Stodgy, inept, illogical melodrama throws a lot of emotions on the screen, but they're not consistent, and they don't pay off. Bank teller Conrad Nagel is studying to be a lawyer, while his best bud, fellow clerk Robert Ames, likes to chase the broads and hit the speakeasies. Nagel's bride, Betty Compson with an uncertain Scandinavian accent, arrives on the boat and first seems besotted with her fiance, but becomes increasingly intrigued by his pal. Ames steals her away from Nagel, though he doesn't love her and doesn't really intend to marry her-so why? Nagel, up till now so studious and ethical that he's dull, makes a bad investment and covers it with bank notes, then is able to pin the crime on Ames, who lands in Sing Sing. Nagel then marries Compson, though she's already said she doesn't love him, and five years later they're raising Dickie Moore. Ames breaks out of prison and heads to the mansion Nagel built for Compson, where he demands she hide him yet confesses he never really cared for her. Nagel decides he has to come clean with Detective Robert Emmett O'Connor, playing what he always played, but a hilariously unlikely ending puts everything right. The emotions don't hang true on this one, and I don't believe any of it, but Nagel is good, and Ames, who died shortly after making it, had the makings of a good slimy villain.
Review of Three Who Loved
