The Circle

This is a very good silent film that tests out the old expression "Like father, like son".

When the film begins, Clive doesn't realize that his beloved wife, Catherine, is cheating on him. She unexpectedly runs away with Clive's best friend...leaving Clive and her young son to fend for themselves.

Thirty years pass. The son, Arnold, has married Elizabeth and while he doesn't realize it, trouble is brewing...similar to his parents. Elizabeth has invited Arnold's mother and step-father to their estate. But her reasons suck...she wants to find out how well things went for them following their affair. She has a romantic notion that the pair were deliriously happy...and she's contemplating running off with some young buckaroo herself. Fortunately, Clive is not supposed to be home during this meeting between mother and son--the first in 30 years. However, Clive DOES end up returning early and the reaction is NOT what everyone expected. He was very happy to see his wife and old friend...and harbors no bitterness! What about Arnold? Well, see the film and find out for yourself.

This is a very clever film that deals with adultery in a very grown up and realistic manner (at least in some ways). It also is very well written and acted...so if you think you'll hate silents, it's a good bet this one will keep you entertained.

There's the gorgeous lady and her lover;there's the husband.One night ,she leaves him in a romantic manner...

But what follows happens thirty years after.And Frank Borzage tramples the golden principles underfoot .Gone is the old cliché,as old as the hills,of the romantic lovers.The beauty has become a sour-tempered pudgy old lady while the dashing attentive escort has grown into a grumpy sullen less-than-attractive greybeard.And finally it's the cheated husband who walks out with the honors:he has kept his dignity and he will do everything to spare his son the same fate as his.The characters,mainly in the card games sequence,are vividly depicted.

The Circle (1925)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Frank Borzage's mix of comedy and drama has Elizabeth Cheney (Eleanor Boardman) wanting to leave her husband for her better lover but the woman knows that her husband's mother did the same thing to his father thirty years earlier. At a weekend party, the husband's mother, who he hasn't seen since she left, comes for a visit and is bringing the lover along as Elizabeth wants to see what would happen if she ran away. THE CIRCLE is something that I'm really not sure how to describe. I wouldn't call it a good movie but I think it has some fairly interesting aspects but it also had some downright weird moments. I'm really not sure what Borzage was trying for here unless he was just wanting to show that everything comes full circle. The first portion of the film is clearly a drama and things are going this direction throughout the majority of the movie but then it turns to a comedy when we're in current days. The mother's lover is a complete loud mouth who is constantly complaining about everything. This comedy attempt is the way the film says that it's best to stay who you're with but making an example out of this guy really served no purpose. Even stranger from the film is that his character is constantly cussing but in the intertitles they have certain letters marked out. Hell becomes "H--l" and damn becomes "D--m" and so on. The performances in the film are all over the place but Boardman is extremely good in the lead role and she does receive nice support from Malcolm McGregor and Alec Francis. George Fawcett appears as the obnoxious lover and we even seen a very young Joan Crawford playing the mother during the opening sequences. THE CIRCLE isn't going to appeal to everyone and it's mostly silent film buffs who will take the most from it.

THE CIRLCE is a charming little film, full of humor and ironies.

Based on a play by Somerset Maugham, THE CIRCLE is a handsome film directed by Frank Borzage. The film opens in the 1890s as Lady Catherine is about to leave her husband (and son) and run off with her lover. The scene dissolves to 30 years later where young Elizabeth (pretty Eleanor Boardman) is facing the same decision: dull husband (Creighton Hale) or dashing lover (Malcolm McGregor). To make matters worse, Lady Catherine has been invited (along with husband) to visit! As Boardman and company get ready for their guests we get several shots of Lady Catherine and husband motoring toward the country estate. The shots are from the back. So it's a slight shock when Lady Catherine breezes into the house and goes up to McGregor, thinking he's her son. Lady Catherine (superbly played by Eugenie Besserer) is seen to be a rather silly middle-aged dowager wearing too much makeup.

As the story progresses, Boardman starts to learn a lesson in romantic folly from the fading older woman who constantly gazes at an old photograph of herself (it's actually a photo of 20-year-old Joan Crawford who also plays the young Lady Catherine… one of about a half dozen films she appeared in in 1925).

Co-stars include Alec B. Francis, George Fawcett, and Eulalie Jensen.

In an opening flashback to the late 1890s, we see Joan Crawford (in a small early role, as young Catherine) deciding to leave her husband and run away with a lover. Thirty years later, the son she left behind is married to beautiful Eleanor Boardman (as Elizabeth). Like her mother-in-law, Ms. Boardman is contemplating running away with a lover - handsome Malcolm McGregor (as Edward "Teddy" Luton). Mistakenly thinking her father-in-law will be absent for the duration, Boardman has invited older lovers Eugenie Besserer and George Fawcett (as Catherine "Kitty" and Hugh "Hughie" Porteous) over for a visit...

"I want to see how runaway love wears after thirty years, If they're still happy, then…"

Naturally, original deserted husband Alec B. Francis (as Clive Cheney) arrives home unexpectedly. More startling surprises follow. Reportedly, MGM changed the ending of the original W. Somerset Maugham play; it is still amusing, but the alteration no longer fits the story's thesis. This is evident in the final scenes with Ms. Besserer and Mr. Fawcett, who act up a storm. Boardman, stuffy husband Creighton Hale (as Arnold Cheney) and the others are fine, too. There is outstanding work from director Frank Borzage, photographer Chester A. Lyons and the "Cheney Castle" MGM production crew. Happily, a beautiful print survives.

******* The Circle (9/22/25) Frank Borzage ~ Eleanor Boardman, Eugenie Besserer, George Fawcett, Malcolm McGregor