''A Certain Young Man'' is a 1928 comedy film directed by

Hobart Henley Hobart Henley (born Hess Manassah Henle; November 23, 1887 – May 22, 1964) was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer. He was involved in over 60 films either as an actor or director or both from 1914 to 1934. Early ...

. The film stars

Ramon Novarro Ramón Gil Samaniego (February 6, 1899 – October 30, 1968), known professionally as Ramon Novarro, was a Mexican actor. He began his career in American silent films in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box-offic ...

Marceline Day Marceline Day (born Marceline Newlin; April 24, 1908 – February 16, 2000) was an American motion picture actress whose career began as a child in the 1910s and ended in the 1930s. Early life Marceline Newlin was born in Colorado Springs, Color ...

Renée Adorée Renée Adorée (; born Jeanne de la Fonte ; 30 September 1898 – 5 October 1933) was a French stage and film actress who appeared in Hollywood silent movies during the 1920s. She is best known for portraying the role of Melisande, the love inte ...

Carmel Myers Carmel Myers (April 9, 1899 – November 9, 1980) was an American actress who achieved her greatest successes in silent film. Early life Myers was born in San Francisco, the daughter of Isidore Myers, a Russian-Jewish rabbi who was born in ...

and

Bert Roach Egbert Roach (August 21, 1891 – February 16, 1971) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 320 films between 1914 and 1951. He was born in Washington, D.C., and died in Los Angeles, California, age 79. Selected filmography * ...

. The film is considered lost. A trailer for the film is preserved at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Synopsis

An English lord is overly fond of married women.

Cast

as Lord Gerald Brinsley *

as Phyllis *

as Henriette *

as Mrs. Crutchley *

as Mr. Crutchley *

Huntley Gordon Huntley Ashworth Gordon (October 8, 1879 – December 7, 1956) was a Canadian actor who began his career in the Silent Film era. Profile Gordon was born in Montreal, Quebec, and educated in both Canada and England. He had various jobs includi ...

as Mr. Hammond *

Ernest Wood Ernest Edgerton Wood (18 August 1883 – 17 September 1965) was a noted English yogi, theosophist, Sanskrit scholar, and author of numerous books, including ''Concentration – An Approach to Meditation'', ''Yoga'' and ''The Pinnacle of Indian ...

as Hubert

Production

The film was shot in 1926, but was not released until 1928.

Sally O'Neil Sally O'Neil (born Virginia Louise Concepta Noonan; October 23, 1908 – June 18, 1968) was an American film actress of the 1920s. She appeared in more than 40 films, often with her name above the title. Early years O'Neil was one of eleven chi ...

was originally cast as Phyllis but was replaced by

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...

, still an ingenue at the time, was considered for that same role, but she was deemed "unsuitable". Castmember

Willard Louis Willard Louis (April 19, 1882 – July 22, 1926) was an American stage and film actor of the silent film, silent era. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1911 and 1926. He was born in San Francisco, California. Louis had an art studio ...

died a few months after filming wrapped, and his name was removed from the credits.

Release

''A Certain Young Man'' opened to reviews that were lukewarm at best, and was a financial failure at the box office. Some screenings were preceded by the

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

short '' The Czarina's Secret'' featuring

Sally Rand Sally Rand (born Helen Gould Beck; April 3, 1904 – August 31, 1979) was an American burlesque dancer, stripper, vedette, and actress, famous for her ostrich-feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name B ...

and

Olga Baclanova Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova (; 19 August 1893 – 6 September 1974), known professionally as Olga Baclanova, was a Russian-born actress who found success in Hollywood films, as well as stage roles in the US and the United Kingdom, she was mainly ...

. The film's release followed on the heels of ''A Gentleman of Paris'' with Adolph Menjou, which was based on the same source material and was considered a better adaptation. Novarro's performance was unfavorably compared with that of Menjou by several critics, including Mordaunt Hall of the ''New York Times'', who found the overall film "only mildly amusing and very shallow," though he found Myers "charming" and work by supporting actors Huntley Gordon and Bert Roach "favorable." Personally, Novarro hated the film and his performance. In an interview in the April 1931 issue of ''

Modern Screen ''Modern Screen'' was an American fan magazine published between 1930 and 1985 that featured articles, pictorials and interviews with film stars (and later television and music personalities). Founding ''Modern Screen'' magazine debuted on ...

'', he said "In acting, in directing, in everything — I want to be 'definite'. Even when I am later proven wrong — it will at least have been so definite that I myself know it. I am responsible for the worst performance that has ever been given on the screen. It was in ''A Certain Young Man'' and it was terrible. I am mortally ashamed of it — yet I'd rather have been bad than just fair."Soares, André, ''Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro'' (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002) p. 133

References

External links

* 1928 comedy films 1928 films Films directed by Hobart Henley Lost American comedy films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films American silent feature films Films based on British novels American black-and-white films Silent American comedy films 1928 lost films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films English-language comedy films Lost silent American films {{1920s-US-silent-comedy-film-stub