freebyte I watched this film because I wanted to see Clara Bow's early work. The plot is as implausible as others have mentioned, and Clara is still learning her craft, but how she lights up the screen! When doing comic or action scenes, she is superb. I love the bit where she disguises herself as a maid and has to fend off amorous 'gentlemen'. I can see how she won the hearts of movie-goers of the era. She is so pretty and so naturally animated. What should be subtle... um... isn't, but Clara made 15 films in this same year -- no one was going to wait around for retakes and guidance of a young actress.There are some excellent comic moments from the rest of the cast, particularly Lillian Leighton as a French Ma Barker. She reminds me of W. C. Fields. You may be surprised at how much this movie entertains. Watch it for Bow, but enjoy the rest.

Michael_Elliott Parisian Love (1925)** (out of 4) A lot of times "B" movies are put down for not having enough plot and not running long enough to matter. That saying is really put to the test here as this film runs a mere 62-minutes but there are enough plots here for ten movies. The film starts out as Apache lovers Marie (Clara Bow) and Armand (Donald Keith) break into the house of the rich Pierre Marcel (Lou Tellegen). Marie takes off when the police arrive but Armand becomes "friends" with Pierre who eventually saves him from blood poisoning. Still awake? Pierre then hooks Armand up with another woman, which Marie finds out about as she's gone undercover in the house as a maid. This upsets Marie so she plans on marrying Pierre to get even with him while other goons try robbing him for more money. There are several other subplots going on in this thing, which happens to be just one of fifteen movies Bow would make in 1925. The amazing thing here is how much stuff they try throwing at the viewer and for the life of me I really can't figure out what it was for. There's really no romance here even though, I guess, in the end that's what the story is suppose to be about. None of the goons are ever threatening and there's no tension from anything that happens with them. There's very little comedy and there's really no strong character development. There's pretty much nothing going on here but the thing is just so weird, so over-the-top that you can't help but keep watching just to see what's going to happen next. I would call this a really bizarre film but it's worth noting that director Gasnier would later make REEFER MADNESS so I guess this film could have gone even further (although there is a cocaine snorting scene here). I think the main reason people will be drawn to this film is just to see Bow. This isn't the greatest performance out there but she does a fair job with the role. Some of her acting towards the end of the picture is too far out there but she's nice to look at. Keith is a tad bit too bland in his role and Tellegen is so far gone that you can't help think he'd perfectly fit into REEFER MADNESS.

nycritic With a plot line that is as convoluted as a ball of yarn, PARISIAN LOVE barely manages to escape ignominy due to the presence of Clara Bow, who with her huge eyes, expressive face, and earthy beauty just dying to burst out of its confines manages to transcend well beyond the material she was handed (which tended to be unremarkable, as she wasn't considered glamorous enough to garner or carry that sort of film). Even so, PARISIAN LOVE is an odd movie, one that starts out as a dance-duel between partners, evolves into an adventure, and then turns into a revenge drama where Bow's character decides to go after Armand (Donald Keith) after believing he has betrayed her love for him in a rather implausible way. All in all, it's an okay movie, for completists of Bow's cinematography only, but for anyone looking for true acting and in a timeless style, the preferred movie to view would be IT.

David Atfield Am I just deluded or is this the tale of a woman driven to extremes of jealousy, when her boyfriend becomes the lover of another man? The story goes like this: A handsome young robber is caught while robbing a wealthy man. Instead of handing him over to the police, the man claims that the robber is an old friend, and then nurses his wounds in his own bed. He insists that the young man live with him or he will turn him in. Meanwhile the robber's girlfriend finds out what's going on and, while the robber is away on a business trip for his "friend", she decides to seduce the wealthy man and trap him into marrying her. This she describes as revenge for him stealing her lover from her. A title reads: "All of Paris whispered when Pierre Marcel was married - he had been so aloof from love". Mmm. Well if anyone could "convert" a gay man it would have to be the wondrous CLARA BOW.