Parisian Love

1925, Movie, NR, 62 mins

PARISIAN LOVE
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Set among the society swells and street toughs of early 20th-century Paris, this drama allowed star Clara Bow to assume a variety of guises and, more important, costumes. Armand (Donald Keith), a well-born and educated young man, has fallen into the low life through the mischance and remained there for love of Marie (Bow), a streetwise Apache dancer. Together with their criminal friends, Armand and Marie make a living scamming American tourists looking for an "authentic" Paris experience. One night the gang decides to rob the home of wealthy scientist Pierre Marcel (Lou Tellegen), who made the mistake of losing his calling card at one of the clubs they frequent. Mid-robbery, Armand recognizes Marcel as a professor who taught him at university, and intervenes when one of the other crooks tries to stab the older man. Armand is wounded, and Marcel undertakes to nurse him back to health and help him retake his proper place in society. Thinking that Marie was killed by the police, Armand agrees. Marie, meanwhile, believes that Armand has abandoned her for the posh life, and vows revenge on Marcel for having turned her lover's head. She cooks up a plan to seduce and marry Marcel, and agrees to share his wealth with her gang. It's all very complicated, even before you factor in the odd homoerotic undertones, but the tale gives Bow an opportunity to dress as a street urchin, a French maid, a convent-reared lady, a bride and even a boy. It's quite a spectacle, and shows off Bow at the height of her career; this is one of 15 films she made in 1925. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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Parisian Love
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