MANTRAP
Starring Clara Bow, Percy Marmont and Ernest Torrence
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
October, 1926
The erudite Mr. Sinclair Lewis should present his gratitutde to Clara Bow. For it is Clara's performance, rather than his plot, that makes the film version of his latest novel such fine entertainment.
Undoubtedly, the story was intended to center around Percy Marmont, as a New York divorce lawyer, who goes to the great open spaces to escape women. Ernest Torrence, as a backwoodsman and husband to an ex-manicurist, befriends him. And then Clara Bow steps into the picture as a wife who couldn't make her eyes behave, and runs away with everything. When she is on the screen, nothing else matters. When she is off, the same is true.
The backgrounds are perfect for summer -- cool and inviting. Victor Fleming's direction is sufficient. But it's Clara's triumph. She is personality and sex appeal plus.
MANTRAP
Starring Clara Bow, Percy Marmont and Ernest Torrence
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
October, 1926
Whoever seized upon the chance to take the bunk out of Westerns is deserving of a gold gewgaw of some kind. Here is Sinclair Lewis' story - which more or less satirized the great open spaces - coming to light on the screen, with most of its spirit intact. In other words, the sponsors have worked on the premise that intelligence is abroad -- that it stalks among the movie patrons now and then.
As a result, we have a clever take-off on the great open spaces -- a take-off on a love triangle -- in which the wronged husband refused to take the law in his own hands, but looks philosophically upon the amatory inclinations of his spouse.
And who could be a better choice for the little manicurist from the city than Clara Bow? When the big, primitive backwoodsman comes forth from the tall pines to taste a bit of adventure in the city, he becomes smitten with the ways of the spirited girl. And whisks her back to the open country -- of God's vast cathedral -- where she proceeds to vamp all the boys in general and a chap from the city in particular.
The appealing points of the picture -- its humor and charm -- arise from her reactions to her primitive friends and settings. In the end, she vows to be a good girl, having become fed up with city slickers.
The piece is decorated with pithy and pointed subtitles -- and the acting is a treat, particularly Miss Bow's performance and the character study by Ernest Torrence as the backwoods husband.
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