Her Wild Oat

History

This was Moore's first film after a contract dispute between her, her husband John McCormick, and her studio First National caused the couple to suddenly leave California for New York, with the intentions of making films either with another studio or overseas. Their problems were solved and Her Wild Oat was made upon her return. Originally they had planned to make Synthetic Sin, but it was necessary to complete the film quickly. Her Wild Oat was a simple story (originally racier until rewritten by Neilan to play up the comic aspects), and could be shot entirely in California (even though it's set in the New York area... palm trees can be seen in the background of the resort supposedly on the east coast) and mostly on location and using existing sets. Colleen wrote in Silent Star that her husband, a heavy drinker, had decided to re-edit the film while Colleen was on vacation. She returned to find the tops of all the gags had been removed.

It was her second film directed by Marshall Neilan, the first being Dinty (1920). Marshall also produced Social Register (1934) with Moore, one of her last four films before retiring from Hollywood.

The film was thought to be lost but a copy was found by Hugh Neely in the Czech National Film Archive in Prague in 2001 and subsequently restored by the Academy Film Archive.

Cast