Editing Coquette (film) (section)

== Production background ==
The film stars [[silent film|silent]] star Mary Pickford in her first [[talkie]], Johnny Mack Brown in one of his earliest roles, John St. Polis, Matt Moore (Pickford's ex brother in law), and Louise Beavers.

The film was [[film adaptation|adapted for the screen]] by John Grey, Allen McNeil and [[Sam Taylor (director)|Sam Taylor]] from the play by [[George Abbott]] and [[Ann Preston Bridgers]], and was directed by Sam Taylor. The play was based on real events in Richmond County, North Carolina and some dialog was used verbatim from court testimony.<ref name=censored>{{cite book|first1=Morris|last1=Ernst|first2=Pare|last2=Lorentz|date=1930|title=Censored: The Private Life of the Movie|url=https://archive.org/details/censoredprivatel00erns|location=New York|publisher=Jonathan Cape|page=[https://archive.org/details/censoredprivatel00erns/page/9 9]}}</ref> The play originally opened in New York City on November 8, 1927, with [[Helen Hayes]] in the title role.

Though a product of pre-Code Hollywood, the film was severely censored during scripting. In the play, the leading lady is pregnant and the story hinges on the fact that she carries the child of the man killed by her father. Her father murdered the man because he asked to marry the girl. But to save her father from disgrace when her pregnancy becomes apparent, she preemptively kills herself. Wrote [[Morris Ernst|Ernst]] and [[Pare Lorentz|Lorentz]], "the censor conscious producer would not allow the movie to show the girl ''[[pregnancy|enceinte]]'', thus destroying the whole plot."<ref name=censored/>

[[William Cameron Menzies]] provided [[Set decorator|set decoration]], or [[Production designer|production design]], with the film crediting him for "settings". Cinematography was by [[Karl Struss]].

The song "[[Coquette (song)|Coquette]]", written by [[Johnny Green]] and [[Carmen Lombardo]], has since become a jazz standard.