LOVE 'EM AND LEAVE 'EM
Starring Evelyn Brent, Louise Brooks and Lawrence Gray
PICTURE PLAY
March 1927
What more heartening, more stimulating, than the discovery of a polished gem where one looked for a pebble?
I mean "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" - a joy of a picture. It promised to be just a movie, and ended by becoming a little masterpiece.
It's all quite simple and unpretentious - about a group of department store workers. The interest centers upon Mame, who looks after her younger sister Janie and finds her hands full, for Janie is gay, likes flashy clothes, and goes in for Charleston contests and such. Mame has a young man, too, whose activities as a window dresser are made more successful by Mame's helpful ideas on the subject.
During Mame's absence, his affections are captured by Janie, and the lives of all three are further complicated by the disappearance of funds intrusted (sic) with Janie by the welfare association of the employees. Mame's efforts to recover the money bring about the melodrama of the picture, as well as much of the best acting found in it.
For that matter, good acting abounds throughout. Evelyn Bent is superb as Mame, Louise Brooks really challenges serious consideration as Janie, and Osgood Perkins, drafted from the stage, is immense as Lem, the villain of the piece, while Lawrence Gray, that young man who is dissatisfied with the roles he has had during his year in picture, proves his ability as a light comedian in this one. Marcia Harris also is excellent as a power in the store.