Wine of Youth
Wine of Youth is a 1924 American silent comedy drama film directed by King Vidor,[1] and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, shortly after the merger which created MGM in April 1924.Vidor did not consider it important enough to mention in his autobiography,[2] although it did advance the careers of three young stars-to-be: Ben Lyon, Eleanor Boardman, and William Haines.[4] The film opens by contrasting the courtship rituals that characterized the mothers and grandmothers of the female "flappers" in the post-World War I period.Having defied conventionality and flirted with her virginity, the protagonist, Mary, discovers a new and genuine desire for her future husband that returns her to the fold: "There's never been so great a love as ours."Ostensibly an effort to present the virtues of a trial marriage - to discover "how a man is in everyday life before you give him your all" - Vidor contended that “there were so many restrictions and inhibitions that it really took the guts out of the idea.”[5] The film is preserved at George Eastman House, Rochester New York.