lives of their audience.Under Eighteen opens on a hopeful note with Sophie (Anita Page) getting married to Alf (Norman Foster) and moving out of the cramped tenement apartment she shares with her sister Marge (Marian Marsh) and her mother. The mood quickly changes to despair as Marge considers her circumstances and realizes that marriage is not necessarily the answer to the grinding poverty she experiences day after day. This becomes even more pronounced when Sophie, Alf and their newborn baby move back in with them because Alf lost his job and won't look for a new one; he keeps blowing the little money they have on billiard tournaments in bars, hoping he'll win the big cash prize. The situation becomes unbearable for Sophie once she realizes she is pregnant with a second child. She begs Marge to help her raise the money for a divorce lawyer, all of which helps convince Marge that she won't make the same mistakes. Her fiancé Jimmie (Regis Toomey), a delivery boy who aspires to start his own delivery service, wants to tie the knot and doesn't share Marge's dismal view of matrimony. In her opinion, "Marriage is a bunk, at least for poor people." Soon Marge postpones her wedding plans with Jimmie and sets her sights on raising money for her sister's divorce lawyer by using herself as collateral in a deal she proposes to Howard Raymond (Warren William), a well-known tycoon and notorious ladies' man. Marge goes to his penthouse apartment, where a decadent rooftop party is in full swing, and begins to succumb to the inhibition-free atmosphere. When Marge and Howard finally retire to his private suite, however, their rendezvous takes a surprisingly unexpected turn.More than anything else, Under Eighteen is an impressive showcase for Marian Marsh (best known for her role as Trilby in Svengali [1931]), who displays both fearless determination and raging self-doubt as the desperate Marge. The film builds suspense and a growing tension over what lengths Marge will go to help her sister. And it offers a grimly realistic view of the options available for women born and raised in the slums. This isn't an escapist fantasy but the flip side of the working girls glimpsed in Gold Diggers of 1933. For most of the film, the camera captures the squalid details of tenement life: people sleeping on fire escapes on sweltering summer nights, the congested sidewalks and never-ending street traffic, the rented rooms with walls so thin you can hear the neighbors through them.Though not as sordid or as entertainingly racy as other Pre-Code movies such as Baby Face (1933) or Employees' Entrance (1933), Under Eighteen has its share of frisky behavior and sexual innuendos, particularly during the penthouse pool party scene. Warren William, who specialized in playing lecherous employers and rich philanderers, is right in his element here. When he welcomes Marge to his alcohol-fueled roof party, he says, "Why not take off your clothes and stay awhile?" Prior to that, he is glimpsed bobbing up and down suggestively in the water with a drunken female guest on a phallic-like float so we know his intentions are strictly dishonorable.For a Pre-Code film, Under Eighteen does have a surprisingly false and unrealistic denouement that smacks of studio compromise and Breen Office censorship. The movie, however, was actually made before the Code was strictly enforced so that was probably the result of screenwriters Charles Kenyon and Maude Fulton trying to give the movie a happy ending. Marge emerges from Raymond's penthouse with her virtue intact because he has a change of heart and decides to not take advantage of such a pure innocent. She now happily accepts her fate and agrees to marry Jimmie and move to New Jersey. And most astonishing of all, Alf finally wins the big billiards tournament and whisks his pregnant wife, child and mother-in-law off to Atlantic City for a vacation followed by an undeniably bright future. Audiences won't be fooled though. We know Alf will be back to his old tricks as soon as the money runs out and that Marge will always wonder what her life would have been like if she had actually acted on her defiant promise to herself: "I've made up my mind that anytime I hand myself over to a man for life, it's cash on delivery."

Alix1929 This song was popular in the depression, so it's not a big surprise that one of the characters in this movie whistles it on the way to work. By the end of this movie, "happy days ARE here again," but for most of the picture you sure wouldn't think so! Directed by the capable Archie Mayo, this movie offers a chance for viewers today to see a wonderful contrast between the have and have nots of the 1930's.Young Margie (played by Marian Marsh) who must be "under eighteen," works to help support her family now that her father has died. The family now consists of her older sister Sophie (Anita Page), her husband Alf, and their little baby. Margie is a seamstress in a NYC shop that makes and sells fashionable gowns. Margie's nobody's dummy--she sees the beautiful models attracting rich sugar daddies and dreams of the life she could have...if only! Her poor-but-honest-and-hard-working boyfriend, Jimmy (Regis Toomey) offers her stability and respectability , which she accepts until Sophie shows her a side of married life that is undesirable. One day at work, she meets ladies man Howard Raymond (Warren William), gets the opportunity to model a beautiful fur coat for him, and he charms her. A swiss cheese sandwich, an invitation to his penthouse, and a desperate need for money lead to trouble for Margie.This pre-Code is rich in 1930's flavor. Raymond's penthouse apartment is an Art Deco delight, while the apartment where Margie's family lives is the exact opposite. Warren William is an absolute standout as the seducer of young women, a role he played many times, but no time better than in this movie! When young Margie shows up at his penthouse, he is outside on the roof, swimming in his pool. He invites her to stay and swim with the comment, "Take off your clothes and stay awhile." I was lucky to accidentally catch this movie on TCM. It doesn't show very often, but would be certainly worth your time, if it appears in the line up again.