The Fast Set

{{short description|1924 film by William C. deMille}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = The Fast Set | image = The Fast Set.jpg | caption = Adolphe Menjou and Betty Compson | director = [[William C. deMille]] | producer = [[Adolph Zukor]]<br>[[Jesse Lasky]] | writer = [[Clara Beranger]] (scenario) | based_on = {{basedon|''[[Spring Cleaning (play)|Spring Cleaning]]''|[[Frederick Lonsdale]]}} | starring = [[Betty Compson]]<br>[[Adolphe Menjou]] | cinematography = [[L. Guy Wilky]] | distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]] | released = {{Film date|1924|10|20}} | runtime = 80 minutes | country = [[United States]] | language = [[Silent film|Silent]] (English [[intertitle]]s) }}

'''''The Fast Set''''' is a 1924 American silent [[comedy-drama film]] directed by [[William C. deMille]] and starring [[Betty Compson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/8960-THE-FASTSET |title=The Fast Set |work=afi.com |access-date=March 21, 2024}}</ref><ref name="silentera">{{cite web |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/F/FastSet1924.html |title=Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Fast Set'' |access-date=March 21, 2024 |publisher=silentera.com}}</ref> The film is based on the 1923 Broadway play, ''[[Spring Cleaning (play)|Spring Cleaning]]'', by [[Frederick Lonsdale]].<ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=9314 ''Spring Cleaning'' as produced on Broadway, Eltinge Theatre, November 1923-June 1924; 251 performances; IBDb.com]</ref>

==Plot== As described in a review in a film magazine,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Sumner |author-link= |title=''The Fast Set''; William DeMille Produces Striking, Highly Sophisticated Domestic Drama for Paramount |journal=The Moving Picture World |volume=71 |issue=5 |pages=450 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |location=New York City |date=29 November 1924 |url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor71novd/page/450/mode/1up |access-date=22 June 2021}}</ref> 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 [[prostitute|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== {{Cast listing| *[[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 (actor)|Fred Walton]] as Simpson *[[Christina Montt]] (uncredited) }}

==Preservation== ''The Fast Set'' is currently [[lost film | presumed lost]].<ref name=''LOC''>{{Cite web |date= |others= |title=The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: ''The Fast Set'' |url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.5151/default.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321141559/http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.5151/default.html |archive-date=2023-03-21 |access-date=2026-04-19 |website=memory.loc.gov}}</ref> In February of 2021, the film was cited by the [[National Film Preservation Board]] on their Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films list.<ref name="Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films">{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/SFF-LostFilmsList020421.pdf |title=7,200 Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films (1912-29) |publisher=National Film Preservation Board |access-date=April 19, 2026}}</ref>

==See also== * ''[[Women Who Play]]'' (1932)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|The Fast Set}} *{{IMDb title|0014876|The Fast Set}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190841/http://silenthollywood.com/sitebuilder/images/THE_FAST_SET_1924-780x666.jpg Lobby or window card] (Wayback Machine) *[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/zasu-pitts-fast-set-1924-original-461998373 Zasu Pitts in the film] (archived) *[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/anne-shirley-dawn-day-orig-1924-scene-1730831883 Anne Shirley, Zasu Pitts] (archived) *[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/anne-shirley-aka-dawn-day-zasu-pitts-136170862 Anne Shirley, Zasu Pitts] (archived) *[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1924-lost-film-fast-set-william-1845266363 Movie herald ''The Fast Set''] (archived)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fast Set, The}} [[Category:1924 films]] [[Category:American silent feature films]] [[Category:Films directed by William C. deMille]] [[Category:American films based on plays]] [[Category:Paramount Pictures films]] [[Category:1924 comedy-drama films]] [[Category:1924 English-language films]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:1924 lost films]] [[Category:English-language comedy-drama films]] [[Category:1924 American films]] [[Category:Lost American silent comedy-drama films]]