This film version of 65 year-old feminist writer Gertrude Atherton's controversial 1923 novel based upon her own treatment with an early form of hormone transplantation was on cinema screens by the end of the year and generated a lot of discussion at the height of the flapper era; and it remains topical today with the advent of HRT and current journalistic buzz about Cougars and toy boys.Aged 45 (but like many matinée idols of the era looking much older), Conway Tearle as eligible bachelor Lee Clavering has the dilemma that dizzy flappers like Janet Ogelthorpe (played by Clara Bow) bore him, yet has "a vague idea that Autumnal love is - is rather indecent". He indeed looks pretty long in the tooth for 28 year-old Corinne Griffith as the mysterious Mary Ogden, referred to in the opening credits simply as "The Woman"; about whom an awful lot of footage is squandered upon speculation as to her true identity until she finally fesses up and confirms that she is really sixty year-old Madame Zatianny. In a flashback in which she is supposed to be in her late fifties, but is made up and shuffles about like an infirm eighty year-old, she is rejuvenated in Austria by a medical procedure that is alluded to only very vaguely.At this point it gets interesting, as her old friends digest the implications of this revelation; notably Claire McDowell as Agnes Trevor, who bitterly regrets her own lost opportunities to find love when young and thus sorely envies Madame Zatianny the second chance her treatment has gifted her. (McDowell was actually less than six months older than Tearle and would probably have benefited enormously just from a more contemporary makeup and wardrobe like Griffith's.) Unfortunately, with twenty minutes still to go this is the point at which the only currently available version of 'Black Oxen' abruptly ends. Or maybe it's not so unfortunate. We know from original reviews that her old Austrian beau Prince Rohenhauer (played by Alan Hale) shows up, persuades her to act her age and return with him to Austria, leaving Lee to find true happiness with the flapper who had so bored him earlier, provoking 'Variety's original reviewer to ironically state that the film's "only fault seems to be the disappointing ending".An epilogue to 'Black Oxen' that proves yet again how much stranger real life can be even than a silent movie came in 1966 (the year that Claire McDowell died at the age of 88) when 72 year-old Griffith divorced her 45 year-old fourth husband of a few days and testified in court (contradicting testimony from Betty Blythe and Claire Windsor, who had both known her during the 1920s) that she was not Corinne Griffith, but her younger sister who had taken her place upon her elder sibling's death.

Once again a curiosity of the silent era. Unfortunately, this is another incomplete film. We don't know what the result of all this interest in youth revitalizing surgery will lead to. The main character, Mary, became old at a time when her continued work was critical to the return of Austria to power after the war. While she was hospitalized, a treatment was performed which left her forever young. Now she has come to the attention of those who knew her years before. A man falls in love with her and things get pretty complicated because she is nearly a hundred years old. Soon all the old women in the film, some friends of hers, begin to want to do the same treatment. The problem is that just as we are about to find out what happens, we run out of film. I understand this was based on a popular piece of fiction. Still, it is an interesting idea. Barely science fiction, really. Are all mythical medical discoveries in movies science fiction? Perhaps.

An enigmatic young woman becomes the talk of Jazz Age Manhattan when it appears she's the same socialite who left New York for Europe decades before. They actually are one and the same thanks to x-ray treatments that reverse the ageing process but will her new beau care once he finds out? Like ARE PARENTS PEOPLE? made the following year, the movie's trying to say something about age-ism but I'm not sure if the point was made because it's missing the last reel. Still, I enjoyed what I saw thanks to its star, the extravagantly beautiful Corrine Griffith, and it's impossible to look away whenever Clara Bow's flirtatious flapper appears on screen.

At the opening of "The Undesired", a New York play, the audience is stunned by the incredible beauty of Corinne Griffith, who simply stands up from her seat. Brilliant theater critic, and budding playwright, Conway Tearle (as Lee Clavering) is among those smitten by the ravishing Ms. Griffith. Mr. Tearle insists he must meet her. Elderly gossip Tom Ricketts (as Charles Dinwiddie) is more shocked than enthralled, because the mysterious young woman looks exactly like a lady he dated 30 years ago; Mr. Ricketts explains the woman was "Mary Ogden", who should be old and feeble, presently. Griffith claims to be her lookalike's niece. But, old friend Kate Lester (as Jane Ogelthorpe) says "Mary Ogden" had no siblings.Griffith and Tearle fall in love. As things turn out, the originally hinted at science fiction angle is dispensed with. Before the film's "flashback", Griffith reveals she is "an old woman of sixty, whose youth has been restored to her by a modern miracle of science." This follows the explanation offered in writer Gertrude Atherton's autobiographical "Black Oxen" (1923). Ms. Atherton wrote about her own "youthful" restoration. The process, or "Steinach treatment", rejuvenated a woman's youth and vitality by X-raying her ovaries.Interestingly, in real life, actress Griffith employed a different (and, likely, more effective) "youth restoration" technique - she claimed to be her own much younger sister. On film, she looks lovely, but there isn't much depth in Griffith's characterization; she and Tearle essay a common romance. During the flashback, Griffith looks more tired than old; and, before the process, she doesn't look at all old enough to be a "woman of sixty".Griffith's reason for contemplating youth is not as interesting or realistic as supporting character Claire McDowell (as Agnes Trevor). Ms. McDowell's motivation would have made a more interesting film. A real "flaming youth", Clara Bow (as Janet Oglethorpe), plays a delightful young "flapper" who has a crush older man Tearle. The last quarter of "Black Oxen" is missing, but it's not too difficult to determine how it all ends. **** Black Oxen (12/29/23) Frank Lloyd ~ Corinne Griffith, Conway Tearle, Clara Bow