User Reviews

In "Orange Springs" (a small town in Florida), "Girls who hobnobbed at the soda fountain were talked about." Perhaps this is why beautiful young Olive Thomas (as Genevieve "Ginger" King) sips soda with boastful boyfriend Theodore Westman Jr. (as William "Bill" E. Forbes) on her estate. They must part company as Ms. Thomas is sent to a boarding school in a snowy town near New York. Coincidently, Mr. Westman has enrolled in a military academy next to the girls' boarding school. If you've seen movies like this, you already know all-girl schools and orphanages are often built next to all-male institutions.

Thomas makes friends easily, including moth-like Katherine Johnson (as Hortense) and social butterfly Norma Shearer (as an extra with a lot of screen time). The young women like to watch men. Their favorite is mysterious and romantic Wm. P. Carlton Jr. (as Richard Channing), an older guy who rides by on a horse regularly. Thomas and her friends fantasize the horseman is a professional gambler, actor or wife-beater. Thomas thinks she's falling in love with Mr. Carlton. She puts on fun clothes to become a "flapper" and is mistaken for a bad woman. The 1920s would be known for "flappers" like Colleen Moore and Clara Bow.

"The Flapper" was written by Frances Marion, who was then writing scenarios for Mary Pickford. This film may have, in some level of development, been considered a Pickford vehicle; and, it's easy to imagine her in the lead. For whatever reasons, Thomas got the assignment. It was kept in the family, as Olive Thomas was then Mrs. Pickford (married to Jack Pickford, Mary's brother). The film is fairly routine for the time, but has been elevated due to appearing with the title "The Flapper". Thomas could be considered more a proto-type than a real flapper. Later, Cyndi Lauper (see "Girls Just Want to Have Fun") was more of a flapper.

One of the best things about watching Alan Crosland adeptly direct this film is that the picture is so well preserved. Apparently the beginning and ending title/credits are damaged or missing, but the bulk of the film looks very pleasing. It's also worth noting that Thomas, who is charming throughout, died in September 1920, the same week as Robert Harron; the young stars' shocking and mysterious deaths shook what were arguably the two biggest film families in Hollywood at the time (actress Mary Pickford and director D.W. Griffith). Young co-stars Theodore Westman Jr. and Bobby Connelly also died tragically young.

****** The Flapper (5/10/20) Alan Crosland ~ Olive Thomas, Theodore Westman Jr., William P. Carleton, Norma Shearer

I viewed the Eastman House print of this film, which unfortunately is missing the original opening credits and inter-titles from the first reel. From the second reel onwards, there are some clever visual gimmicks in the titles -- at one point, part of a caption is replaced by footage of a boy riding a hobby-horse while the rest of the caption remains in place; at another point, a title flips over on its vertical axis when the villains enter the room, turn round, and go out again -- so I wonder what pleasures I might have missed in those first-reel inter-titles.

The title of 'The Flapper' is ironic, as this movie's heroine is an innocent ingenue who merely pretends to be a jazz-baby flapper. The beautiful Olive Thomas (age 25) plays 16-year-old Genevieve King, and in nearly every sequence she is believable as a teenager. Genevieve (nicknamed 'Ginger' for her high spirits) is sent off to the girls' seminary run by strict disciplinarian Mrs Paddles (hmm...), where the students wear Peter Thompson sailor uniforms. Two of Ginger's schoolmates are played by Norma Shearer and her sister Athole, but they have no dialogue or specific business.

Distinguished older man Richard Channing rides past the seminary every day, prompting romantic fantasies among the schoolgirls. When 16-year-old Ginger connives a sleigh ride with Channing, she tells him she's 'almost twenty'. To Channing's credit, he dumps her toot-sweet when he learns the truth.

This is one of those ladies' seminaries that has a safe full of jewellery. A student named Hortense (who definitely looks to be in her mid-20s) heists the swag and runs off with her henchman Thomas Morran, played by Arthur Housman. This actor had a long career playing funny drunks, so I was pleased to see him in a dramatic role that let him stay sober. Director Alan Crosland stages one scene cleverly, with Housman on-camera aiming a revolver at Olive Thomas, who is seen only as a reflection in the mirror. Our little Ginger has got herself involved in the jewel heist. She behaves very implausibly.

Among this film's pleasures are some beautiful wintry exteriors (filmed near Ithaca, NY) and some shots of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. There are a few continuity errors. Among others: Olive Thomas boards an omnibus as it travels south in Fifth Avenue's west carriageway below 42nd Street. A moment later, as she steps off the 'bus, it's now travelling north in Fifth Avenue's east carriageway above 42nd Street.

African-Americans are seen quite prominently in this film, but only as musicians and waiters with no dialogue. I was very impressed by a dramatic device at nearly the very end of this movie, when events in the lives of Ginger King and another character are presented as incidents in a (non-fiction) newsreel. This same device was later used in 'Citizen Kane', but I doubt that Orson Welles ever saw 'The Flapper': he was only five years old when this movie was released.

Despite some implausible motivations, 'The Flapper' is mostly a realistic comedy, so I was annoyed by an 'impossible' gag in which a stuffed elk's head winks its eye at Olive Thomas. Even more distressing were two sequences with Ginger King in drama-queen mode: in the first, she attempts suicide; in the second, she vows to become 'a dope fiend'. The beautiful and talented actress Olive Thomas died shortly after this film was released, from what appears to have been an intentional drugs overdose. (It was ruled an accident ... but the facts indicate that it was a suicide, hushed up to avoid scandal.) Because these sequences foreshadow Olive Thomas's tragic death, they manage to cast a sombre tone over the entire film. I'll rate 'The Flapper' 6 out of 10.

One of several meanings of the term 'flapper' is a teenage girl. Less flattering definitions include young prostitutes and female dancers. Most likely, a combination of the varying interpretations of 'flapper' resulted in the look and lifestyle of a segment of the female population during the 1920's which symbolized the departure from the traditional matronly ethos of generations past.

The development of 'flappers' emerged after the trauma of World War One. Their iconic image received a huge boast in Selznick Pictures' May 1920 "The Flapper." Young actress Olive Thomas plays cinema's first epitome of the Jazz Age's independent women, beginning with her scene midway in the movie. As a schoolgirl traveling on break, she's invited by an another schoolmate and her boyfried to a nightclub. She tries on the 'flapper' outfit contained in the luggage the couple demands she transport back to her father's home in Florida, where they secretly plan to pick up the stolen goods. Seeing an older man she admired back in school at the club, Thomas, wanting to impress him, exhibits all the mannerisms of future flappers by smoking a cigarette in public and acting cool.

The Frances Marion script was capitalizing on an emerging trend just in its early stages. But seeing the rebellious and confident Thomas as a young woman adopting a flapper image solidified the movement going forward.

"The Flapper" was Thomas' last viewable surviving movie she made (She acted in a later lost film, 'Darling Mine,' and a posthumously-released film, 'Everybody's Sweetheart," which is currently unavailable for public viewing.). At 25, Thomas and her husband Jack Pickford, Mary's brother, took what they called their second honeymoon in France. Their marriage, a tempestuous one at best, was filled with fights and tender make-ups ever since they had been married in October 1916. During their stay in Paris, the two returned to the hotel room on the night of September 5, 1920, after an evening of heavy drinking. According to Pickford, who was prescribed a topical medication for syphilis sores, Thomas mistook the French label on the container for water or as a sleeping liquid, despite its gooey substance, and swallowed some. The poisonous mercury bichloride solution was fatal, killing her five days later in a Paris hospital.

The media had a field day on the cause of her death. Sensational headlines screamed accusations from suicide to her being murdered by Pickford in order to claim her life insurance. The French police investigated all the circumstances behind the incident and, with the autopsy report, confirmed her death was accidental. "Olive and I were the greatest pals on Earth," lamented Pickford. "Her death is a ghastly mistake."

On the way back to the States with her body, Pickford had been rumored to have attempted suicide, so distraught was he. In an emotionally crowded funeral service in New York City, women fainted and several onlookers were crushed rushing to view her casket. Thomas is buried in a crypt at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.

Dame Ginger is a youngster who lives in a boring provincial town, Orange Springs; due to her behavior and yearnings for a thrilling life, her father decides to send her to a boarding school, the kind of place where the upper class girls of the 20's learn to do important things like skiing or flirting, the last habit always with the supervision of a chaperon. In such an idle but strict place, and thanks to some adventures ( she falls in love with a mysterious adult man and will be involved in a robbery ) Ginger will have finally the chance to make her most inward dream come true, to be a genuine flapper.

Herr Alan Crosland 's direction of this film is remarkable ( even though Crossland later will betray the rules of the silent cinema, by directing the first talkie in film history ) because in this early 20's film the technique, continuity and rhythm are developed in an especially suitable way for a romantic comedy. The star is Dame Olive Thomas, an actress who died early and who shows in this film her versatility by playing a character with different shades, an innocent girl transformed into a flapper. In this excellent film restoration there are is also a collection of witty, funny and politically incorrect intertitles that were enjoyed by this stiff German aristocrat thanks to their irony and longhaired impudence.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count has an appointment with a vamp, a more dangerous woman than a flapper.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

'The Flapper' is a charming girl power movie. It is obvious that it was aimed at teenage girls and young women who dreamed about more adventurous life like its protagonist. Chick-flick of the 1920s. Olive Thomas stars as sixteen-year-old Genevieve who is sent into a boarding school by his strict senator father. Life in school is dull and she longs for adventures. Her life gets even more exciting for her than she first could have hoped for. Olive Thomas is adorable and her performance as a naive girl is a perfect balance between seriousness and comedy.

The writing is good, especially the first hour of the movie. The conclusion is a little bit disappointing, it felt rushed. It is kinda feel-good fantasy, although there are quite dark undertones - a young girl charms an older good looking man. And then there is the heist. In this case, also you have to notice that the thief, Tom 'The Eel' Morran (sinister portrayal by Arthur Housman) is paired with a schoolgirl, Genevieve's schoolmate, Hortense (Katherine Johnston). But mostly, it is an amusing movie.

It was the first major movie that depicted the flapper lifestyle. Besides being entertaining, this movie also carries a historical value.

Things are quite perfect in dry Orange Springs (FL?), too perfect for Genevieve King who is bored stiff and in search of romance when she sneaks off with a cadet to a soda fountain. Such rebellion gets her sent off to Miss Paddles ladies boarding school where she and the girls moon and speculate over dashing adult Channing Carleton and his exciting life (wealthy, gambler, wife beater?). Hortense, a faux student con artist scams the school out of all its jewelry and bolts with Tommy Morann aka The Eel. Naively King now known as Ginger follows them to the big city and finds herself deeper than she wants to be but not before capitalizing on some of the tricks of the trade as a ruse to the squares back home.

The Flapper's title immediately sends the wrong message that may have well been intentional to get people in the theatre given the public's curiosity over the relatively new social phenomena similar to zoot suitors, mondoes and hippies in their given era. Instead we are given a light comedy cautionary tale that allows our heroine to make believe vamp it but also have a gun pointed at her.

The beautiful and tragic Olive Thomas as Ginger is quite convincing as a 16 year old and pretty hot to trot when donning flapper regalia to fool the folks back home. Looking at times that she may have gone over to the dark side with the slippery Eel and Hortense she never jades and her innocence remains even as it looks she'll have to spend a night in the slammer. She's Daisy Buchanan in real time.

Alan Crosland's direction offers up a few improbable and slow moments but some of his compositions are impressive, particularly in the transition from Orange Springs to a sledding scene at the girls school as well as a trolley car scene on the streets of Manhattan. He also adds some comic incidentals but for the most part wisely allows his camera to remain on Thomas most of the way and she does not disappoint. What does is the title which more aptly might have been called The Faker since none of the bacchanalian, jazz age dissipation that might be associated with this title ever really materializes.

Olive Thomas was a terrific actress. Too bad she died so young (see her IMDb biography for more on this). This is one of her last films as she died later in 1920--at only age 25. And, it's the most accessible as it can be downloaded for free from the link on IMDb or you can get it from Netflix (which also includes a documentary about her).

The film is a parody of the 'flapper' attitude of the post-WWI years. Many women were becoming more liberated--socially and even sexually. In the film, Olive plays a 16 year-old who desperately wants to become one of these worldly flappers. She throws herself at an older man and pretends to be a lot older and MUCH more experienced girl to impress him--all the while ignoring a nice young man who is interested in her. Towards the end, she accidentally drifts into a robbery--and is implicated although she is innocent. But, as the worldly and wicked woman she's been pretending to be, the authorities are more than willing to believe she is involved.

This film would make a terrific double-feature along with Clara Bow's "It". Both show a similar sort of character but from different perspectives. Plus, both are quite enjoyable and well written. Worth seeing and a must-see if you are a fan of silents (like me).

By the way, the bad guy in the film is played by Arthur Housman. Housman was a VERY prolific guy in silents and talking pictures and mostly played silly and affable drunks. Here he plays a very, very different sort of man.

I believe that all 3 of the comments for The Flapper were written by men, who didn't rate it very high. This movie was obviously made to appeal to the women, or more appropriately girls, of the day. I'm a girl and I rate it very high. The Flapper is an adorable movie about a teenage schoolgirl, Ginger King (Olive Thomas), who dreams of lovers and jazz cabarets, wanting to escape her mundane life at boarding school and ride off into the sunset with the handsome older man all the schoolgirls are in love with, Richard Channing (William P. Carleton). She fools Channing into thinking she's 20, and he takes her to a country club, but her "romantic night" is ruined when the bad girl (though she looks to be 40!) at school, Hortense, gets in her way. Throughout the rest of the film, Ginger pursues her dreams and visits 1920's nightclubs, wears glamorous clothes, but finds that being a flapper is not easy when she gets involved in a mysterious jewel heist and more! The Flapper is all fluff, but so cute! Olive Thomas shows a definite comedic flair in this movie, and it's so sad that she didn't get to go on with her career. The Flapper is a treasure, not just because of it's one of Olive Thomas' few surviving movies, but because it's a good, solid silent comedy that any silent film fan should see (whether you like chick flicks or not).

The radiantly beautiful Olive Thomas is just about believable as sixteen- year-old Genevieve King, although she was actually 24 or 25 at the time. It seems certain that the common, early movie practice of chest-strapping was used here. In the movie, in spite of the title, Olive plays what was known as a 'Baby Vamp'.

Genevieve is a bored upper-crust girl, who lives in a classic plantation mansion, well provided with colored servants. Unfortunately, the flighty, potentially vampish, teenager, was prone to disappearing with a male friend, and, after being double-crossed by a governess, father packs her off to a girl's boarding school. Here she falls in with some unsavory schoolgirls, and is easily led into being a naughty girl….one who is keen to attach herself to a particular adult man whom she informs that she is 'about twenty' and not sixteen as she's meant to be in the film.

After many adventures and a ridiculous suicide attempt, Genevieve decides to transform herself into a flapper, although, in her new garb, she is not girly enough to be a flapper of the 1920s. It seems 1920 was a transitional year during which the line between vamp, flapper and even diva was blurred. Flapper, however, was the 'in' term.

Snow scenes always work well in black and white film, and the scene with the horse drawn sleigh and girls sledging is no exception. The scene where the girls turn over their sledges at speed on a downhill run is not as comical as it seems. These extras were in fact badly injured in the shoot, and they filled the local hospital with their broken bodies.

Ginger-haired, violet-eyed Olive Thomas (nee Duffy) was of Irish descent, and became the wife of Jack Pickford (brother of Mary). She had been in the Zeigfield Folies before entering the movies, but it was while on a European tour with Jack that she somehow ingested a solution of bichloride of mercury. It may have been accidental or, perhaps, suicide. She died five days later, leaving Jack devastated, although sister Mary seemed unconcerned for the 'World's Sweetheart' (Mary was only 'America's sweetheart'). One person who was concerned was Mabel Normand, a good friend of Jack. It seems Mabel never met Olive, but had a signed photo of the Baby Vamp in her dressing room and an album of her photos at home. After Olive died, Mabel spent many hours sitting with her grieving mother, and always remained very angry about the circumstances of Ollie's death. Jack Pickford built a mausoleum in New York and had Ollie interred within it. This had the Pickford name inscribed over its doorway, but no other Pickford was ever buried there. We can assume that the sweet Mary, who didn't bother to attend the funeral, saw to that.

Olive seems very modern-looking in her films, and very unlike, say, Mabel Normand who was an entrenched Edwardian. Ollie could easily be cast in a picture today, whereas Mabel is clearly the face of the 1890s (producers have never found any modern actress Mablescent enough to portray her accurately). The World's Sweetheart would undoubtedly have gone on to play more mature, womanly roles had she lived, while Miss Normand and Miss Pickford were hamstrung by their child-like appearance (off-screen as well as on-screen).

this is the best film Olive Thomas ever did IMHO. Easily!, Im won over now on her persona. It's directed by one of the best directors of the silent era Alan Crosland. This is a wonderfully preserved homage to both Thomas as an actress & Crosland as director. The original & wonderfully drawn Selznick intertitles are intact in this wonderful story by Frances Marion. The film is so well preserved and crystal clear with almost no nitrate deterioration whatsoever. Early scenes are shot in Florida & we se Olive in an expressive traveling shot proceeding up a canal in a motor launch. Olive Thomas is a cross between both Mary Pickford & Marguerite Clark in girlishness. What a pity that Thomas died not long after wrapping this movie. Without giving any plot away, Thomas is sent to a girls school in snow country in the mountains. A boys school is nearby. Shenanigans continue with the beautiful mountain scenery as a back drop. Alan Crosland was as much a pictorilist as Rex Ingram or Ernst Lubitsch. A previous film of Crosland's thats on home video is "The Unbeliever" from 1918 made at the Edison Studios. Both films exhibit his visual style soon to be famous in films like "Don Juan", "The Beloved Rogue" & "The Jazz Singer". Norma Shearer, later a famous MGM star, is visible in this film and is only 17 years old. This movie has nothing to do with Flappers as personified later in the 20s. No bathtub gin or any of that. Frances Marion who wrote this story seems to have chosen a random word for the title of the story.

The first film to feature an actress as a flapper and the first film to portray the flapper lifestyle, "The Flapper" is a modest romantic comedy on the craze that would soon take over a nation and the world. Olive Thomas is a young girl from palmy and breezy Florida whose irreverent, "flapper" attitude sends her into quite the whirl of travel, romance, intrigue and redemption. With her round drooping peepers, porcelain skin and mop of red hair Thomas' looks transcend her time with her fine acting and natural charm enhancing her appeal. The excellent restoration work gives the film a clarity highlighting its age while making it viewable. The marvel of seeing a film over a century old with the clothing, cars, acting and people of the time is a plus. Nice scenes of New York too. Viewing the film has a calm and soothing effect. Lightweight and common "The Flapper" is nonetheless a charming and watchable flick from the dawn of the Jazz Age.

'The flapper' is definitely an instance in which watching a silent film feels like stepping into another world. True, the movie plays with timeless themes - the rigidity of tradition, discipline, and conservative cultural norms, sharply contrasting with the willful independence and much sought-after freedom and autonomy of spotlighted figures - and the trouble that arises from that conflict. Yet the social sensibilities and customs of the era are so unfamiliar, to say nothing of the structural compartmentalization of the film into distinct scenes as divided by intertitles. Instead of being alien and uninviting, however, these differences from all that has followed in the past 100 years only makes the feature all the more intriguing and engaging.

Lighthearted early exposition feels a bit too common and unbothered to make an immediate impression; amusing though it may be to watch the actors and crew practice their craft, I found myself a bit impatient for the story proper to begin. Thankfully, even at that, there's sufficient care rendered in defining the convivial tone of the picture that every aspect seems rather built for it, and attention is kept. That includes imaginatively stylized intertitles, characterized by fancy lettering, eye-catching illustrations, and a bit of cheeky humor in the related dialogue. And the performances of the cast are nothing if not full of considerable charm, doing much to hold our interest and keep us invested. This emphatically goes most of all for star Olive Thomas, managing the lively lead role with admirable poise, physicality, and nuanced range. It's rather a pleasure to watch her, and one can't help but wonder what audiences have missed with her films that were lost, and those that may have been made had she not died so young. Of course, this isn't to count out her co-stars, as all involved turn in fine displays of acting to bring their roles to life and form the tableau.

The narrative transitions seamlessly into the second act, and as it does, concerns about initial pacing evaporate. More daring acts of adventurous rebellion lead to a more robust sense of entertainment, with Thomas skillfully bearing the camera's eye and carrying the picture all the while. Through it all, there's noteworthy focus on exceptional costume design, hair and makeup, and set decoration. If imperfect, Frances Marion's screenplay is broadly filled with terrifically dynamic and absorbing scene writing, building a narrative that was developed well. And director Alan Crosland demonstrates his strong abilities with a keen eye in orchestrating each passing beat, and a dexterous hand to guide his players.

'The flapper' isn't without shortcomings, in part owing to antiquated social values that framed the story from the start. In particular: maybe I'm just too cynical, but I detect a hint of sexism in the moralizing portrayal of protagonist Ginger's naïveté and freewheeling. But honestly, by and large this is really pretty fantastic. If the critiques that most come to mind are a slow start, and indelicacies perceived in viewing a feature of long decades past - indelicacies which frankly remain all too common even today? Well, then I dare say Marion and Crosland did pretty well for themselves.

Ably made and generally enjoyable as the picture is, I don't know that there's much about it so remarkable as to demand viewership. We've seen this story before and since, after all. Still, for anyone who appreciates the silent era, this is a fine example of the sweeping quality of the early years of cinema. Moreover, there's no missing the film's apparent role in flapper history, nor the fact that it's one of the few surviving and widely available titles among Olive Thomas' credits. When all is said, perhaps one needn't go out of their way to see 'The flapper,' but it's certainly worth checking out if you have the opportunity.