Theodora Goes Wild (Richard Boleslawski, 1936)

The genius of Theodora Goes Wild isn't really that it shatters American small-town conservatism in a time when it dominates Americal social decorum, but that it reveals such "small minded conservatism" as being a social standard at all, regardless of the size of the town. As the title suggests, the film doesn't really start before Theodora goes wild. From the beginning, we already see small glimpses of her more "liberated" side, never really accepting her as a straight-laced busybody like her aunts and their friends. Also, the town itself is already portrayed as not being so straight-laced and close-minded: Theodora's uncle John, a rebel who moves to New York and has a string of lovers, is abhorred but secretly loved by his sisters; and Theodora herself must be a product of a marriage-gone-wrong to have to be raised by her aunts; and the very strong women of the town take to running it. In addition, Theodora herself seems to be more concilliatory than repressive, who with a roll of her eyes show that she does not care as much as everyone else in Lynnefield about sex. No wonder it is no surprise that she is Caroline Adams.

When Michael tries to "liberate" her, it's just annoying. We already know that Theodora is already cognizant of her choking conservatism, so Michael's efforts only appeared cloying. But Theodora's efforts to "liberate" Michael on the other hand--at which point she "goes wild"--is a clever skewering of the more "sophisticated" urban New York culture. She reveals them more concerned about traditional notions of marriage and family, and worse that they adhere to it more out of personal gain rather than integrity. Whereas small-town Lynnfield is a matriarchal society where the women have power to control the social and moral direction of their town, New York men prefer to keep their women in the background (one seemingly insignificant scene where reporters interview Ms. Adams have the filmmaker emphasizing one reporter repeatedly shushing a female reporter), brought out to parade their "decency" but stuffed back into the house when the limelight temporarily goes away. Funny though, in the background the women all have the knowing "Mona Lisa smile," as if secretly they already know what's inside Pandora's box, and that they only disapprove of Ms. Adams to the extent that she decided to reveal it. The best part of it all is the end: she disappears for a few days and returns to Lynnefield, victorious, still crazy, and carrying a baby. A femme fatale who turned New York society on its head, she returns home unscathed and unpunished.