Summary
Nancy Worthing’s return to her family’s stately manor, cloaked in the innocence of a young woman seeking societal entry, unravels into a tempest of privilege, guilt, and redemption. The film’s narrative pivots on a single act of defiance: the pawn of her mother’s jewels to fund a wardrobe befitting debutante life, a decision that spirals into a tragicomedy of errors. Nancy’s clandestine alliance with the chauffeur Phil Ballou—whose grounded demeanor contrasts with her restless ambition—culminates in a cabaret nightmarish enough to eclipse the Roaring Twenties’ excesses. A shooting at the venue, shrouded in ambiguity and poor lighting, becomes the catalyst for Phil’s wrongful imprisonment, a farcically tragic injustice that Nancy must dismantle with her own admission of culpability. The film’s denouement, a fragile romance born from shared guilt and societal neglect, feels both trite and tender, a testament to the era’s conflicted view of youth as both savior and scourge.
Synopsis
Nancy Worthing, who comes home from boarding school to find that her parents have no time for her, pawns some of her mother's jewels to buy the clothes necessary for entering society. She persuades her father's chauffeur, Phil Ballou, to take her to a notorious cabaret, where a shooting occurs. In the confusion, Phil is arrested as the assailant, and when Nancy's parents learn of the missing jewels, they bring further charges against him. At the trial, Phil reveals that he is the son of wealthy parents who simply wished to earn his own living, and Nancy clears his name by confessing all. Phil and Nancy, united by their ordeals, begin a romance.
Director
Cast
