Way of a Girl (1925)

The Summons by Katherine Newlin Burt made for such tired movie material that director Robert G. Vignola and scenarist Albert Shelby LeVino decided to have some fun with it. The film version of this boy-gets-girl tale begins in LeVino's office, where he is trying to come up with a screenplay that will be accepted -- several have already been turned down. Allowed to pick his own star, he chooses Eleanor Boardman, who emerges from her photograph in miniature (via double exposure) and insists on picking her own leading man, selecting Matt Moore. From there the story begins in earnest, with occasional cuts back to the chain-smoking LeVino. Rosamond (Boardman) is a spirited girl who is disgusted when her beau, George (Moore), voices the opinion that women need to be treated like horses. After the couple attend a prize fight, Rosamond is arrested for speeding, but she refuses to be released into George's custody, preferring to stay behind bars -- that is, until she gets into a fight with another girl. Then, when George tries to take her to her father in the mountains, she uses an excuse to ditch him and drives off. The car careens down the mountain and she winds up in a stream. She is rescued by Brand (William Russell) and Matt (Matthew Betz), who turn out to be murderers. George tries to save her from the killers, but an avalanche separates them. Unable to think of a solution, Rosamond herself goes to LeVino for an answer and he tells her to shoot her attacker. She does, and then she and Matt return to LeVino's typewriter for a clinch on top of the keys. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi