While daddy's girl Carol Dempster (as Stella Bevan) frolics innocently in the woods, trouble is brewing - her loving father (George MacQuarrie as Bevan) and shrewish mother (Florence Short as Mrs. Bevan) are having marital problems. Informed by a faithful servant that his wife is entertaining a lover, Mr. MacQuarrie discovers the trysting twosome; then, during a struggle, he shoots the man dead. To escape from the police, MacQuarrie takes daughter Dempster, and flees to a South Sea island. There, they encounter handsome Richard Barthelmess (as Bruce Sanders), who makes Dempster's heart flutter. She doesn't know it, but Mr. Barthelmess is assisting police detective Anders Randolf (as Crane), who has arrived to arrest her father.
"The Love Flower" is a much better film, overall, than director D.W. Griffith's accompanying South Sea adventure "The Idol Dancer" (1920). G.W. Bitzer's photography is superb; he and Griffith paint some extraordinary, poetic images with the movie camera. The better production values are assisted by the absence of the ludicrous comic relief elements found in "The Idol Dancer". Unfortunately, "The Love Flower" fails to bloom; the melodramatic plot is interesting, but the love story between Dempster and Barthelmess does not work. Their pairing is more dull than passionate, although Barthelmess is a fine performer. Dempster is attractively athletic, and well-photographed; but, her emoting close-ups become sillier and sillier as the movie progresses. The older performers are much better, especially MacQuarrie.
***** The Love Flower (8/22/20) D.W. Griffith ~ Carol Dempster, Richard Barthelmess, George MacQuarrie
