The main reason to watch this film is to see the 17-year old Loretta Young in an early female lead. She is hardly recognizable from the face that movie buffs would soon see and remember for decades. Yet, she's every bit as beautiful a woman. For such a young actress she displays a mature talent. Young had been in silent films as a child, and by 1930 already had leading parts in several movies, including a couple of talkies before this one. This isn't much of a story - a wealthy family whose members look to get even richer from a relative dowager's will. But there mustn't be a scandal among any of them, or the whole lot loses their inheritances. One can guess who the person might be who wants to raise a little cain.Douglas Fairbanks Jr. co-stars in this film, but he seems quite wooden. He was a big star of his day - a romantic idol for women, but he isn't more than a mediocre actor in his several films that I've seen. He seems wooden in all of his roles. Many films were made since the talkies debuted in 1928 until the enforcement by Hollywood of it's Hays Code in 1934. Some people make a big deal out of that, but in truth the vast majority of films made in that period didn't have naughty content that should be censored. This is one such film. One does wonder, though, how this and similar films went over with audiences of the day. After the stock market crash of 1929, the U.S. and world were plunged into the Great Depression for nearly a decade. How many people enjoyed watching films about the wealthy gallivanting around the world or living the high life? Indeed, with unemployment that peaked at 25% in the U.S. and up to 35% elsewhere in the world, how many people could even afford to go to the movies?

I was really looking forward to this one. Ted Wilde directed my all-time favorite Harold Lloyd picture, Speedy (1928), and another of my top five Lloyd bests, namely The Kid Brother (1927). So I've always been curious about the other three features he directed before his early death in late 1929, namely Babe Comes Home (1927) – Babe Ruth that is, of course – Clancy in Wall Street (1930) and Loose Ankles. Now Loose Ankles proved a little disappointing for me first time around, but, oddly, it improved a lot on a second viewing. I particularly enjoyed young Loretta Young's performance on both occasions, but I thought young Doug Fairbanks' more subtle playing improved no end on my second view. Interestingly, Loretta had acted with young Fairbanks in a Clayton's murder thriller – the murder you have when you don't have a murder – The Careless Age (1929) in which young Doug was the star and Loretta's role of little importance (even though she was billed fifth). Getting back to Loose Ankles, Otis Harlan's stagey over-acting seemed even more superficial on a second viewing. And the same goes for Louise Fazenda. Although obviously filmed on a tight "A" budget, nevertheless the movie's attractive costumes and bright photography were both impressive. Available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD.

A free spirited young heiress with LOOSE ANKLES shocks her rapacious relatives by embarking on a scandal with a naïve paid escort.Loretta Young & Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. star in this forgotten pre-Code comedy. Heady with too much dialogue, as were so many of the first talkies, it tends to creak badly, leaving the performers to strain a bit for laughs. Very little more is required from the two leads than to look attractive and recite their lines. However, there are some fun performances from the supporting cast which makes the film worthwhile.Louise Fazenda & Ethel Wales are a hoot as two stuffy old prunes who loosen-up when liquored-up at a fancy speakeasy--Fazenda's flat-on-the-floor wrestling match with gigolo Eddie Nugent is worth sitting through the rest of the movie. Spunky little Daphne Pollard (the occasional cinematic bane of Oliver Hardy's life) scores as Miss Young's feisty maid; watching her divest Fairbanks of his trousers so as to cinch the scandal is hilarious. Otis Harlan appears as a blustery Major.Movie mavens will recognize silent comic Billy Bletcher, uncredited as the diminutive relative from Logan.

This film is a little known entry from the early days of "talkies" that deserves better recognition. Not a masterpiece by any means, it is still a forerunner of the screwball comedies of the later 30s and 40s and, as such, is pleasant and delightful in its own way.The cast is very good. It is hard to believe that Loretta Young, playing an heiress who wants to create a family scandal, was only sixteen or seventeen when this movie was made. She has a charm and sensuality that belies her years. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who was nearly as young, does a nice job as a bumbling wannabe gigolo who falls in love with Loretta. Also, as noted by other reviewers, Louise Fazenda, as Young's aunt, and Daphne Pollard, as the "helpful" maid, give very funny performances.The next time that this movie is on TCM, try to catch it or tape it. There are a lot worse ways to spend an hour or so.