The Age of Consent (1932) User Reviews

Oh how things change, and how they stay the same

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 21 November 2009]

This little precode film deals with the unfortunate fact that hormonal activity peaks at the same time in life that critical decisions must be made. In this case we have a couple half-way through college - Betty and Mike - that are starting to suffer certain "urges". Mike wants to get married, but Betty thinks that if Mike drops out of college to marry her, he'll regret it someday and she wants them to wait. In the meantime, popular coed Duke Galloway sees an opportunity in this romantic intermission and starts to put the moves on Betty.

All of this angst leads Mike to drink heavily one night and fall for the charms of local waitress Dora Swale. Dora is OK with the fact that this is a one night stand, but just as Mike is getting ready to leave her house, Dora's dad appears, and he is not at all happy about the situation.

If this seems very frank and daring for 1932, it is. There are no big name stars in this film. The biggest name is John Halliday as Professor David Matthews who acts as a father figure to Mike, even though he is given to handing out confusing advice. He and Barbara act as an analog for the possible future Mike and Betty - they were in love and waited to finish their education. After graduation they found that there was nothing to pick up where they had left off, and are now heading into middle age alone. The best lines go to Arline Judge as Dora. She doesn't look like her, but Arline's voice, her movements, and definitely her attitude are precode Stanwyck.

I've already mentioned how things stay the same - the hormonal challenges of late adolescence/early adulthood. How things have changed is the lesson this film seems to teach - that college is optional and even a possible obstacle in seeking true happiness, and maybe it was in 1932 when people married earlier and needed less skill to make a living wage. Today, however, it is an essential rite of passage to a middle class lifestyle, and even then there are no guarantees.

Surprisingly Intelligent Story About College Students

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 12 September 2014]

Based upon a play, "The Age of Consent" is a film of ideas. Although it might first seem like just another flippantly written pre-code story about young love, the title is the first clue. The age of consent in a particular jurisdiction is the age at which one can legally consent to sexual acts. Knowing this, the viewer might consider it an allusion to the line between immaturity and maturity that the students of State University ride. They are not yet ready for the responsibilities of adult life, but the educational process asks them to consider the large issues of life.

A stone bench on campus is the second clue to the serious ideas this film explores. "In loco parentis" is a Latin phrase meaning "in the place of a parent" and it is a concept regarding the (if you will, fiduciary) legal role of a college, upon accepting a student in its care, to assume some responsibilities of a parent and, therefore, some legal liabilities. That phrase is carved into this bench, where we see Professor David Matthews (John Halliday) offer parental advice and comfort to student Mike Harvey (Richard Cromwell).

Both legal concepts figure heavily in the story. The campus is a seemingly idyllic setting where students can exist in an ivory tower, away from the harsh realities of the outside world, to explore controversial and abstract ideas, like free love. But innocence resides there with burgeoning passions and the difficulties they present.

The moral relativism that many feared would result from abstract ideas and newer scientific principles, e.g. Darwinism and a revised astronomical view of man's place in the universe, come head to head with the "older" moral certainties of absolutism and church dogma. Will love find a place in the crossfire?

This film features good, sparkling dialogue and some excellent acting. The ending may be a surprise for many viewers.

Separated-at-birth alert!

[eebyo · 6/10 · 10 March 2005]

This is a better cultural artifact than a movie . . . but it's a very watchable movie. Catch it on TCM.

The alert is for Richard Cromwell, who plays the young man in what I'll call "a situation" with a townie waitress. He's a pretty good actor I've not seen in any other pictures -- and a 24-carat ringer for Leonardo DiCaprio! Their resemblance is beyond close; it's frightening: looks, body language, the whole package. (I am not a good judge of voices, but I don't think they're too far apart.) . . . Since IMDb is insisting on 10 lines' worth of comment even tho' I'm done, I agree w/ the other posted comments about the snappy yet smarmy pre-Code tone of this movie. That's what makes it such an artifact. If I were Robert Osborne (and we're all SO lucky I'm not), this movie would be double-billed with "The Story of Temple Drake," a bleaker look at the same good-time era starring Miriam Hopkins.

Marry Her Or Else

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 14 April 2015]

The Age Of Consent is a terribly dated before the Code film with a Victorian era plot and loaded with sexual innuendo. This would have made a great Cecil B. DeMille silent film.

The Age Of Consent began as a play called Cross Roads which had the misfortune of opening on Broadway within two weeks of the Stock Market crash. After that Broadway closed a lot of shows because folks couldn't afford the theater. Cross Roads only ran 28 performances and Franchot Tone and Sylvia Sidney were in the supporting roles that Eric Linden and Arline Judge play on the screen.

The leads are Richard Cromwell and Dorothy Wilson who are in love and going through a lot of angst. Dorothy's a good kid who doesn't want to give it up before she has a wedding ring on her finger. Richard's even ready to quit school. But when she says no he goes off with the local waitress at the college hangout Arline Judge.

Catching him alone with his daughter puritanical dad Richard Barlow says no one is going to disgrace my daughter, marry her or else because she's still a minor. Poor Cromwell sees his whole life slipping away, all the plans he had for his future, just gone up in smoke.

It all kind of works out for most of the cast. John Halliday is her as the wise science professor who acts as mentor and father figure to the college kids. Barlow's part is interesting his type is still around today, ignorant and proud of it. Look for a young Betty Grable as one of the coeds.

It's an interesting story and typical of the times. But thank God we seem to have moved away from the attitudes expressed by Barlow in The Age Of Consent.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of women.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 6 December 2019]

So this is how your great-great grandparents partied during the depression when they were flaming youth! In the case of the young and troubled Richard Cromwell, being a healthy young man means fighting his libido, and that means dumping the girl he loves (Dorothy Wilson) to marry campus waitress Arline Judge after her father (Reginald Barlow) catches them together and insists they marry....or else! It seems like a tough punishment for doing what flaming youth have been doing for thousands of years, but it turns out that Judge is underage. Papa Barlow seems a bit too anxious to get rid of his daughter, and Wilson finds instant comfort with Carlson's rival (Eric Linden). It's up to Carlson's professor mentor John Halliday to try and make things right, especially when Linden and Wilson are involved in a car accident together.

This surprisingly heated teen drama is quite risque, showing the libidos of college kids simply trying to find their place in the world. It's Linden who says the line in my review introduction and sadly he pays for his carnal desires. The cast for the most part is really good, although Barlow seems like a villain out of a silent movie even if he truly believes what he's doing is right and isn't as brutal as he seems in his opening closeup. Judge, Halliday and Linden have the showier roles with Cromwell and Wilson very subtle in the leads. A pretty effective pre-code drama, even nearly 90 years later.

This movie provides all the trimmings for a classic . . .

[cricket30 · 6/10 · 25 March 2021]

. . . shot-gun wedding. Drunken upper class boy? Check. Underaged impoverished seductress? Check. Angry Pop? Check. Lawman enforcing local morals? Check. The only thing that seems to be missing is the actual firearm. It pretty much goes without saying that Dora's honor is never restored through nuptial vows with her rich admirer Mike as THE AGE OF CONSENT concludes. Such a misfire of justice is what you get when a struggling underclass family lacks a Peacemaker in their closet. So after suffering through the tragic ending of this flick, please remember to support your local chapter of BANGS (Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps).

Pretty good for a Old Talkie

[ldeangelis-75708 · 6/10 · 19 September 2023]

Unlike a lot of early sound films, where the actors don't know quite what to do with their voices, so the dialog's either stilted or exaggerated (more like on stage), this one came across pretty good. There wasn't all that exaggeration or over-the-top melodrama, and I credit the actor for that.

The story's not bad either, as two young college students try to navigate a society that's quite a bit different than when their parents were their age. (This movie is from 1931, so Mom and Dad were probably college age in the 1900's, so that says a lot.) Betty's an old-fashioned girl who thinks she should be more modern, while Michael wants to hold onto traditional values and ideals, despite pressure and temptation.

When a modern mistake is made, an old-fashioned correction seems in order, which may ruin the couple's chance for happiness.

There is also educational/life choice issues: is it okay to leave college and get a job, start your adult life a bit sooner than planned, even if it means postponing or giving a degree and career goals, if you have what you believe is a valid reason for doing so?

This movie has a bittersweet ending, and I could have done without the bitter, as a character of questionable ethics shows himself to be a better person and deserved a better fate.

Worth watching.

It's pretty easy to see that this is a Pre-Code tale.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 31 March 2021]

The Pre-Code era lasted from about 1930 to mid-1934. During this time, Hollywood had a production code but routinely ignored it. In other words, though they set up a board to oversee films to ensure that they were wholesome, these folks were essentially a rubber stamp for the studios. As a result, all sorts of amazingly adult plots made their way to the big screen. Plots involving abortion, adultery, homosexuality and premarital sex were surprisingly common...that is, until the new and tougher Production Code was enforced starting in July, 1934...after which, films became quite sanitized and wholesome...and occasionally a bit dull or cryptic. In other words movies either needed to be nice and sweet or they needed to talk around subjects...implying much but saying and doing very little.

It's very obvious that "The Age of Consent" is a Pre-Code picture....and it seems to loudly scream that when the story begins. With frequent mentions of sex, petting and lines like "You'd be much nicer is you loosened your morals", you can't help but be shocked at the sort of stuff our grandparents and great-grandparents were watching way back in the day.

The story is set at a sex-crazed college where students never seem to be in classes and mostly spend their time trying to get their dates into the sack. In the case of Mike, he and his girlfriend are interesting because they are clearly being overwhelmed by their hormones...so much so that they debate about dropping out of college in their final year because they can't wait to to the old horizontal mambo. But problems develop when Mike foolishly goes out with another girl...and finds that she's both underage AND her father threatens to press charges unless he marries her! Oddly, it appears in the film as if the pair never really did anything other than drink a bit and stay out late at her house. So what's to become of Mike? Will one night of foolishness destroy his life?

The message to the film is oddly Pre-Code and essentially says that it's a good idea to drop out of college because sex is grand! I am sure some parents back in the day did not appreciate this! Overall, a film that isn't very good but it never is dull!

Most everyone agrees that "colleges" were invented to . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 25 March 2021]

. . . allow affluent out-of-town boys to fritter away their funds while draining their rambunctious grain within the well-plowed furrows of the local town distaff populace. THE AGE OF CONSENT presents a potential roadblock to frat brother Mike, however. Just as every local jurisdiction has fishing regulations prohibiting the hooking and harvest of underage swimmers, the burgs surrounding the campus quads don't want the college crowd trolling their middle school cheerleading squads. So when Mike breaks in a gal legally too green, it's her Pop and the Law he gets caught between. Fortunately his best friend croaks comforting his legal fiancée while going eighty, enabling Mike to cut his jail bait and return to his original matey.

"Free love" on college campuses is all the rage in this pre-code drama

[jacobs-greenwood · 5/10 · 13 December 2016]

Directed by Gregory La Cava and executive produced by David O. Selznick, the screenplay for this Martin Flavin play was written by Sarah Y. Mason and Francis M. Cockrell. The film is a dated drama about "free love" on college campuses. There are a couple of scenes where the characters are seen discussing this and that while sitting on a stone bench engraved with "in loco parentis".

The film begins with a montage of several short, poorly acted clips with students discussing "free love", which is all the rage on this particular college campus. Grady Sutton appears uncredited as one of the students in the dormitory (Betty Grable is also listed as being one of the students on campus, uncredited, though I failed to spot her).

Betty (Dorothy Wilson) can't quite decide whether she wants to participate or not. On the one hand, she's been dating a young man with high ideals, Mike Harvey (Richard Cromwell), a pretty boy whose "mentor" is Professor David Mathews (John Halliday). On the other hand, she is attracted to the rich, carefree Duke Galloway (Eric Linden). Frustrated by Betty's cavalier attitude and everyone else's "looseness", Mike retreats to a local hangout to be alone. There, he unburdens his "conservative" views to Dora Swale (Arline Judge), a young waitress.

Soon, however, Betty is wooed by Mike, who gives her his college pin, and the two of them start to make plans. Mike turns to Professor Mathews for advice. However, he is obviously conflicted and fails to make a compelling case for Mike to stay in school and wait a couple of years before marrying Betty. The primary reason for his failure in this area is his own personal experience. Evidently he too had a love of a lifetime in Barbara (Aileeen Pringle), also now a teacher on campus, and they had decided to wait only to see their love fade such that they never married.

Barbara also advises Betty similarly. In fact, it isn't until she is dispensing with her advice that we learn Professor Mathews's love had been Barbara (through a photograph). In a moment of passion, Mike tells Betty he is willing to drop out of college to take a job he knows he can always get in California, so they can marry, but she says she'd feel terrible if he did and that they should wait for him to finish his degree instead.

One night, everything changes. A (sexually?) frustrated Mike is "seduced" into walking Dora home from Tolers, the local hangout. Arriving at her home, he discovers that her father (Reginald Barlow) works nights. Acting irresponsibly, the two drink, dance, and spend the night together (though what actually happens is open for debate). Mr. Swale gets home at 4 AM to discover the disheveled couple and invokes the shotgun wedding principle. Dora was underage?

In any case, Professor Mathews tries to intervene, acting every bit the liberal one would expect on today's college campuses, and prevent Mr. Swale from ruining Mike's life. But, forced to own up to his error by the Assistant District Attorney (Frederick Burton, uncredited), Mike accepts his fate and agrees to wed Dora.

A distraught Betty, upset that maintaining her ideals have earned her nothing, is consoled by Duke and then goes for a ride in his fast car. Naturally, they are in a car crash. Professor Mathews receives a call from Barbara at the Swale's just before the wedding can take place, informing him of the accident.

Everyone rushes to the hospital where the doctor (Howard C. Hickman, uncredited) informs them that Duke will not survive, but Betty is expected to recover fully. We witness Duke's melodramatic passing away. Seeing Mike's love for the injured Betty, a tearful Dora refuses to force Mike to go through with it, much to her working class father's disappointment; he had hoped her daughter would marry a college graduate! The last scene shows Mike and Betty departing on a train for California with Professor Mathews and Barbara waving to them.

Remarkable and charming send up of sexual hypocrisy

[ifb666 · 10/10 · 10 March 2005]

I caught this movie on TCM during a tribute to the director Le Cava and was stunned and surprised by its trenchant wit and charm. The movie focuses on the obvious fact that adolescents and teenagers and kids in college spend an inordinately high portion of their waking hours thinking about sex. This is a wonderful breath of fresh air and shows that teen sexuality need not be told on screen by the use of a deus ex machina like the pathetic loser Lucas in "Lucas" and, alternatively, by genuinely depraved social deviants as in "American Pie" or "Porky's". Though this movie is about sex it is suitable for family viewing and even by pre teens. There is also to me a bigger message about the danger of censorship in our society. In an era where prudery and censorship are more and more being viewed by politicians as a way to protect ourselves from ourselves it may be useful to consider how much damage was done to our posterity by the Hays code and the Catholic League. Watch this movie!

Oh, The Problems of Modern Youth!

[movingpicturegal · 8/10 · 13 March 2006]

At State College, while most of the young men are more interested in "free love" than marriage, handsome Michael aka "Mike" (Richard Cromwell, an exact cross between Leonardo DiCaprio and Jude Law) is full of old-fashioned ideals and he loves to get advice and talk things over with his favorite "Prof", a real sort of mentor to our young heartthrob. Meanwhile, Mike's girl Betty seems to like to flirt around, mainly with a hotshot named Duke who has a snazzy new car. As Betty chirps "I'm not my Grandmother - I like to have FUN - I'm modern!". Well - Mike and Betty really *are* in love, so he gives her his fraternity pin and proposes quitting college so they can be married. But when Betty says they should wait until they graduate before they marry (two whole years!), a "frustrated" Mike turns to flirtatious Dora, waitress at the local diner/college hangout, who he ends up getting drunk and spending the night with. Problems ensue for Mike as Dora's angry father walks in on them, then pushes marriage or prison onto poor, poor Mike (seems our little waitress was underage).

This film, at first glance, seems like it is going to be a light piece of college romantic fluff, with all the college kids drooling over each other and the guys trying to convince the girls to "drop some of their morals". Instead it takes a turn toward the quite serious, and with an emotional wallop, really comes off to be quite an excellent film. There is a lot of discussion in this film about "what's right, what's wrong" and other morality issues, and most of the performances are pretty top-notch here, I thought Arline Judge especially good as waitress Dora.

Dorothy Wilson's debut and she is a natural!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 22 March 2010]

Quietly beautiful Dorothy Wilson first started work as a "secretary to the stars". She was taking dictation from Gregory La Cava, who was preparing to cast "The Age of Consent", when, giving her a second look, he organised a screen test. Surprisingly, she won the lead role and embarked on her short though interesting career.

This was one of a series of films that purported to give the real "low down" about youth of the day (ie "Confessions of a Co-ed" (1931), "Are These Our Children" (1931)). Set on the campus of State College, it tells of the lives and loves of Nigel, Betty and Duke, plus one father figure professor of Biology (John Halliday). Nigel (John Cromwell) is a conflict of emotions - a dedicated student who feels that the youth of today has gone to the dogs. His moodiness is driving Betty (beautiful Dorothy Wilson) into the arms of campus romeo "The Duke" (Eric Linden) - so he decides to quit school and marry Betty. Before he can put his plan into action, he is caught in the clutches of Dora (Arline Judge) a mercenary waitress. He walks her home. she plies him with liquor - he wakes up to find he is charged with corrupting a minor and faces marriage to girl he doesn't love or jail!!!

After an emotional scene with Betty - she decides to "go to the Devil" herself - with Duke, if he'll have her. He just takes her for a long ride and proclaims "you couldn't be bad if you tried". The ending is pretty dramatic - Nigel and Dora are waiting for a preacher, when word comes of a dreadful car accident - Duke is dying and Nigel rushes to Betty's side. When Dora sees the love and devotion Nigel shows to Betty - she tells her father that for once she wants to do the right thing and calls the wedding off. There is also a subplot involving Professor Mathews and Barbara (Aileen Pringle), a teacher and confidante of Betty's , who had faced the same dilemma when they were young, decided not to marry and lived to regret it.

John Halliday made every part he played interesting viewing. The rest of the top billed cast were young up and coming stars on the threshold of fame. Arline Judge was often cast as floozies and left films (late 30s) to concentrate on matrimony and divorce. Artistic Richard Cromwell had found fame in the remake of "Tolable David" (1930) but it was with "The Age of Consent" that he found his niche, as the good looking (almost ageless) young hero. Eric Linden was definitely the most talented of the bunch and he was excellent in a variety of roles ie the hysterical young father in "Life Begins" (1932), a boy who gets into bad company and goes to jail in "Are These Our Children" (1931) and the weak mother dominated younger son in "The Silver Cord" (1933).

Recommended.

Dirty

[dbm-8 · 10/10 · 11 July 2001]

Even for pre-Hayes code cinema, this one is particularly smutty. Not to say there's nudity or whatever, but the sexuality positively drips off the screen, and very little is said which doesn't have to do with intercourse of one sort or another. They probably had fun making this one. Highly recommended if you can find it. Thanks to the American Film Institute for their preserving this film.

Surprisingly Intelligent and Thought Provoking Pre-Code Picture

[LeonLouisRicci · 9/10 · 3 October 2014]

'What do I care about my Daughter's happiness…I'm only concerned about what's right and what's wrong."

This Movie is Another Side of the Pre-Code Expression that is Rarely Mentioned or Discussed because it isn't Lurid, Steamy, or Filled with Lingerie Shots. It is the Freedom (without restrictions from the thought policing of Hays, Breen and the League of Decency) for Films to be Informative, Thought Provoking, Educational, Stimulating, and Socially Redeeming.

It is a Snappy Movie Filled with Great Verbal Flourishes about "Free Love" (the Hippies didn't invent the term), Right and Wrong, Moral or Immoral, and Simply a Coming of Age Paradox of Hormones and Society's Restrictions and Legislation of Private and Personal Behavior. It Tries to Answer, or at Least Discuss, if Anyone has any Say on What Goes on in a Person's Bedroom.

It is Not the Movie that You Think it is Going In. It is a Thoughtful Exploration about a Controversial Subject and is Intelligent and Engaging. Well Acted by Mostly Young Unknowns but Without Much Style, the Film Figures its Straightforward Narrative and Filming Techniques were Better Suited for the Academic Like "Lectures" about a Universal and Timeless Truth.

Certainly Worth a Watch for Film Historians as Well as Culture War Combatants that will Discover Something to Think About. The Ending May be a bit Hokey and Dated but the Film's Basic Subject Matter is Definitely Not.

A fine cast and snappy script

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 16 June 2020]

"What are ideals? They're just notions we get someplace about what's right and wrong. Soon they become a part of you, so that after a while even though believe something that's wrong is right, you can't do it. That doesn't prove that it's wrong."

I really enjoyed this pre-Code film, with its fine cast, snappy script, and examination of the shifting morals in the younger generation, circa 1932. Women's sexuality and "free love" are topics that were taboo after the Production Code was enforced, and here we get a little window into those things in the context of a college campus. The stars don't include any big names - Dorothy Wilson, Arline Judge, Richard Cromwell, and Eric Linden - but they have enormous screen presence, and each of them is earnest and natural in their performance. What I love most about it is its acknowledgment of physical desire and it recognizing that at least some of our societal conventions are arbitrary.

The relationship Cromwell's character has with a professor (John Halliday) is a nice touch, and points out that the younger generation is forever struggling with their direction in life and pushing boundaries ("Girls are wilder than they were then") and the older generation was young once too ("Only we used to 'spark' instead of 'neck'"). Despite changes in the world over time, there is a recurrence of the dynamic between older and younger generation, and between men and women, and seeing the film nearly 90 years later emphasizes that.

Wilson is wonderful in this, and it's great to watch her character navigate between asserting herself with the guys who hit on her and giving in to her passion. When a smooth-talking rich guy (Linden) dances with her and says "You know, you'd be much nicer if you'd loosen your morals," she replies, "I'd be much more comfortable if you'd loosen your grip." On the other hand, she has the nerve to follow Cromwell's character into the men's bathroom to get an apology and a kiss, which is open-mouthed and far steamier than we usually see in these old films. She's also explained to him why it's perfectly fine for her to take a drive with the other man: "Just because two people like each other that's no reason for them to sit around and dry up. I'm not my grandmother. I like to have fun. I'm modern."

Judge more than keeps up her as a waitress who is attracted to the same guy. She gently flirts with him, calls him Precious, and says to him so simply "You'd make a swell missionary. You arouse my savage instincts." As she's not a student there are thus elements of class in the story, and while her father threatens the young man with jail or marriage for "seduction of a minor" (it's not clear how old she is, but I assumed 18-21), the film as a whole is remarkably non-judgmental for them having spent a drunken night together with the implication that they've had sex. The professor speaks up against convention that goes against "natural impulses," the DA admits there are laws he's not in sympathy with, and the young woman ultimately isn't punished in some harshly unnatural way. We know that while heartbroken, she will be fine, and if anything, her father has learned something from the experience.

Even Linden's character, a rather annoying playboy constantly ogling women, honking his expensive car's horn to get their attention, and whose motto is "life, liberty, and the pursuit of women" gets a nice moment. It's in a melodramatic yet touching deathbed scene, where after saying something to the effect that his short life was full of joy, he hilariously says in his last words: "Well, go buy a light suit, and get yourself some sex appeal." Life is short and the universe is sometimes unfair, the film seems to say, follow your instincts and get pleasure out of it while you can.

Some other fun quotes: "Let's get away from this campus. Let's do things. Let's go places. Let's drink. Let's do everything that's bad. ... I tried being good and everything turned out wrong. Maybe if I tried being bad for a while things would be different."

And this one in the diner: Man: "The trouble with you is you're old-fashioned." Woman: "Maybe so, but what was good enough for my grandmother is good enough for me." Man (as she's leaving): "Well, I don't want to be honorable with you unless it's absolutely necessary."

Watch for some of the dialogue

[RevvedReview · 8/10 · 2 September 2020]

All the dialogue in the diner scenes is amazing, much better than dialogue we see in most teen movies today.

The rest of the film is okay, very philosophical but because if that also slow at times. Recommend for the historical artifact and a pretty entertaining movie.

Different types of education

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 7 August 2023]

I wonder what it was like for young 20-somethings watching the film during its first release in the summer of 1933. How did it resonate with contemporary viewers?

After the film ended I imagined what sort of life Dora (Arline Judge) would have after letting Michael (Richard Cromwell) go back to Betty (Dorothy Wilson). During stretches of the film, Betty wasn't very likable, and one can't help but suspect she'd eventually cheat on Michael after they were married. She has supposedly learned to value her relationship with Michael, but I think she's the kind that likes to be validated by all men. Dora just wanted to be validated by Michael.

We don't even get a scene with Michael and Dora at the end. Michael is too busy watching Duke (Eric Linden) die and too busy tending to Betty. Dora's only consolation is her father (Reginald Barlow), which frankly, doesn't seem like much!

A thought I had reflecting on the film is that Dora's the only character whose parent is shown. We don't know anything about Betty's family or Duke's family (except that Duke's family is rich enough to buy him a fancy car). And all that is said about Michael's background is he had a grandfather or great-grandfather who had drafted some law, and was probably an attorney.

I suppose John Halliday's character is meant to function as a surrogate father for Duke and Michael; and Aileen Pringle's character is a surrogate mother for Betty. But it was a bit strange that when Duke lay dying in a hospital bed, none of his actual family was there. Where were his parents when he died?

Of course the emphasis of the film is mostly on youth and their struggle with right versus wrong. But we don't get a complete picture of these people. We're not even told what type of job Michael's going to take in California. Also, the film seems to champion the notion that people don't need a college education, which is counter to what a lot of people think today.