Conrad in Quest of His Youth (1920) User Reviews

Kathlyn Williams gives a wonderful performance

[scsu1975 · 7/10 · 1 December 2022]

Conrad Warrener has just returned to England from India. When he finds an old photo of himself with his cousins, he decides to contact them and invite them to his old house, where they all used to gather as children. His relatives show up, but lack the enthusiasm that Warrener has, so they end up leaving the next day. Warrener then meets his childhood sweetheart, only to discover she has changed considerably. He then remembers an older woman he once met in Italy, and sets off to see her. That reunion is somewhat bittersweet. On his way home, he encounters a theater group who have had their money stolen by their manager. He becomes involved in their plight, and falls for a woman who is also seeking to relive her past.

This is an interesting film. I was expecting a drama, but it was more like light comedy, with a few serious moments. The reunion of the four relatives is played for laughs; you can tell these people really don't want to be there, and can't wait to leave. Warrener tries to entice them with milk and porridge, a piano sing-a-long, and a game of Parcheesi, but fails at every turn. His guests turn in early, and are subjected to a leaking ceiling.

Warrener's childhood sweetheart has grown portly, with four kids. He does a double-take when he sees her.

The best sequence is when he reunites with the older woman, "Mrs. Adaile," beautifully played by Kathlyn Williams. Their relationship is very touching. They arrange for a late-night meeting to consummate the relationship, but when the lady arrives, she finds Warrener has nodded off.

I thought the film should have ended there, with Warrener realizing the past is gone, and you can't relive it. But in the last fifteen minutes or so, Warrener meets the actors and suddenly falls in love. This almost seemed like a tacked-on happy ending.

The Subtle Brother

[boblipton · 9/10 · 3 April 2004]

Although best known today -- if he is remembered at all -- as the brother of Cecil B. Demille and the father of choreographer Agnes Demille, William Demille was an excellent director in the silent era. He did not make the flashy pictures with the stunning scenes that his brother is best remembered for, but smaller pictures about more ordinary people, filled with humor and insight.

This story, about Thomas Meighan's world-weary character, treads the line between humor and mockery expertly. Meighan's Conrad seeks to recapture his zest for life by reliving those times he recalls so fondly: the simple enjoyment of a child's picnic, the recollection of a girlfriend and the great love of his life, the woman he loved in an Italian resort when he was 17 -- played beautifully, hilariously, many years later, by Kathlyn Williams. All attempts end in disaster.

The story is solid, the acting is wonderful and the cinematography, dimmed a bit by the age of the film prints, still works excellently. Highly recommended.

"Dreamer... There is no road back to seventeen..."

[rogerskarsten · 9/10 · 15 May 2008]

Conrad (Thomas Meighan) is suffering a mid-life crisis. Having just returned to his native England after a military position in India, he is overcome with unhappiness, realizing that he no longer feels like the man he used to be. Believing his happiest days were those of his youth, he attempts to re-capture the sensations he remembers so vividly. Yet despite his efforts, it proves impossible to return to the land of the past. Milk and porridge no longer taste as delicious as they once did; the childhood sweetheart has become a doting matron; and the mature woman who was once the object of a seventeen-year old boy's passionate crush has also aged, even as he has.

The fourth act of this story introduces a new character whose path inevitably crosses with Conrad's. Again the contrasts of youth and age, memory and reality play a role in their interaction.

William De Mille's direction is lyrical and perfectly paced. Conrad's nostalgic quest for lost time is at once both gently mocked and sympathetically presented. The performances are uniformly excellent, especially Meighan's.

Lovely, Quaint Story of a Bygone Time

[kidboots · 10/10 · 9 May 2014]

In the book "Classics of the Silent Screen" Joe Franklin mentions Thomas Meighan as a preface to what made a star in the 19teens and early 20s - he felt Meighan lacked charisma but the evidence was there - he was a top star from 1919 all through the 1920s. I know if I had been going to the movies back then he would have been top on my list of favourites. His rugged good looks, his calm and dignified bearing, at his best in Cecil B. DeMille's "Male and Female" and "Why Change Your Wife", as Conrad Warrener, the wealthy retired army officer who wants to recapture his past in

"Conrad in Quest of His Youth" it may be his most fully realised role (in the films I have seen). Directed by William C de Mille, Cecil's brother, who was a miniaturist, zeroing in with sensitivity on the foibles of small town life ("Miss Lulu Bett"), it was considered one of the better films of 1920.

War weary and conscious that his life has slipped by, Conrad returns to a changed world where only his faithful man-servant Dobson (Charles Ogle) awaits his return with gladness. Wondering why he was spared in war while so many younger men were killed, he longs for the time when life was joyful and his old home "Sweetbay" gave him many happy memories. He takes up Dobson's idea of rounding up a few of his childhood friends to see if they all can't recapture some of the magic of childhood - Ted, a dissolute office worker, sneakily reading "Lulu" when no-one is about, Nina, an over worked mother and Gina, who "married well" - all are hoping that youth's sparkle will be rekindled.

Supper isn't a howling success - Conrad has ordered supper of porridge and milk in the same bowls and at the same table they sat at when they were children. Ted is the only one who gets a kick out of it and it's because he has added a kick from his flask!! After a horrible night with hard beds, leaking roofs etc, as Ted says "it might be a bore being an adult but it's murderous being a child", they are all keen to return to the city and leave Conrad to his own childhood - even though he has been up since dawn hunting for worms for the day's fishing expedition!!

Left to himself he now remembers another childhood friend, blonde ringleted Mary Page whom he tracks down with the usual results -she is an overweight matron and her four "jewels" are ill mannered brats. But unlike his other friends she is very keen to rekindle the past and their friendship - suddenly Conrad understands how his friends feel!! He then journeys to Italy with his remembrance of an older woman (Kathlyn Williams) who gave him sympathy and understanding when he was a young man (A. Edward Sutherland who was better known as a director and husband of Louise Brooks). He tracks her down and at first she has no memory of him but she does give him some advice - to stop living in the past and find happiness in the present!!

Suddenly things start to happen to Conrad without his control!! While waiting for a train connection he comes across a theatrical troupe that has been left stranded in the town by an unscrupulous manager - he takes a special fatherly interest in one of the young actresses but she is not an actress!! Like Conrad, she has been visiting an old chum trying to rekindle the time she was just plain old Rosalind Heath and not the later, lady Darlington - get the picture!!!

Apart from Thomas Meighan and Kathlyn Williams there were no names in the cast but I found it a lovely, quaint story of a bygone time where everybody seemed so right for their roles.

Thank you, Thomas Meighan!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 3 March 2014]

"One of the finest films of 1920", according to the reviewer for The New York Times, this film is now available on two separate DVD labels, the best of which is clearly the Alpha disc. In the title role, the charismatic Thomas Meighan gives a marvelous performance. His acting is so engagingly confident and winsomely appealing that he indeed becomes the Leonard Merrick novel's principal character, Conrad Warrener, brought to life. The support cast is likewise outstanding, and the direction by William C. de Mille, both highly realistic yet stylishly romantic. Until now, Cecil B.'s older brother has been chiefly known for his superb Miss Lulu Bett (1921). It's pleasing to report that Conrad in Quest of His Youth is equally engaging. The narrative – humorous, bitter-sweet, nostalgic, warmly realistic – never falters in its appeal, and is always superbly paced and brilliantly acted by an impeccable roster of solidly down-to-earth yet heart-warming players. In fact, Conrad in Quest of His Youth rates as such a must-see that it should inspire sounds of rejoicing from London to New York that it is now available on such a stunning, budget-priced DVD.