Wings of Youth

Mrs. Katherine Manners loves her three grown daughters who are in boarding school. When she plans a party for them at home, they phone from the school that they cannot come because they are too busy. But she hears the sounds of a party in the background, so she goes to the school where she finds her daughters with young men. She is told that two of the daughters plan to be married, while the third plans to marry Grantland Dobbs as soon as he gets a divorce, and the mother is frightened by this announcement. She goes abroad and returns with a man, gets an apartment at a wealthy center, and lives with him. Her daughters are shocked when the mother entertains guests at drinking parties. When Mrs. Manners proves to her daughters that their fiancées are not respectable, she reveals to them that she was acting a part just to prove to them that she was right about their chosen mates. She reveals that the man she was living with was her cousin.

Directed by Emmett J. Flynn, Wings of Youth leans on a strong ensemble — Ethel Clayton, Madge Bellamy, Charles Farrell — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 1925.