''A Certain Young Man'' is a 1928 comedy film directed by Hobart Henley. The film stars Ramon Novarro,

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,

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

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Synopsis

An English lord is overly fond of married women.

Cast

* Ramon Novarro as Lord Gerald Brinsley *

as Phyllis * Renée Adorée as Henriette *

as Mrs. Crutchley * Bert Roach 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, educated in both Canada and England. He had various jobs including w ...

as Mr. Hammond *

Ernest Wood Ernest Egerton 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 child ...

was originally cast as Phyllis but was replaced by

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion pict ...

, 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 era. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1911 and 1926. He was born in San Francisco, California. Louis had an art studio before he be ...

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 short '' The Czarina's Secret'' featuring Sally Rand and Olga Baclanova. 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 that for over 50 years featured articles, pictorials and interviews with film stars (and later television and music personalities). Founding ''Modern Screen'' magazine debuted on November 3, 193 ...

'', 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 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 Lost comedy films 1920s American films {{1920s-US-film-stub