Part of Restoration Roundup
Wild girls at a college pay more attention to parties than their classes. But when Stella (Clara Bow) goes too far at a local bar and is rescued by her professor, gossip linking the two escalates — until Stella proves she is decent by shielding an innocent girl and winning the professor’s respect. This new restoration of the pre-code gem — an early talkie — is the earliest surviving film by Dorothy Arzner, a successful Hollywood director when there were few women, and even fewer out lesbians, at the top of the profession.
4K Restoration by Universal Pictures from the 35mm Composite Fine Grain, 35mm Nitrate Composite Print, and 35mm Nitrate Combine Track provided by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restoration services conducted by StudioPost, A NBCUniversal Company.
“Clara’s voice is very Bow — no accent, no affectation; just natural, wild, spontaneous and untamed like the red-head kid herself. You won’t be disappointed; you’ll like her even more because she is all the more — herself.” —Screenland (1929)
“Even at this distance, the movie has a rollicking appeal — and that’s due mostly to Bow, one of Hollywood’s most charismatic performers. THE WILD PARTY was a hit.” —Museum of Modern Art