Polly of the Circus

Davies stars as a trapeze artist who comes into contact with a young clergyman (Clark Gable). Eventually the two develop a relationship and much to his family's dismay, they marry.

The film begins to fall apart here with a series of long winded, hard to swallow scenes. The married couple has a falling out over his devotion to the church. Marion realizes for the first time that she is bad for her husband's career. This is so, despite the fact that she has been told this from the moment the two became interested in each other.

After stating her displeasure with his dedication to the church, she turns around and decides she must leave her husband so he can further his career. She is willing to do this because she loves him so much. Marion's plan is to divorce her husband, but when she is told by the reverend (played by C Aubrey Smith) that this is impossible she comes up with another plan. She will go back to the circus and fall during the trapeze act. Committing suicide so then she will no longer be a detriment to her husband's future.

As a rule, I have no problem with ridiculous melodrama. But the screenplay is weak and the acting staid. This film is based on an old chestnut of a play that was probably outdated when it was first filmed in 1917. The wrong side of the tracks girl and the clergyman is a great story in theory, but the film fails to make the relationship believable.