A flapper with a dubious reputation enjoys a vivacious night of dancing and finds herself romantically linked to her boss.A flapper with a dubious reputation enjoys a vivacious night of dancing and finds herself romantically linked to her boss.A flapper with a dubious reputation enjoys a vivacious night of dancing and finds herself romantically linked to her boss.
- Awards
- 1 win total
John St. Polis
- Pa Kelly
- (as John Sainpolis)
Mischa Auer
- Man Dancing at The Boiler
- (uncredited)
Bobby Burns Berman
- Night Club Show Host
- (uncredited)
Phyllis Crane
- Salesgirl
- (uncredited)
Andy Devine
- Young Man at The Boiler
- (uncredited)
Phil Harris
- Drummer in Band at The Boiler
- (uncredited)
Earl McCarthy
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Jack O'Shea
- Man at Dance Contest
- (uncredited)
Featured review
Colleen Moore is a modern girl. She likes drinking and necking and winning dance cups. One evening, she has just won another dance competition at a speakeasy, only for her boyfriend to fall asleep drunk at their table. She heads over to Neil Hamilton's table. He had tried to pick her up earlier, and now he's going to take her home...at 3AM, which worries her mother enough to ask if she's still a good girl.
The next morning, Colleen is fifteen minutes late to her job at the department store. Guess who's the owner's son and the new personnel manager? After Hamilton expresses his interest in Miss Moore to his father, his father expresses concerns about girls these days, with "the drinking, the spooning, the kissing - and - and the broad-mindedness."
Miss Moore's last silent movie has her performing the persona she had established for herself in FLAMING YOUTH. She enjoys the good life, and keeps herself clean, growing angry at the sneers of young men who want the drinking, and the spooning, and the kissing, and the broad-mindedness, but don't want it for their wives. Like many of the flapper movies of the 1920s, it insists that times have changed... but not that much.
Miss Moore is comfortable in the role, while Hamilton comes off as a stuffed shirt. Director William Seiter shows the easy mix of light comedy and social message that would keep him working through his death, and Sidney Hickox's camerawork shows why he was Miss Moore's favorite cinematographer.
WHY BE GOOD? Is not novel nor deep. It's still a very enjoyable movie for one of the 1920s' biggest stars before the talkies and the Depression overwhelmed the movies.
The next morning, Colleen is fifteen minutes late to her job at the department store. Guess who's the owner's son and the new personnel manager? After Hamilton expresses his interest in Miss Moore to his father, his father expresses concerns about girls these days, with "the drinking, the spooning, the kissing - and - and the broad-mindedness."
Miss Moore's last silent movie has her performing the persona she had established for herself in FLAMING YOUTH. She enjoys the good life, and keeps herself clean, growing angry at the sneers of young men who want the drinking, and the spooning, and the kissing, and the broad-mindedness, but don't want it for their wives. Like many of the flapper movies of the 1920s, it insists that times have changed... but not that much.
Miss Moore is comfortable in the role, while Hamilton comes off as a stuffed shirt. Director William Seiter shows the easy mix of light comedy and social message that would keep him working through his death, and Sidney Hickox's camerawork shows why he was Miss Moore's favorite cinematographer.
WHY BE GOOD? Is not novel nor deep. It's still a very enjoyable movie for one of the 1920s' biggest stars before the talkies and the Depression overwhelmed the movies.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was lost for decades until it was found in the late 1990s. The sole known 35mm nitrate print was discovered in an Italian archive. The print had been donated by actor Antonio Moreno who starred in Colleen Moore's Synthetic Sin (1929). The following message is included at the end of the newly preserved film: "Warner Bros. gratefully acknowledges the following people who made the re-discovery and preservation of this film possible: Joseph Yranski, Ron Hutchinson, The Vitaphone Project, Matteo Pavesi of Cineteca Italiana de Milano, Gian Luca Farinelli of Cineteca de Bologna."
- GoofsWhen Peabody, Sr. enters the Store Manager's office, he calls him Ralph, but the name on the Manager's door is H.B. Lewis.
- Quotes
Jimmy Alexander: Well, Mama - now that I'm tea'd up - let's neck.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007)
- SoundtracksI'm Thirsty for Kisses - Hungry for Love
(uncredited)
Music by J. Fred Coots
Lyrics by Lou Davis
Sung during the opening credits, beginning scenes and at the end by Eddie Willis, Carlton Boxeil, Stanley McClelland and Fred Wilson
Played often throughout the picture as Pert and Junior's theme
- How long is Why Be Good??Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 24 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
