June Clyde was one of the many stage performers who were bought to the movies in those early singy, dancey days. She was pretty enough and could carry a song in films like "Tanned Legs", "Hit the Deck" and "The Cuckoos" but when musicals went out of fashion - about a year later - unlike a lot of ingenues, she didn't go away. She even managed a couple of exploitation movies before settling in England.
"The Thrill of Youth" was one of those films whose title promised much but just didn't deliver. At around 50 minutes characterization was not going to be a priority but apart from a "wild" opening dance and a tepid fist fight nothing much happens. A lot of plots are left up in the air. Big game hunter, Chet Thayer (Matty Kemp) returns to his family and the loving arms of his long suffering sweetheart Marcia (Caryl Lincoln). It is instantly established that he is not the faithful type and he soon falls under the spell of the town vamp Jill Fenwick (June Clyde). She is the "swellest, liveliest girl in town" according to dependable Jack (Allen Vincent) who is crazy about her. Jill is a complete flirt and soon becomes engaged to Chet.
Then there is the "older lovers" plot - Sheena (Dorothy Peterson) has fallen in love with Jeff (George Irving), Jack and Chet's father, who holds her in high esteem - she wants a divorce from her spendthrift husband, Colby. He is not too keen to sever his meal ticket and threatens to kill Jeff if Sheena persists in seeing him. Don't hold your breath waiting for this plot to eventuate - nothing happens. You don't see Colby (Bryant Washburn) again.
The most exciting development is when Jack and Jill (very corny!!) become stranded in a mountain cabin. The day before Chet and Jill announce their engagement so of course Jill spends the next day with Jack - planning to tell him of her engagement so she says!!! Sheena and Jeff also visit the cabin and find Jill there - Jack is sleeping off a hangover in the bedroom. Once back home recriminations fly thick and fast (Marcia has told Chet just where Jill spent the night) and after a pretty lame fist fight all the problems are resolved.
Aside from June Clyde and Dorothy Peterson, the cast is filled with the names of people who didn't quite make it. Like Allen Vincent who was the original band singer in the movie "Crooner" before David Manners took over and became a celebrity. And Matty Kemp, a pretty dismal actor who couldn't even hold his own along side Rin Tin Tin ("The Million Dollar Collar"). Ethel Clayton, who played Mrs. Fenwick, had made it though, back in the early days of movies. She never stopped working - even if it was only bits in movies like "The Thrill of Youth" and "The Crooked Circle".
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