For early talkie fans this is of interest to see Bow's contrasting style vs. early Kay Francis. Beautiful boozer and trapeze artist Francis comes out ahead in the intrigue department. She vies for the affections of fellow trapezer Richard Arlen with bareback-rider Clara Bow. Kay's romance with Arlen is "just pretend" as she is simply trying to earn money for her and her husband (David Newell) like any good wife until they can get their collective feet on the ground. Kay isn't so much complicated as she is busy complicating. The story is often a bit stodgy and Bow hasn't quite honed her talkie skills as an actress -- tends to overplay, but has some moments of genuine emotion.
13 Reviews
A very watchable, very early talkie
gridoon202414 August 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Above everything else, "Dangerous Curves" is a fascinating piece of film history, as one of the earliest talkies preserved. I was lucky enough to find a copy with pretty clear picture and about 80% audible sound, which is about the best one could hope for, I guess. The film, which is not at all racy despite what the title might suggest to some, has a dull plot, but the direction is fine and the stunt people who perform the various circus acts do a commendable job. While both leads, Clara Bow and Richard Arlen, have retained some of their silent-film mannerisms, the sincerity of their performances comes through. Clara's character is a little too "goody-goody", though; I think she needed a few more moments of mischievousness. **1/2 out of 4.
Clara sparkles under the Big Top!!!
kidboots10 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
In 1929 Richard Arlen was definitely an up and coming actor. He had starred in "Wings", Paramount's aviation blockbuster of the year before (also with Clara Bow) so even though Miss Bow's name was above the title, the story is focused on his role as Larry Lee, "the best high wire act in the world" (or so the papers say). The same thing happened in the movie "Hot Saturday" (1932). Cary Grant was billed above Nancy Carroll - even though he had made only a few films. Carroll's star was in the descent, even though it was her film all the way. Clara Bow's golden days were behind her, but by 1930, the film's "newcomer" would find herself one of Paramount's top stars. Her name was Kay Francis. Kind hearted Clara helped Kay pick up some camera tricks and also suggested she shorten her name to Kay (it was Katharine) as it would fit on a marquee better.
One reviewer called Clara Bow "plain"!!!! I though she was plainly cute! Exotic Kay Francis was completely fascinating, very different from Clara. That was how Kay was discovered - Paramount executives were bowled over by her raven haired beauty.
Pat (Clara Bow), a cute bare back rider at Brock's circus, has a secret crush on Larry Lee, the circus' resident heart throb. He is part of a high wire act that also includes Zara (Kay Francis)(the "dangerous curves" of the title) an exotic vamp, who has Larry in her clutches. Not only is she sending Larry broke and driving him to drink but she is two timing him as well - with her husband, Tony (David Newell)!!! When Pat is out with friends (Stuart Erwin in one of his first roles) she happens to see Zara out with Tony. She tells Larry, who confronts Zara and Tony, who do not deny it. When he goes to perform his act, he is eaten up by rage and jealousy and falls off the wire. He goes to the hospital but secretly checks out and is found down and out and dead drunk in a Memphis flop house. Pat visits him and manages to talk him into coming back to the circus. He is full of bravado but his nerves are shattered. By coaxing and being a good friend Pat slowly restores his confidence. She gives him an idea for a novelty clown high wire act, thinking she will be his partner but he immediately sends for Zara!!! The climax comes when Pat goes on for an inebriated Larry (Zara has left him once again!!!) - risking her life so he can keep his job.
It is a pity that "Dangerous Curves" isn't a better movie but as Clara once said the studio gave her "any old story they fished out of waste baskets"!!! She struggles occasionally with the dialogue but it is only her second talkie and the script isn't up to much. In fact her emotion and personality overcome the weak script and she gives it everything she's got.
Recommended.
One reviewer called Clara Bow "plain"!!!! I though she was plainly cute! Exotic Kay Francis was completely fascinating, very different from Clara. That was how Kay was discovered - Paramount executives were bowled over by her raven haired beauty.
Pat (Clara Bow), a cute bare back rider at Brock's circus, has a secret crush on Larry Lee, the circus' resident heart throb. He is part of a high wire act that also includes Zara (Kay Francis)(the "dangerous curves" of the title) an exotic vamp, who has Larry in her clutches. Not only is she sending Larry broke and driving him to drink but she is two timing him as well - with her husband, Tony (David Newell)!!! When Pat is out with friends (Stuart Erwin in one of his first roles) she happens to see Zara out with Tony. She tells Larry, who confronts Zara and Tony, who do not deny it. When he goes to perform his act, he is eaten up by rage and jealousy and falls off the wire. He goes to the hospital but secretly checks out and is found down and out and dead drunk in a Memphis flop house. Pat visits him and manages to talk him into coming back to the circus. He is full of bravado but his nerves are shattered. By coaxing and being a good friend Pat slowly restores his confidence. She gives him an idea for a novelty clown high wire act, thinking she will be his partner but he immediately sends for Zara!!! The climax comes when Pat goes on for an inebriated Larry (Zara has left him once again!!!) - risking her life so he can keep his job.
It is a pity that "Dangerous Curves" isn't a better movie but as Clara once said the studio gave her "any old story they fished out of waste baskets"!!! She struggles occasionally with the dialogue but it is only her second talkie and the script isn't up to much. In fact her emotion and personality overcome the weak script and she gives it everything she's got.
Recommended.
Clara Bow vs. Kay Francis
drednm20 February 2006
Silent film superstar Clara Bow made three talkies in 1929. This is her second talkie (The Wild Party and The Saturday Night Kid were the other two). In this circus picture Bow plays a 2nd-rate bareback horse rider with an eye for Larry Lee (Richard Arlen) billed as the world's greatest high wire walker. He's nuts for his co-star Zara (Kay Francis) but she's two-timing him.
Bow discovers that Francis is seeing this other guy and spills it to Arlen. That night on the high wire he catches Francis kissing the other guy and goes nuts and falls to the ground. Out of the hospital he quits the big top but Bow tracks him down and talks him into returning in a new act with her as co-star. Everything goes well until Francis returns (she's been dumped).
Solid film with good atmosphere and zippy dialog. The acting is a little rough (it's 1929 after all) since the stars are still learning to "talk." Interesting to see Clara Bow as the "good girl." May Boley, Stu Erwin, Joyce Compton, T. Roy Barnes, Charles Brown, Anders Randolph co-star.
Bow discovers that Francis is seeing this other guy and spills it to Arlen. That night on the high wire he catches Francis kissing the other guy and goes nuts and falls to the ground. Out of the hospital he quits the big top but Bow tracks him down and talks him into returning in a new act with her as co-star. Everything goes well until Francis returns (she's been dumped).
Solid film with good atmosphere and zippy dialog. The acting is a little rough (it's 1929 after all) since the stars are still learning to "talk." Interesting to see Clara Bow as the "good girl." May Boley, Stu Erwin, Joyce Compton, T. Roy Barnes, Charles Brown, Anders Randolph co-star.
Lead Actor fails
sb-47-60873718 June 2019
This isn't the first time that I have observed that the Male actors in this transition period had been too off the mark to be anything less that an eye-sore.
It is always left to the poor women to carry the movie on their shoulders. In this movie too, not only Clara and Kay, but other women, the two uncredited co-showgirls and May Boley (the mother figure) too were good, especially Roy Barnes (the Pa against the Ma) and Charles Brown (the Assistant to Pa?). Newell was still OK, but the real failure in execution was Arlen.
Clara played the role of a teenage show girl - and I was surprised to see she did look mid-teen, even at the mid twenties, some of the activities, I don't know directed, or naturally, like scratching her legs while talking to Arlen, showed the 'girlish' mind. She looked quite lovely. may be a bit overacting by today's standard, but I would rather say it was quite good, considering that this was one of the transition era movies, when talkies were not even infant, may be almost in pre-natal ward.
Kay has played a bit of complicated role, of being in love with the lesser of the group, but ready to flirt with the star, so that the bacon is ensured at home, even going to the extent of hiding her marriage, so that the allure on the star isn't lost. Well, one could call that manipulative/ heartless, but it might as well be survival instinct. After walking out, the couple had miserably failed, and were on almost dole, till the Star brought them, or her, back.
One probably weakness I could find - sacking of the girl - the owner, and his wife behaved almost like parents of the girls, and this looked to be the favorite 'daughter'. Sacking was really unexpected, but may be he said that at the heat of the moment, and the girl took it seriously. Unless she was thrown on street, there won't have been the drama.
Clara played the role of a teenage show girl - and I was surprised to see she did look mid-teen, even at the mid twenties, some of the activities, I don't know directed, or naturally, like scratching her legs while talking to Arlen, showed the 'girlish' mind. She looked quite lovely. may be a bit overacting by today's standard, but I would rather say it was quite good, considering that this was one of the transition era movies, when talkies were not even infant, may be almost in pre-natal ward.
Kay has played a bit of complicated role, of being in love with the lesser of the group, but ready to flirt with the star, so that the bacon is ensured at home, even going to the extent of hiding her marriage, so that the allure on the star isn't lost. Well, one could call that manipulative/ heartless, but it might as well be survival instinct. After walking out, the couple had miserably failed, and were on almost dole, till the Star brought them, or her, back.
One probably weakness I could find - sacking of the girl - the owner, and his wife behaved almost like parents of the girls, and this looked to be the favorite 'daughter'. Sacking was really unexpected, but may be he said that at the heat of the moment, and the girl took it seriously. Unless she was thrown on street, there won't have been the drama.
It's really a 7.5 but that's not Clara's fault!
JohnHowardReid20 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Considering its vintage (1929), this is a particularly well-made and crafted movie. Its main problem is that it casts Clara Bow in a role that is not likely to endear her to her legions of fans - and I do mean "legions"! In 1928-29, Clara Bow was the most popular movie star in America, eclipsing even Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. The reason her popularity suddenly evaporated had nothing to do with her voice at all (as textbooks and Hollywood "histories" have it). There's nothing wrong with her voice. It's fine! It's excellent! It records well! But there's a lot wrong with her role in this movie. It's not a glamour role - and therefore she doesn't look glamorous. Her clothes are ill-fitting, her hair is untidy, she's lensed from unflattering angles and she seems to have gained weight.
Even worse, she's overshadowed in the glam department by Kay Francis, who easily walks off with the pic, even though her part is actually rather small. But it's an important role, and Kay makes the best of it.
The same can't be said, alas, for the rest of the players (with the exceptions of Anders Randolf and Joyce Compton) including David Newell and most especially, Richard Arlen. The director fortunately comes to the movie's rescue from time to time. The special effects scene in which our hero falls from high is particularly effective, but part of its power is lost when Arlen survives with only minor injury. Ridiculous! Otherwise, the seedy circus atmosphere is spot on!
Even worse, she's overshadowed in the glam department by Kay Francis, who easily walks off with the pic, even though her part is actually rather small. But it's an important role, and Kay makes the best of it.
The same can't be said, alas, for the rest of the players (with the exceptions of Anders Randolf and Joyce Compton) including David Newell and most especially, Richard Arlen. The director fortunately comes to the movie's rescue from time to time. The special effects scene in which our hero falls from high is particularly effective, but part of its power is lost when Arlen survives with only minor injury. Ridiculous! Otherwise, the seedy circus atmosphere is spot on!
Losing It
wes-connors5 August 2008
For her second talking film appearance, Paramount presented Clara Bow (as Pat Delaney) in the audience pleasing "circus" genre, with a "Wings" co-star, Richard Arlen (as Larry Lee). Although the formula seemed like a blockbuster in the making, the film was disappointing. Bow is cast in an inappropriate, and dull, "change of pace" role. She is unconvincing as the demure girl who becomes a "high wire" circus star. At one point, we are expected to believe Bow's pleasingly plump figure passes for Mr. Arlen, in a clown costume, on the high wire! Arlen is also unconvincing, playing the tending to be tipsy alcoholic "King of the High Wire". Kay Francis (as Zara Flynn) rounds out the expected "love triangle". Bow's "stand around and wait" attempt to pry Arlen's interests from Ms. Francis' arms is uncharacteristic.
On the plus side, the cast and crew put some obvious effort into a sound production.
The "Dangerous Curves" referred to in the title are plainly stated as Arlen's trials and tribulations with job, alcohol, and women. So, the film's content may have been altered to focus on Arlen, then a lesser box office star than Bow. Still, it was a Bow film, and audiences undoubtedly bought tickets to see Clara Bow's "Dangerous Curves". And, as a Bow starring vehicle, "Dangerous Curves" was a modest success. For the year 1928-29, Clara Bow was the US #1 "Box Office Star", according to the industry standard list compiled by Quigley Publications. After "Dangerous Curves", box office receipts declined sharply. Suddenly, Clara Bow's reign was over.
*** Dangerous Curves (7/13/29) Lothar Mendes ~ Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, Kay Francis
On the plus side, the cast and crew put some obvious effort into a sound production.
The "Dangerous Curves" referred to in the title are plainly stated as Arlen's trials and tribulations with job, alcohol, and women. So, the film's content may have been altered to focus on Arlen, then a lesser box office star than Bow. Still, it was a Bow film, and audiences undoubtedly bought tickets to see Clara Bow's "Dangerous Curves". And, as a Bow starring vehicle, "Dangerous Curves" was a modest success. For the year 1928-29, Clara Bow was the US #1 "Box Office Star", according to the industry standard list compiled by Quigley Publications. After "Dangerous Curves", box office receipts declined sharply. Suddenly, Clara Bow's reign was over.
*** Dangerous Curves (7/13/29) Lothar Mendes ~ Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, Kay Francis
Yet another so-so circus picture
psteier7 June 2000
Clara Bow (Pat Delaney) loves star tightrope walker Richard Arlen (Larry Lee), but he loves his partner Kay Francis (Zara Flynn), who is two timing him with the third partner David Newell (Tony Barretti).
Acting and some of the dialog is OK, but there is not much to recommend the picture for. Other than the tightrope walking, there are few circus acts to be seen.
Acting and some of the dialog is OK, but there is not much to recommend the picture for. Other than the tightrope walking, there are few circus acts to be seen.
Not a high point for Clara
ofumalow6 January 2015
I haven't seen all of Clara Bow's talkies, but this is easily the worst I've seen. Of course some of the clumsiness is simply because it's a very early talkie—but the primary problems are with the script and acting, not with the direction or technology. The dialogue is moronic, to the point where you wonder if the characters are really intended to be moronic—or did they think audiences were so simple they required simpleminded figures on screen to relate to? OK, the characters are circus people, but Clara in particular talks like what we might today call "white trash."
That makes her dully sincere character irritating—no wonder Richard Arlen's hero doesn't reciprocate her obvious romantic interest until a convenient last-minute turnabout—and helps rob her of the spark Bow usually had. Admittedly, she probably wasn't yet fully comfortable with sound acting, and her voice was always a blunt instrument. But really, you'd have no idea why she was popular then or a cult figure now if you only saw her here. She's unappealing, sometimes downright amateurish.
The other performers are at least professional, including Francis as Clara's elegant rival (so elegant it's ridiculous—it's as if she were employed by some separate, old-money Upper West Side circus while Clara works for one in the Bronx). David Newell, whose acting career strangely dried up soon afterward (though he stayed in the industry, mostly doing makeup), cuts a handsome figure as the fourth side of the conflicted love quartet.
Anyway, this is watchable as a curio. But it's exactly the kind of movie that makes people who think they "don't like old movies" believe that films made this long ago aren't just antiquated, but kind of remedial in other ways, too. Maybe Paramount just didn't have enough competent screenwriters to go around at this early point in the talkie revolution. Whatever the reason, "Dangerous Curves" (a title that, by the way, makes no sense whatsoever, since Bow plays one of her least sexualized roles and the circus performers are tightrope walkers) is pretty simpleminded even for a programmer of the era—and this in a year when Clara Bow was the #1 attraction in the nation, so by any rights her vehicles should have been top-shelf. She complained they gave her just any old script, and this is a movie that proves her right.
That makes her dully sincere character irritating—no wonder Richard Arlen's hero doesn't reciprocate her obvious romantic interest until a convenient last-minute turnabout—and helps rob her of the spark Bow usually had. Admittedly, she probably wasn't yet fully comfortable with sound acting, and her voice was always a blunt instrument. But really, you'd have no idea why she was popular then or a cult figure now if you only saw her here. She's unappealing, sometimes downright amateurish.
The other performers are at least professional, including Francis as Clara's elegant rival (so elegant it's ridiculous—it's as if she were employed by some separate, old-money Upper West Side circus while Clara works for one in the Bronx). David Newell, whose acting career strangely dried up soon afterward (though he stayed in the industry, mostly doing makeup), cuts a handsome figure as the fourth side of the conflicted love quartet.
Anyway, this is watchable as a curio. But it's exactly the kind of movie that makes people who think they "don't like old movies" believe that films made this long ago aren't just antiquated, but kind of remedial in other ways, too. Maybe Paramount just didn't have enough competent screenwriters to go around at this early point in the talkie revolution. Whatever the reason, "Dangerous Curves" (a title that, by the way, makes no sense whatsoever, since Bow plays one of her least sexualized roles and the circus performers are tightrope walkers) is pretty simpleminded even for a programmer of the era—and this in a year when Clara Bow was the #1 attraction in the nation, so by any rights her vehicles should have been top-shelf. She complained they gave her just any old script, and this is a movie that proves her right.
Weak Early Talkie Will Disappoint Fans of the Stars
HarlowMGM11 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
First, if you haven't seen the movie, I'd advise you to not read the other reviews here any further, several of which give away plot twists and character's relationships that don't happen until the end of the picture. Reviewers, please use the spoiler notice if you give away too much of the story!
If you like Clara Bow, you will probably be disappointed in the film but will at least want to see it. If you're not a fan, this one surely won't make you one. DANGEROUS CURVES is easily the worst of the Bow movies I have seen, a patchy melodrama about circus cutie Clara pinning for star trapeze headliner Richard Arlen. Arlen however doesn't even notice her (at one point, he calls her by another girl's name!) himself bewitched by his female costar Kay Francis - and unaware that La Francis is two-timing him with his male costar David Newell! I love Paramount but I am really unimpressed with their early talkies from 1929-1930, nearly every one of which I've seen is stagy, clunky, have poor continuity and bad dialogue and are rarely well acted. It's unbelievable how legendarily polished and smooth Paramount films would be in just a few years considering these several of these early sound films seem as rough as a Monogram poverty row production. A couple of scenes like the Memphis segment were obviously shot months after as Clara has a lovely hairstyle here quite unlike the frizzy one (with horrible long curls plastered to the side of her face) she wears for the majority of the picture.
Clara, while appealing, seems over her head at times, often struggling with these long-winded lines and handsome Richard Arlen seems to have trouble as well with some of his scenes suggesting they got little help from the director (or little good help). Kay Francis however gives a smooth performance as the villainess, easy to see why Paramount quickly elevated her to star material even if she does seem more than a little androgynous with her severe hairstyle and boyish figure. Joyce Compton is cute as Clara's tart circus pal and David Newell does well in his smallish part as Kay's paramour. Newell had a very short career at Paramount as a male second lead but he's quite good but his featured career didn't last long as he was in unbilled bits and working behind the scenes within a few years (he had a major automobile accident at some point which may have been the case for his promising career ending out prematurely). May Boley is amusing as the plump veteran of the circus who is a mother figure to the younger girls like Clara.
Early on Kay is showing her bad girl ways by knocking down a little booze before the act, to which Arlen suggests she have a Bromo (an Alka Seltzer-like product of the period but one apparently strong enough to also be something of a hangover remedy) to calm her down. The viewer of this cardboard stock tale will likely want a Bromo themselves before the film is over.
If you like Clara Bow, you will probably be disappointed in the film but will at least want to see it. If you're not a fan, this one surely won't make you one. DANGEROUS CURVES is easily the worst of the Bow movies I have seen, a patchy melodrama about circus cutie Clara pinning for star trapeze headliner Richard Arlen. Arlen however doesn't even notice her (at one point, he calls her by another girl's name!) himself bewitched by his female costar Kay Francis - and unaware that La Francis is two-timing him with his male costar David Newell! I love Paramount but I am really unimpressed with their early talkies from 1929-1930, nearly every one of which I've seen is stagy, clunky, have poor continuity and bad dialogue and are rarely well acted. It's unbelievable how legendarily polished and smooth Paramount films would be in just a few years considering these several of these early sound films seem as rough as a Monogram poverty row production. A couple of scenes like the Memphis segment were obviously shot months after as Clara has a lovely hairstyle here quite unlike the frizzy one (with horrible long curls plastered to the side of her face) she wears for the majority of the picture.
Clara, while appealing, seems over her head at times, often struggling with these long-winded lines and handsome Richard Arlen seems to have trouble as well with some of his scenes suggesting they got little help from the director (or little good help). Kay Francis however gives a smooth performance as the villainess, easy to see why Paramount quickly elevated her to star material even if she does seem more than a little androgynous with her severe hairstyle and boyish figure. Joyce Compton is cute as Clara's tart circus pal and David Newell does well in his smallish part as Kay's paramour. Newell had a very short career at Paramount as a male second lead but he's quite good but his featured career didn't last long as he was in unbilled bits and working behind the scenes within a few years (he had a major automobile accident at some point which may have been the case for his promising career ending out prematurely). May Boley is amusing as the plump veteran of the circus who is a mother figure to the younger girls like Clara.
Early on Kay is showing her bad girl ways by knocking down a little booze before the act, to which Arlen suggests she have a Bromo (an Alka Seltzer-like product of the period but one apparently strong enough to also be something of a hangover remedy) to calm her down. The viewer of this cardboard stock tale will likely want a Bromo themselves before the film is over.
Clara Bow Sexy & Charming as Always
Deloreanguy7931 August 2018
Dangerous Curves (1929) is Clara's second talkie and she really carries the movie. The male lead isn't very strong or very likeable but Miss Bow makes up for any shortcomings with her charm and likeable vulnerability.
Dangerous Curves is a must own for any Clara Bow fan.Pretty rare on dvd,never getting a official DVD release,but worth getting a hold of if you love the IT girl like I do.
Circus is Full of Clowns
view_and_review2 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Three Ring Circus
I was rolling my eyes so much watching this movie I think they still haven't settled down. If there's one thing I can't watch, it's people making utter fools of themselves on account of someone they "love." And it's even worse when it's someone they're simply infatuated with.
This drivel starred Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, and Kay Francis. Richard Arlen played Larry Lee, the best high wire act in the world. He was touring with Brock's Circus. His act included his girlfriend Zara (Kay Francis) and a guy named Tony (David Newell). Larry was zany for Zara. He couldn't see straight; he was so in love with her. As for Zara, she was seeing Tony on the side, which is Kay Francis doing Kay Francis things. She's an automatic for infidelity. Just watch "Scandal Sheet," "Transgression," "Guilty Hands," "Ladies' Man," "Street of Women," "Trouble in Paradise," or "Behind the Make-Up." In every one of these movies she was either the side chick or seeing someone on the side herself.
Larry was ignorant to Zara's games until he was informed by his secret admirer, a girl named Pat (Clara Bow). Pat was the single reason I could barely watch this bunkum. She was so utterly hung up on Larry she would damn near sell her soul for his attention and the dude didn't even know her name. She was bending over backwards all throughout the movie for him to like her and it was embarrassing. The second-hand embarrassment I felt for her was palpable. If I could've reached through the screen and slapped some sense into her--1930's style--I would have.
Here's what she did:
1.) She outed Zara to Larry. 2.) She fawned over him after he fell from the high wire. 3.) She sent him her last $50 to entice him back to the circus. 4.) She traveled to Memphis just to talk him back into rejoining the circus. 5.) She designed a new act for him. 6.) She got him the courage to get back on the wire.
Then what did he do? He had the circus manager, Brock (Anders Randolf), call up his old flame Zara to have her rejoin the circus with him. He didn't give one passing thought to Pat and what she'd done, yet there she was dutifully tending to her crush.
What do you think happened between Larry and Zara? She two-timed the poor fool again. And who was there to pick him back up? Pat, with one last sacrifice for her dear Larry. She sacrificed her job for him.
I'm done with these circus movies. "Polly of the Circus," "Swing High," and this nonsense were all busts.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
I was rolling my eyes so much watching this movie I think they still haven't settled down. If there's one thing I can't watch, it's people making utter fools of themselves on account of someone they "love." And it's even worse when it's someone they're simply infatuated with.
This drivel starred Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, and Kay Francis. Richard Arlen played Larry Lee, the best high wire act in the world. He was touring with Brock's Circus. His act included his girlfriend Zara (Kay Francis) and a guy named Tony (David Newell). Larry was zany for Zara. He couldn't see straight; he was so in love with her. As for Zara, she was seeing Tony on the side, which is Kay Francis doing Kay Francis things. She's an automatic for infidelity. Just watch "Scandal Sheet," "Transgression," "Guilty Hands," "Ladies' Man," "Street of Women," "Trouble in Paradise," or "Behind the Make-Up." In every one of these movies she was either the side chick or seeing someone on the side herself.
Larry was ignorant to Zara's games until he was informed by his secret admirer, a girl named Pat (Clara Bow). Pat was the single reason I could barely watch this bunkum. She was so utterly hung up on Larry she would damn near sell her soul for his attention and the dude didn't even know her name. She was bending over backwards all throughout the movie for him to like her and it was embarrassing. The second-hand embarrassment I felt for her was palpable. If I could've reached through the screen and slapped some sense into her--1930's style--I would have.
Here's what she did:
1.) She outed Zara to Larry. 2.) She fawned over him after he fell from the high wire. 3.) She sent him her last $50 to entice him back to the circus. 4.) She traveled to Memphis just to talk him back into rejoining the circus. 5.) She designed a new act for him. 6.) She got him the courage to get back on the wire.
Then what did he do? He had the circus manager, Brock (Anders Randolf), call up his old flame Zara to have her rejoin the circus with him. He didn't give one passing thought to Pat and what she'd done, yet there she was dutifully tending to her crush.
What do you think happened between Larry and Zara? She two-timed the poor fool again. And who was there to pick him back up? Pat, with one last sacrifice for her dear Larry. She sacrificed her job for him.
I'm done with these circus movies. "Polly of the Circus," "Swing High," and this nonsense were all busts.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
Squeaky Falls
tedg20 February 2008
There are only so many stories, especially stories of love.
This is rather ordinary. It consists of three threads.
The first is of a relatively plain girl who loves a star, but he loves another, a vamp who doesn't care for him but manipulates him. But our gal sticks with it, even though the guy is an unfaithful, lying drunk. Eventually she does something heroic and saves his reputation. Impressed, he falls in love with her. Ho hum. That someone once related to this is mildly interesting.
And then there's the spectacle of the circus. In 1929, this would have still thrilled, what with the risks and spectacular falls.
But the reason to watch this today is because the "plain" girl is played by Clara Bow! Only a couple years before, this was the sexiest woman in the world, our first redheaded film sex symbol. She, the IT girl. Here, she is absolutely the least attractive girl in a skimpy costume. Here, she lacks all the poised seduction she had mastered before. Its because she speaks, I think.
The stories are well known, how she froze with insecurity. How audiences abandoned her instantly when hearing her low class, Yiddish-tinged Brooklyn squeak. This, the sexiest woman in the entire world of media.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
This is rather ordinary. It consists of three threads.
The first is of a relatively plain girl who loves a star, but he loves another, a vamp who doesn't care for him but manipulates him. But our gal sticks with it, even though the guy is an unfaithful, lying drunk. Eventually she does something heroic and saves his reputation. Impressed, he falls in love with her. Ho hum. That someone once related to this is mildly interesting.
And then there's the spectacle of the circus. In 1929, this would have still thrilled, what with the risks and spectacular falls.
But the reason to watch this today is because the "plain" girl is played by Clara Bow! Only a couple years before, this was the sexiest woman in the world, our first redheaded film sex symbol. She, the IT girl. Here, she is absolutely the least attractive girl in a skimpy costume. Here, she lacks all the poised seduction she had mastered before. Its because she speaks, I think.
The stories are well known, how she froze with insecurity. How audiences abandoned her instantly when hearing her low class, Yiddish-tinged Brooklyn squeak. This, the sexiest woman in the entire world of media.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
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