The Rampant Age is a weirdly fun time capsule of 1930s 'bad' behavior

You should probably watch The Rampant Age if you have a soft spot for those early talkies where everyone sounds like they are shouting at a ghost. If you hate slow pacing and melodramatic pouting, you should probably stay far away from this one. 🥂

It is basically a movie about Sandy. He is this rich playboy who has way too much time on his hands and a very shiny car.

Sandy wants Doris. Doris is the girl next door, and she is supposedly the 'good' one who doesn't like his fast lifestyle.

But then there is Estelle. She is what people back then called a **scheming golddigger**, and she has a plan to get Sandy's money.

The whole thing feels like it was filmed in a theater where the actors forgot to move their feet. It has that stiff, early sound-era vibe that I kind of love, even if it's objectively a bit clunky.

James Murray is the lead here. You might know him from much bigger films, but here he is just a guy trying to look cool in a suit that looks slightly too big for him.

His performance is way more grounded than some of the stuff in The Hungry Heart. He has these eyes that look like he's actually thinking about something, which is rare for these types of movies.

The real fun starts when Doris hears about Sandy's wild parties with Estelle. She decides that being a 'good girl' isn't working anymore.

So, she tries to become a **"modern" woman**. In 1930, apparently that just means wearing a slightly different hat and acting like you’re bored of everything.

Doris trying to be a 'bad girl' is the highlight for me. She looks so uncomfortable, like she’s trying to swallow a lemon while pretending it’s candy. 🍋

The party scenes are great in a weird way. Everyone is waving their arms around and the music is this thin, tinny jazz that sounds like it’s coming from the bottom of a well.

I noticed this one extra in the background of the party scene. He is just standing there, holding a glass, and staring directly into the camera for like three seconds. It’s hilarious.

The movie doesn't have the same bite as The Marriage Lie. It feels a bit safer, like it's trying to give you a lecture while also showing you some skin.

There is this scene in a garden where the lighting is so dark you can barely see who is talking. I think they ran out of lightbulbs that day or something.

Also, the way Sandy’s dad looks at him is just classic. He spends the whole movie looking like he just smelled something bad in the kitchen.

Estelle’s eyebrows deserve their own credit in the cast list. They are plucked into these thin little lines that make her look constantly surprised by her own evil plans.

The Jazz Age Junk

The dialogue is pretty simple. They don't use big words, just a lot of talk about 'honor' and 'modernity' and 'flappers'.

It’s much more watchable than Black Is White, mostly because the pacing doesn't make you want to fall asleep in your popcorn. It moves along at a decent clip once the 'modern girl' stuff kicks in.

I found myself actually rooting for Doris, even though her plan is totally nuts. Who hasn't tried to act way cooler than they are to impress someone?

There’s a strange moment where a character just disappears from a scene. One second they are standing by the piano, the next—poof. Editing was a suggestion back then, I guess.

It reminded me a bit of the atmosphere in The Scarlet Shadow. Just that feeling of people trying to be very dramatic while wearing very fancy clothes.

Didja notice?

• The car Sandy drives looks like a giant metal bathtub on wheels.
• The way they pour drinks is so careful, like it's liquid gold.
• Doris's mother has a very impressive collection of doilies.
• The silence after a joke that doesn't land is deafening.

Is it a masterpiece? No way. It’s a B-movie from a time when they were still figuring out how microphones worked.

But there is something very human about it. It’s messy and the emotions are way too big for the small rooms they are in.

I liked it more than I expected to. It’s not as dry as As Ye Sow, which is a plus in my book.

If you have an hour to kill and want to see some vintage drama, give it a go. Just don't expect it to make much sense. 📽️

The ending is very abrupt. Like, they just decided they had enough film left for one more hug and then called it a day.

It works, though. Sort of.