The Fast Set

The Fast Set is a 1924 American silent comedy-drama film directed by William C. deMille and starring Betty Compson.^[1][2] The film is based on the 1923 Broadway play, Spring Cleaning, by Frederick Lonsdale.^[3]

The Fast Set
Adolphe Menjou and Betty Compson
Directed by	William C. deMille
Written by	Clara Beranger (scenario)
Based on	Spring Cleaning by Frederick Lonsdale
Produced by	Adolph Zukor Jesse Lasky
Starring	Betty Compson Adolphe Menjou
Cinematography	L. Guy Wilky
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	October 20, 1924 (1924-10-20)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Plot

As described in a review in a film magazine,^[4] Richard Sones (Dexter), novelist, prefers the company of intellectuals, while his wife Margaret (Compson) prefers a fast set. Differences in tastes and a lack of understanding of each begin to alienate them, and Ernest Steele (Menjou), leader of the fast set, hastens the crisis by making love to Margaret. As an object lesson to his wife, Richard brings Mona (Pitts), a woman of the streets, to his wife's dinner party and tells the guests that her presence should not be resented as she is a professional in the same game they play as amateurs. Margaret decides upon a divorce until she learns that Steele is not eager to marry her. Steele then takes a hand, convincing Richard that he has been too inattentive and showing him how to win back his wife, who really loves him.

Cast

• Betty Compson as Margaret Sones
• Adolphe Menjou as Ernest Steele
• Elliott Dexter as Richard Sones
• ZaSu Pitts as Mona
• Dawn O'Day as Little Margaret Sones
• Grace Carlyle as Jane Walton
• Claire Adams as Fay Collen
• Rosalind Byrne as Connie Gallies
• Edgar Norton as Archie Wells
• Louis Natheaux as Billy Sommers
• Eugenio de Liguoro as Walters
• Fred Walton as Simpson
• Christina Montt (uncredited)

Preservation

With no prints of The Fast Set located in any film archives, it is considered a lost film.^[5]

See also

• Women Who Play (1932)