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Spring Fever (1927); Edward Sedgwick
Topic Started: Jan 15 2014, 01:11 PM (188 Views)
Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Jack (William Haines) is a shipping clerk who LOVES to golf, he tries to get a round in before work, and this includes joining groups of golfers he doesn't know and he even plays by going through other groups of golfers. Jack is damn good at the game. Jack's boss is well-to-do; he loves to golf too, but he isn't good, even though he dreams about winning big tournaments, and he has a practice area in his house. Jack's boss spots Jack hitting a golf shot at work one day, and this leads to Jack helping his boss out with his swing. The boss is so impressed, that he send Jack on a 2-week jaunt to an exclusive golf club, and this is where Jack meets, and becomes lovestruck by, Allie (Joan Crawford).

This is a comedy wrapped around a love story, and it has the usual boy meets girl, boy wants girl but girl doesn't want boy...at first. Some of the comedy is golf-related, and I'm a golfer and that probably made the movie funnier than it would be to the average person. William Haines has a charming, award-winning smile and I checked him out on IMDb, and it looks like he was very popular during the silent era, but he quit making films shortly after the talkies began. The Director--Edward Sedgwick--directed many films (IMDb has him as "uncredited" on Chaney's Phantom Of The Opera) but I've seen none of them, he also directed "Fantomas", which looks to me to be a 20-chapter serial from 1920(?).

Joan Crawford was unrecognizable to me for a short while, and she looked nothing like the Joan I knew when I was growing up, hell the Crawford I knew was served rat and bird dinners by Baby Jane! Crawford was very popular, but this is only the 3rd movie of hers I've watched (the other 2 are Baby Jane (I saw this one at the theater back in the 60s when I was about 8 years old, and I was scarred for some time) and Johnny Guitar--a favorite of mine).

It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Frank Hale
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I've seen a number of William Haines pictures, including this one. I never really cared for him because he always seemed to play the same part, that of the world's most annoying person, who invariably, 5 minutes before the end, is set back on his ears and suddenly becomes the swell guy we always knew he was deep down.

Some of his sound pictures are more interesting, but I think he was doomed by changing Depression attitudes. I'm sure IMDb talked about how Louis hated his flagrant homosexuality and fired him, but I doubt Louis, ever the practical sort, would have let him go so casually if his poll numbers hadn’t started sagging. I believe he became a successful interior decorator after he left MGM.

As to the film, I found it only tolerable. At that point Joan Crawford was pure decoration. There was a 1930 musical comedy sound remake with Robert Montgomery, "Love In The Rough", which I thought was somewhat more entertaining. The Warner Archive has both pix.
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Love In The Rough is a title I won't have to make a note of except for mentally, because the title describes my golf game to a tee. Thanks for the recommendation.

Gay eh? Haines was a good-looking guy and his physical humor wasn't too bad. I'd like to check out one of his talkies.
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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