Why Be Good?
| Why Be Good? | |
|---|---|
 Ad for the film | |
| Directed by | William A. Seiter |
| Produced by | John McCormick |
| Written by | Paul Perez |
| Screenplay by | Carey Wilson |
| Story by | Carey Wilson |
| Starring |
Colleen Moore Neil Hamilton Bodil Rosing |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language |
Silent English intertitles |
Why Be Good? is a 1929 American silent comedy film from First National Pictures starring Colleen Moore and Neil Hamilton. While the film has no audible dialogue, it is accompanied by a Vitaphone soundtrack with music and sound effects, as well as some synchronized singing.[1]
Plot
Pert Kelly (Moore), a good girl with a wild reputation, meets Winthrop Peabody, Jr. That night they set a date for the next evening, but the next morning when Pert shows up for work, she discovers that Winthrop Peabody, Jr. is the personnel manager, son of Winthrop Peabody, Sr., who owns the store where Pert works. Pert is fired but Jr. is still smitten.
Jr. then invites her to a fancy party at his parents' home. The father is displeased, but Junior informs him that he's devised a test of her virtue. When he tries to push her past her personal limits, she protests, and in the process passes the test. They are married that night.[2]
Cast
- Colleen Moore as Pert Kelly
- Neil Hamilton as Winthrop Peabody Jr.
- Bodil Rosing as Ma Kelly
- John St. Polis as Pa Kelly
- Edward Martindel as Winthrop Peabody Sr.
- Louis Natheaux as Jimmy Alexander
- Eddie Clayton as Tim
- Lincoln Stedman as Jerry
- Collette Merton as Julie
- Dixie Carter as Susie
Preservation status
Why Be Good?[3] had been considered a lost film for many decades, with only the film's Vitaphone soundtrack still in existence. In the late 1990s, a 35mm print of the film was discovered to survive in an Italian archive.[1] Restoration work of the film started in 2012 and was completed in 2014, funded by Warner Bros. and The Vitaphone Project.
The U.S. premiere of the restoration was hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Bing Theater on September 6, 2014.[4] This same restoration was released on DVD-R by the Warner Archive Collection on October 28, 2014[5] and subsequently screened at New York's Film Forum on November 9, 2014, as well as being shown on Turner Classic Movies.
References
Notes
- 1 2 Why Be Good? at silentera.com
- ↑ Why Be Good? at IMDB
- ↑ 1957 MOVIES FROM AAP Warner Bros Features & Cartoons SALES BOOK DIRECTED AT TV
- ↑ ""Why Be Good?" Celebrates The Jazz Age". LADailyMirror.com. Retrieved 2014-12-07.
- ↑ "Why Be Good?". Shop.WarnerArchive.com. Retrieved 2014-12-07.
Bibliography
- Codori, Jeff (2012), Colleen Moore; A Biography of the Silent Film Star, McFarland Publishing,(Print ISBN 978-0-7864-4969-9, EBook ISBN 978-0-7864-8899-5).
External links
- Why Be Good? at the Internet Movie Database
- Why Be Good? at SilentEra
- Why Be Good soundtrack at the Internet Archive