The Age of Consent is a 1932 film directed by Gregory La Cava.
Duke and Mike are two young men attending a generic college. Duke is a cheerful horndog, who seems to regard college as nothing more than an opportunity to have sex with girls. Mike on the other hand is a more serious young man who is deeply in love with another student, Betty. Mike and Betty are desperately horny for each other, but it's 1932 and they aren't married, so obviously they can't have sex! They're so horny for each other in fact that Mike talks seriously about the two of them both dropping out of school and getting married just so they can bang. Meanwhile, Duke is so shameless that he hits on Betty, right in front of Mike's face.
Mike grows increasingly frustrated both with his unconsummated relationship with Betty, and Betty's suspiciously friendly relationship with Duke. One night Mike lets Dora, the saucy waitress at the local diner, coax him into walking her home. Dora, who is driving events the whole way, gets Mike drunk and seduces him. It's not until the next morning that Mike finds out that Dora is underage—and he finds this out from Dora's father, who demands that the two of them get married.
No relation to 1969 film Age of Consent, except for the Jailbait Taboo being a plot element in both films.
Tropes:
- Double Entendre: Loads. Duke, trying to coax Betty into taking a ride in his new car, opens a door. He pushes down on a seat and says "I want you to try out the springs!"
- Establishing Character Moment: Duke comes driving up to a classroom building in a snazzy convertible, and starts honking the horn, distracting Mike and the others who are inside, actually making the effort to go to class. When they come out, Duke preaches the virtues of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of women."
- Extremely Short Timespan: Not much longer than 24 yours, from an afternoon in class to the following evening.
- Hangover Sensitivity: Mike wakes up wincing after a night of heavy drinking (and sex with Dora). Things get much worse when her father comes in moments later.
- Jailbait Taboo: Uh oh, Dora is underage! This is what gives teeth to her father's demand that the two of them get married immediately.
- Match Cut: An audio match cut, from the thrum of Duke's engine turning over—he is driving away with Betty—to the fizz of soda coming out of a tap, as the guy at the soda fountain makes a depressed Mike a drink.
- Maybe Ever After: There's a parallel to Mike and Betty with David, an older professor and a mentor to the boys' dorm, and Barbara, an older female professor and mentor to the girls' dorm. Some 20 years ago or so they were both students at State College and in love. But, as Barbara admits to Betty, they decided to wait and concentrate on their academic careers, and their romance faded out and died. At the end Barbara and David are sending Betty and Mike off at the train station. As the young couple's train pulls out, Betty takes David's arm, and there's a suggestion that they may start things up again.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends with Mike and Betty's train going off, as they head off to California to have sex.
- Redemption Equals Death: Betty is sitting at the fountain, crying after Mike tells her he's marrying someone else, when Duke pulls up in his sports car. Duke is still putting the full-court press on Betty, until he sees how upset she is. He becomes much more considerate, gently offering to take her for a drive so she can get her mind off of things. They get in a car crash, offscreen, and Duke dies.
- Show Some Leg: Mike sits at the soda counter, refusing Dora's invitations to walk her home. So she walks out, pulls up her skirt above the knee, and adjusts her stocking in an obvious attempt to attract him. She even glances up to make sure he notices. It works.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The university everyone is attending is only called "State College."
