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.
