DAUGHTERS OF PLEASURE
Directed by William Beaudine. Titles: Harvey Thew. Adaptation: Eve Unsell. Story: Caleb Proctor. Photographed by: Charles Van Enger. Art Director: Joseph Wright. Film Editor: Edward McDermott.
Cast: Marie Prevost (Marjory Hadley), Monte Blue (Kent Merrill), Clara Bow (Lila Millas), Edythe Chapman (Mrs. Hadley), Wilfred Lucas (Mark Hadley).
Domestic Melodrama.
Newly rich Mark Hadley drifts from his old-fashioned wife into a secret liason with Lila Millas, a pretty French girl. At the same time, he advises his daughter, Marjory, to break her ties with Kent Merrill, a "chippy-chasing young rounder." Marjory visits Lila, who was her school friend in Paris, and is shocked to find her father there. She upbraids him and, heedless of his previous advice, goes with Merrill to his summer place. En route, they are sobered by an automobile accident, and they get married. Hadley confesses his misdeeds to his wife and is forgiven. (From: "The American Film Institute Catalogue of Feature Films")
(Variety Film Reviews 1921-25:)"...is rather more than moderately strong program entertainment. Its story, that of a nouveau riche family hitting the shoot-the-chutes with a vengeance and just pulling in the reins before the final splash, has been told before. But William Beaudine has outdone himself in direction and a cast of screen notables lends invaluable aid.
If the film had lived up to its early promise it might have qualified for the first-run houses. But after the story has reached a certain point, there is a definite lack of fresh inspiration and from then on it is just a commonplace readjustment.
There are several laughs, chiefly at the efforts of the old boy to fit his number 48 self into a perfect 36 corset and his subsequent attempts to buffalo the family. Wilfred Lucas plays this role with a deft comic touch. Marie Prevost rivals Miss Bow in provocativeness, and in the matter of tantalizing lips she need give ground to no one. Edyth Chapman and Monte Blue round out the cast, the latter rather outof his element as the chippy-chasing young rounder.
With these names and with a story as sexy as the title, D.O.P. should be a bow office beauty for the average house."
