Helen Hayes had a big success on Broadway in this drama of a Southern flapper juggling her beaux, so it must have seemed a good vehicle for Mary Pickford's talkie debut. However, Pickford was then 37, not 17, and found herself negotiating miles of "hush-my-mouth" dialogue. For this more accurately, for her power in Hollywood], she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. To be fair, she has a few good moments, but unconvincing moments predominate. The rest of the cast seem to be playing in different productions: Johnny Mack Brown in the senior college play, William Janney in the senior high school play, Matt Moore in a modern movie, and John St. Polis in a D.W. Griffith melodrama. It's hard to believe that the clunky direction is the work of the same man who guided Pickford at her best in the charming and fluently cinematic MY BEST GIRL.
