Free to Love (1925)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Marie Anthony (Clara Bow) gets released from a reformatory so she heads to the judge's house who wrongly sent her away. Once at the house she pulls a gun on him but the judge (Winter Hall) breaks down admitting he was wrong and offers to take her in as his own. She accepts and soon falls in love with Reverend (Donald Keith) but soon her crooked path catches up with her. Okay, this melodrama is just downright bad, bad, bad. I mean really bad from the start to the end but the thing is so bad that I actually found myself somewhat enjoying what was going on. There are some really embarrassing moments here and they start as the beginning when the judge just overlooks the fact that this woman has pulled a gun on him. She hates him with a passion but they break down and become best friends in the matter of seconds. Even sillier is a supporting character who is either a hunchback trying to copy Lon Chaney or the character is suffering from some type of brain damage. Either way this guy does the dumbest tricks and how the film tries to make him some tortured soul is just hilarious when you really pay attention to it. The relationship between Marie and the Reverend is just as silly and not for a second did I believe anything between them. Once again Bow serves as eye candy as her acting leaves a lot to be desired. I thought there were times when she was way over-the-top and others where it just seemed like she didn't know what she was doing. I'm willing to guess she was overworked considering she made so many movies in 1925 alone or perhaps the director just didn't want to tell her to do another take. Whatever the reason I didn't care too much for her here and Keith is just as bland as was the case in the other films he did with Bow. At just 61-minutes there's not much that happens here but when the film does try to be drama it comes off more as a comedy.
