Spring Fever (1927)
*** (out of 4)
William Haines plays a poor shipping clerk who just happens to be a master at the golf game. His boss (George Fawcett) eventually gets him into a rich country club so that the golf wizz can teach him a few things but Haines quickly becomes the talk of the club. No one knows his secret, that he's poor, and this might cause trouble when he falls in love with a rich girl (Joan Crawford). Earlier in the year I watched the Haines/Crawford film West Point, which was a decent movie but this one is a lot better. The film has all the trappings of your typical romantic comedy with a mix of melodrama but the film works overall due to the two stars. Haines is certainly an interesting actor with his strange performances but they grow on me the more I see them. Crawford is the real standout here as she delivers a fine performance and is quite funny and charming. Fawcett, who appeared in many Griffith pictures starting with Intolerance, adds nice support as well. I've seen countless silent films in my life but the highlight in this film is something I haven't seen before. There's a scene when the two are on their honeymoon where they close the curtain and this turns the room totally dark. We then see them talking, via the title cards, which are arranged on the opposite sides of the screen in the direction that the characters are speaking. This is a minor effect but it works wonderfully well.
