Sadly Over-hyped

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

It is a performances centric movie

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

'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.

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.

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.

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.