The Age of Innocence

A beautiful divorcee. An ardent young man. And a love thwarted by a rigid social code. Irene Dunne and John Boles, the stars of Back Street, share another illicit romance in this film version of Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize winner, a provocative novel that asserts women have a right to the same freedoms men take for granted. Set in 1870s Manhattan, the Age of Innocence follows a conventionally bred attorney who, although engaged, falls in love with a woman who shocks the upper crust by daring to escape a wretched marriage. The emotion inherent in the clash of personal happiness and social convention is timeless: The story was filmed again almost 60 years later with Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer in the lead roles.