Why Be Good?

1929
7.2| 1h24m| en
Details

A flapper unwittingly falls for the boss' son.

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Reviews

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Pluskylang Great Film overall
Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?
Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.
westernone Here's a great representation of Colleen Moore and her work. A good good girl that dares to pretend to be a bad good girl who gets to the very edge of the precipice, but the good girl in her won't let her take the dive. A lesson is learned, the good goodness pays off in the end, and the equally virtuous boy prize is copped fair and square. This happens too many times to not be intentional. The same story is told and told yet again. The anxiety of whether she might slip kept her fans in suspense through the late silent era. She's adorable, and the films are fun, which is what a movie should offer, of course, but it seems to me Miss Moore, her great popularity of the time not withstanding, left no great films. In this typical effort, nothing new or especially memorable happens, it's just THE Colleen Moore movie once again.This restoration has some problems, It seems to have titles retranslated from the Italian source material, with strange attempts at flaming youth patois like calling somebody a "Big Team" or a "Greasy Brat". The repeated reference to booze as "Wine", would indicate what the Italians had them drinking, and Colleen is introduced as an American girl, a needless point, except that it's another holdover from the original.
Art Vandelay With stellar jazz-age tunes this movie starts on fire and never fades.It's funny. It's sexy. It challenges the boundaries of the day. I kept thinking: I was born several decades too late. Makes me sad Colleen Moore didn't make many movies after this, before retiring in the mid-30s. Also fun to see ''Commissioner Gordon'' in the silent era. Supporting cast is well above average. And maybe most surprising of all it's all so natural. None of that ham- boned silent-era acting. It's almost as if the actors were delivering their lines in a talkie. Thank heavens for TCM, or we'd never see this great movie.I could watch this movie over and over again.
MartinHafer recently restored--combined missing disk with footage--Vitaphone ProjectThis film is a great example of a supposedly lost film that was found due to the so-called 'Vitaphone Project'. Because early Vitaphone sound films consisted of both the film footage AND an accompanying record for sound, many movies seemed to be only available as sound discs or film footage. However, with the internet age, the Vitaphone Project has managed to track down BOTH copies of many films and film shorts--the record and film have finally been reunited! So, although "Why Be Good?" has been considered lost for years, here it is---for the first time in many, many decades.Like many of these early sound films, it really is NOT a talking picture but a silent with a soundtrack. A few songs in the film also are sung live by the actors. Otherwise, it's a traditional silent film. As for the soundtrack, it's actually at times too invasive and generally too loud! I actually wish, at times, there was no soundtrack!As for the film, it's a romantic comedy about flappers--in particular, Pert Kelly (Colleen Moore). Pert LOVES to party and goes out all the time with her friends in order to dance. One night, she meets a nice guy, Winthrop Peabody Jr. (Neil Hamilton) and they fall in love. Later, she learns that he's her boss at the department store! The problem is that Winthrop Sr. is worried that Pert might be a bit of a slut. After all, she loves to party, loves to dance and is clearly a flapper. So what's next? See the film.This is a pretty good film and is one of the last silent-style films from Warner Brothers. The story is good and talks about the double- standard for ladies--the need to be fun, adventurous, rather slutty and yet chaste! My only real complaint is the ending--which seems to come rather abruptly.
wes-connors On the 50th floor of a modern skyscraper in New York City, handsome young millionaire Neil Hamilton (as Winthrop Peabody Jr.) has a wild party to celebrate a new job managing his father's department store. In a poorer section of town, perky flapper Colleen Moore (as Pert Kelly) dances at fast-motion to "Sweet Georgia Brown" in a Charleston contest. A clear winner, Ms. Moore is also one of the thousand "cuties" employed as a clerk at Peabody's department store. Later, she hooks up with Mr. Hamilton at a hot roadhouse called "The Boiler". Moore angers her parents by arriving home late, but she really lives a virtuous life. However, Moore is late for work and ordered to see the new store manager...Moore's last silent is very nicely produced, for its star, by John McCormick. Director William A. Seiter and his crew present Moore in a flattering light, and give us a tasteful peak at her underwear in a couple of scenes. Trying to make time with Moore before she meets Hamilton, amorously greasy Louis Natheaux (as Jimmy Alexander) is a stand-out. Carey Wilson's story was a standard for the time. A pretty clerk getting attention from an (ideally, department store) millionaire was a common fantasy. The plot was well-worn, and doesn't fit the "flapper" girl. Mary Pickford and Clara Bow had released finer films on the topic. Moore's best rags-to-riches story is, appropriately, "Ella Cinders" (1926)...This was Moore's final "silent" film. She transitioned to the "talkies" as well-spoken, but without distinction. Moore was likely hurt by being so closely associated with a bygone era. She was #1 in the industry's "Quigley Poll" of box-office stars for 1926. "Why Be Good" finds its star acting almost purely with the exaggerated silent mannerisms associated with silents. In the past, Moore demonstrated some of the subtly and style which would prove useful in all-talking pictures; but, here, she makes her preference known. The recently re-discovered print of "Why Be Good?" is spectacular, and it survives with its beautifully rendered "Synchronized Musical Score and Sound Effects" track. Let's see more...****** Why Be Good? (1929-02-28) William A. Seiter ~ Colleen Moore, Neil Hamilton, Louis Natheaux, Bodil Rosing