Free to Love

You may have heard about how Clara Bow was the It Girl of the Prohibition era. 1927's "It" (not to be confused with the Stephen King novel) was her most famous outing, but another example was 1925's "Free to Love". This movie doesn't have any sort of complex plot, but it's still enjoyable enough for its short runtime. Worth seeing.

Thanks to Alpha, a really good DVD is now available in which nearly all the acting seems both lively and convincing, and where it can now easily be seen that Clara's magnificent performance is by far her best work in her entire career. We no longer have to rely on a murky, fair-to-middling print of this moody melodrama in which director Frank O'Connor pulls out all the stops to give ALL his players a free hand to connect with the audience. Raymond McKee (soon to achieve fame in Mack Sennett shorts as Jimmy Smith), over-acts and chews up the scenery a bit. Hallam Cooley runs him a close second, whilst Charles Hill Mailes and Winter Hall (and even the actor who plays the police captain) are not far behind. As for Donald Keith, he plays a wet character—and acts accordingly. But it all fits together. That Miss Bow manages to hold her own under this combined assault is a tribute not only to her skill, but her charisma. She has only to look into the camera with her soulful, flashing eyes to quickly register whatever emotions the script requires.

Whatever else, the title "Free to Love", has not a great deal to do with the fast-moving, gloriously melodramatic, expensively produced, cops-and-robbers plot which even contrives at least two or three genuine surprises.

This was one of Clara Bow's films that had passed me by , I thought I had seen them all , being a fan and all that The version I watched was a bad print but what do you expect , as my heading states the film is nearly 100 years old , but Clara when you can see her properly still looks amazing

The plot is silly ,, this film apparently took two weeks to make ,and it shows , but I only watched it for Clara , I must ask why in every film the leading men and love interests are always old enough to be her dad

I would recommend watching just to glean every performance of the genuine IT Girls the one and only Clara Bow ,

After a two-year stint in the reformatory, Clara Bow (as Marie Anthony) goes to shoot the judge who wrongly sent her there. Incredibly, wealthy Winter Hall (as Winthrop Orr) has just realized his error, and offers to take Ms. Bow in as his ward. After accepting the proposition, Bow begins to romance young preacher Donald Keith (as John Crawford). Alas, the young couple's chances for happiness are complicated by both her past, and his unexpected connection to underworld figures, like sleazy Raymond McKee (as Tony).

"Free to Love" is an odd little melodrama. It does feature the very likable pairing of Bow and Keith, albeit in stranger than the expected roles. Hallam Cooley (as Jack Garner) and Charles Mailes (as Kenton Crawford) are good additions to the aforementioned players. Raymond McKee's portrayal of the stooped squealer "Tony" is a particularly showy and heroic role. Bow exhibits a flair for the dramatic. And, actor Frank O'Connor proves himself a promising director.

****** Free to Love (11/20/25) Frank O'Connor ~ Clara Bow, Raymond McKee, Donald Keith

Silent films can be difficult to abide for some viewers, and as someone who once would have said the same about themselves, I can appreciate why. Even setting aside the matter of preservation, and print degradation, and deficiencies of image quality, still this picture rather demonstrates at least a couple factors behind that disparity across the decades. There's an astounding directness to the plot at large, and even the orchestration of specific scenes, that's unremittingly bare-faced. That forthright approach also serves to amplify the sense, already inculcated by discrete division between scenes by expository intertitles if not also compartmentalization into distinct story segments, that the proceedings are emphatically staged, and not natural. Add in expression of language and values that are so far removed from modern sensibilities as to make it feel like we're stepping into another world, and the silent era certainly isn't for everyone. Even at that, not all titles carry the same difficulties - and though 'Free to love' does, for those who are already enamored of the timeframe, it's nonetheless a suitably well made and entertaining drama.

This is definitely an instance where the limitations of the style put some constraints on the actors, disallowing them from wholly exploring their characters and getting into the spirit of the story as they might if the structure were less rigid. With that said, it's perhaps all the more impressive that the cast are still able to inject a measure of vitality into their roles, personality that's almost lost in the enforced orderliness of plainspoken writing and even direction. Raymond McKee, for example, stands out for the wild-eyed comportment he gives supporting character Tony; mega-star Clara Bow, given the lead role, doesn't always have as much time on screen as one might think, but makes "protagonist" Marie plentifully charming and sympathetic even under these circumstances. I'm a little less impressed with the storytelling. Even putting aside the brusqueness of plot development the narrative feels unfocused, never truly feeling centered; many scenes and story beats present with the Just So ethos of communicating a tale even if it's not complete or in its ideal form - an ethos that sometimes extends even to not squarely identifying who each and every figure is. This dovetails into one other issue with older movies, I might add, which is that all too often, actors or characters of one gender or another bear so similar an appearance that, defined by hair and makeup work and further hampered by less than pristine image quality, means that it can be difficult to even discern one character from another as the saga progresses.

I do like the plot in its broad strokes, however, a compelling if familiar tale of pride, shame, redemption, love, and so on in the face of crime and ill-doings. While I think Frank O'Connor's direction is uneven, at his best here he illustrates a keen eye for shot composition, and building scenes generally. This includes some fine use of lighting, and moreover, I appreciate the work of the crew in terms of the production design and art direction, and even the costume design. For all the problems one might identify with the construction of 'Free to love' specifically, as the course of events moves along the saga is quite suitable all around to keep one invested and see just where it's going to end up (though it's not hard to guess). And as has been true elsewhere, as a bonus it's worth mentioning that the art adorning the intertitles is rather fetching, and a minor joy as each card greets us.

Suffice to say that of all the silent features one might watch, their value can range from the absolutely essential, to the passable, and more rarely to poor. I don't think there's any arguing that this picture is less than a must-see; no matter how you look at it, there are weaknesses of both storytelling and film-making that dampen the viewing experience to one extent or another. It's also not abjectly terrible, however; for all its flaws, the narrative keeps one watching, and the cast and crew put in good work that makes the most of what they had to work with. On the balance this is more worth watching than not, with the caveat that only established devotees of the era will find this admirable. As much as I enjoy such classics, even my favor rises and recedes from one moment to the next as the length progresses. I don't think there's any need to go out of your way for this, but if you have the chance to watch and are eager for more silent films, then 'Free to love' is a decent way to spend an hour.