THE PLASTIC AGE (1925) in 35mm

Special Features: 100th Anniversary | Introduction by film historian David Stenn | Live musical accompaniment by Andrew Earl Simpson

Clara Bow’s breakthrough film casts her as Cynthia Day, a jazz-mad college co-ed caught up in a love triangle between two roommates: the earnest athlete (Donald Keith) and his devil-may-care rival (Gilbert Roland). As Cynthia’s allure grows, the athlete begins to slip, both academically and on the field, until a raid at a speakeasy and a humiliating loss at a track meet force him to reevaluate his priorities. Based on Percy Marks’ bestselling novel, an exposé of collegiate life at a time when only 5% of eligible men (and even fewer women) attended college, the film paints a vivid portrait of 1920s campus culture. Here, students split their time between the athletic field and the speakeasy, with few resisting the temptations of drink and desire. Released at the end of Clara Bow’s prolific 1925 streak — she appeared in 14 films released that year — THE PLASTIC AGE catapulted her to stardom as Paramount Pictures’ newest sensation. DIR Wesley Ruggles; SCR Frederica Sagor, Eve Unsell, from the novel by Percy Marks. U.S., 1925, b&w, 73 min. Silent with English intertitles. NOT RATED

35mm preservation print courtesy of the Packard Humanities Institute Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Also part of the 2025 Silent Cinema Showcase.

Run Time: 73 Minutes

Opening Date: Saturday, November 08, 2025

Genre: Comedy

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