I watched this film because I wanted to see Clara Bow's early work. The plot is as implausible as others have mentioned, and Clara is still learning her craft, but how she lights up the screen! When doing comic or action scenes, she is superb. I love the bit where she disguises herself as a maid and has to fend off amorous 'gentlemen'. I can see how she won the hearts of movie-goers of the era. She is so pretty and so naturally animated. What should be subtle... um... isn't, but Clara made 15 films in this same year -- no one was going to wait around for retakes and guidance of a young actress.There are some excellent comic moments from the rest of the cast, particularly Lillian Leighton as a French Ma Barker. She reminds me of W. C. Fields. You may be surprised at how much this movie entertains. Watch it for Bow, but enjoy the rest.

This is a film with a very strange plot. There are so many bizarre plot elements that I think the overall picture comes off as very, very difficult to believe and is one of the worst films I've seen that stars Clara Bow. Now the film sure LOOKS nice...but the plot?! Weird.The film begins with a gang of thieves breaking into a rich professor's house. However, things don't go smoothly. One of the robbers wants to kill Professor Marcel--but the other stops him. Just then, the cops arrive. Marie (Clara Bow--who is the lookout) escapes, the would-be killer is killed and Armand (the good thief) is protected by the Professor--who tells the police that he's his house guest. You can understand this--after all, this lovely thief did save Marcel. However, this scene and the subsequent scenes might be interpreted to have a gay subtext when seen today--especially when the Professor invites Armand to live with him and treats him in a very familiar manner.In the meantime, Marie sneaks into a party at Professor Marcel's house and sees Armand--with another woman. She assumes that he no longer loves her and she is angry--determined to destroy Marcel for taking Armand away from her. So, she later pretends to be a rich lady and meets Marcel--and makes him fall in love with her. Just after the marriage, Marie's mother reveals to Marcel the truth--and that she'd stolen Marie from a rich family when she was a baby(???!!!). And, without knowing the truth, Marie then tells Marcel that she married him just to get revenge on him for breaking up the relationship between her and Armand(??!!). JUST THEN (again), Armand shows up--and the old gang does as well and shoots Marie!!!! Then, she miraculously survives AND the Professor leaves--allowing Armand to have Marie for himself!!!! This has to be the most contrived plot I've ever seen in a silent film--and I've seen about a thousand of them. So many silly surprises and twists thrown into a film barely over an hour long--it made me laugh with all these story elements. While the film looks nice and is entertaining, it also is fundamentally stupid. Not one of Bow's shining moments and the sort of fluff she'd no longer be doing once she really hit it big with films like "Wings" and "It"...at least until her star faded at the advent of sound.

It's hard to believe, but on the evidence of this delight of a movie, undoubtedly true, that Louis J. "Reefer Madness" Gasnier was once a highly competent director. Even in the condensed 62-minute version currently available (with at least two obvious cuts, one of them right before the fade-out), directorial ability shines through every scene, particularly those with the three principals. As usual, Clara Bow rivets attention right from her very first entrance to her final clinch, skilfully managing the remarkable transition from energetic hoyden to graceful débutante with charisma, style and panache; while Lou Tellegen (whom I have been waiting to see for 52 years and have finally caught up with) subtly conveys the charm, presence and instant audience identification that illuminated his stage roles opposite the great Sarah Bernhardt; and, as expected, Lillian Leighton is a comic riot when her awesomely pugnacious La Frouchard transforms herself into a pillar of Parisian society.The other players, including personable hero, Donald Keith (who disappears for a long stretch), have little to do, although "Monsieur Frouchard" provides some splendid bits of comedy inaction in the domestic fight scene when La Leighton lets loose.Of course, you can't really take the convoluted plot (or even the characters) too seriously, but who cares? It's all great entertainment.Beautifully photographed and most attractively costumed and set, this big-budget movie is presented on an excellent (10 out of ten) Kino DVD with "Down to the Sea in Ships".

The first thing I noticed about Clara Bow is her huge eyes which she uses to great effect when words won't do. As portrayed by her, Marie is not a nice girl at all, she's scheming, she's common (interesting question - if she's a street girl, an 'Apache', where did she learn to dance?), she's not good enough for little Armand (the boy thief who is even prettier than her) or for Marcel (who is far more interested in Armand anyway, or at least that seems to be the way Lou Tellegen is playing the role - perhaps unintentionally, but ...). Clocking in at just over an hour, this is a small film which feels rushed towards the end after a very long-winded beginning. However, it manages to combine humour, a slightly ridiculous script, and peripheral characters who are there for a few seconds then disappear. I liked the boozy 'Madame' who is stealing all the drinks at the party (who has previously broken bottles over her slow-moving husband's head). Donald Keith as Armand has too little to do except look cute. Worth watching for Bow and Tellegen and for the gorgeous tinting on the restored print.