Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Hayden Kane
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Taha Avalos
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
kidboots
During 1930-31 Loretta Young churned out 14 films, none of them were that good and her acting bland at best. She once said of these movies - "I was coasting on my youth and I knew it" and the titles tell the tale ie "Loose Ankles", "I Like Your Nerve", "The Truth About Youth" etc. "Loose Ankles" was a film considered so trivial that it didn't even rate a New York review - Loretta may have been the star but the film only came alive when the supporting players were given the spotlight. That included bouncy Inez Courtney who introduces the jazzy song "Loose Ankles" at the film's start and even though the first shot was of Young's rather loose ankles being massaged, the film didn't live up to it's racy start!!The film starts off when beautiful Ann Harper (Young) finds the only way she can capture her inheritance is on the death of her husband but being a carefree flapper she doesn't even have a steady beau!! The real kicker is that if she finds herself caught out in a public scandal the whole estate will be given to a dog and cat home!! Of course because she has no interest in money she immediately sets about to get her picture in the papers!! She advertises for a handsome but unscrupulous man and it is instantly seen by a trio of male escorts!! This is when the fun starts - as Eddie Nugent takes centre stage, with his mad mugging and eye rolling, he is a riot!! Sure, he'd love the job but he decides to offer it to young Gil (Douglas Fairbanks Jnr.) a decent chap who is down on his luck job wise!!Wouldn't you know it, it is love at first sight for Ann and Gil and after a farcical bit containing lost pants and hiding in closets, helped immeasurably by Daphne Pollard's resourceful maid - everyone heads to the Circus Café. Ann has now engaged the services of one of the other escorts, Lin, who is big on unscrupulousness but small on niceness. She is hoping to meet up with Gil because she found the tickets in his pants - the only problem is, they weren't Gil's. After a pretty bizarre circus/cabaret dance routine along comes third billed Louise Fazenda as straight laced Aunt Sarah and most of the rest of the movie consists of that old faithful "drunk routine"!! You know the one, where two maiden aunts of the "lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine" variety proceed to get well and truly plastered and claim that they can do the dance better than the two professionals out on the dance floor!!The film really opens out at the club which has a very similar look to some of the sets from "Gold Diggers of Broadway" but the film betrays it's stagey, early talkie origins when the whole cast gathers to pair off at the finale!!
wes-connors
After receiving a "foot powder" (as director Ted Wilde has the camera caress her beautiful legs), pretty Loretta Young (as Ann Harper Berry) is ready to attend the reading of a wealthy grandmother's will. She inherits a fortune, but Ms. Young must marry a nice young man and avoid scandal in order to collect. Young decides to advertise. She finds good-looking and unscrupulous Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (as Gil Hayden) through an escort service. However, their business arrangement gets complicated by love and scandal...Young's sexy opening is followed by the beautiful actress appearing in slinky attire. Not to be outdone, Mr. Fairbanks is stripped of his clothing by zealous maid Daphne Pollard (as Agnes), in order to assume a "compromising" position. However, it is cute gigolo Eddie Nugent (as Andy Martin) who gets the naughtiest scenes. Introduced in a bathtub, Mr. Nugent later appears without his pants; apparently, for no other reason than to exchange more personal foot spankings with fellow escort Norman Selby (as Terry Todd)...The cast winds up in the wicked "Circus Cafe", with leggy dancers and plenty to drink. Straight-laced aunts Ethel Wales (as Katherine) and Louise Fazenda (as Sarah) don't know the punch is spiked. Also appearing are snorting Otis Harlan (as Rupert Harper), smoking Inez Courtney (as Betty), and studly Raymond Keane (Linton Harper). Young and Fairbanks become mechanical as the supporting players take over the screen. "Loose Ankles" is stolen from them, especially by Nugent and Ms. Wales.******* Loose Ankles (2/2/30) Ted Wilde ~ Loretta Young, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Edward J. Nugent, Ethel Wales
Maliejandra Kay
This film, based on a 1926 stage play, is extremely funny and fun to watch. It is also somewhat hard to find. I was fortunate to see it screened at Cinevent 39.The story concerns a group of society people hearing a will read to them. The deceased's niece (Loretta Young) has most of the luck when an estate is left to her under the condition that she find a husband and no scandal be brought to the family. Everyone else's inheritance depends on this clause, but Ann (Young) doesn't want her share. In fact, she's determined to force everyone out of theirs because she thinks the family is too greedy. Off she goes to put an ad in the paper for a boy to "compromise her." Andy (Edward Nugent) finds it in the paper and thinks he'd be perfect for the role, but instead thinks maybe his room mate Gil (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) would be better suited. In a very funny scene, Gil goes to Ann's home and is taken advantage of by the maid (Daphne Pollard).Somehow, they all end up at a speakeasy where Ann's uptight aunts Katherine (Ethel Wales) and Sarah (Louise Fazenda) steal the show during a drunken spectacle where Andy tries to control his laughter.This film is certainly a pre-code. Aside from outright illegal drunkenness, we see Andy taking a bath and women disrobing men, along with the generally racy storyline. Possibly the reason they got away with so much (besides being made during the pre-code era) is because this film is based on a play.Thankfully, the camera-work does not make the film's roots evident. Of course, there are many shots that look like characters on a stage, but we also have a moving camera and many close-ups to take advantage of the beautiful stars. Young and Fairbanks struggle with their dialogue, but there are enough scenes with the character actors to make up for their scenes.
Ron Oliver
A free spirited young heiress with LOOSE ANKLES shocks her rapacious relatives by embarking on a scandal with a naïve paid escort.Loretta Young & Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. star in this forgotten pre-Code comedy. Heady with too much dialogue, as were so many of the first talkies, it tends to creak badly, leaving the performers to strain a bit for laughs. Very little more is required from the two leads than to look attractive and recite their lines. However, there are some fun performances from the supporting cast which makes the film worthwhile.Louise Fazenda & Ethel Wales are a hoot as two stuffy old prunes who loosen-up when liquored-up at a fancy speakeasy--Fazenda's flat-on-the-floor wrestling match with gigolo Eddie Nugent is worth sitting through the rest of the movie. Spunky little Daphne Pollard (the occasional cinematic bane of Oliver Hardy's life) scores as Miss Young's feisty maid; watching her divest Fairbanks of his trousers so as to cinch the scandal is hilarious. Otis Harlan appears as a blustery Major.Movie mavens will recognize silent comic Billy Bletcher, uncredited as the diminutive relative from Logan.
