After staring in the disappointing Pink Tights, Gladys Walton returned to the circus background, where she tamed both a lion and an undisciplined young man, in Harry B. Harris's romantic drama, The Man Tamer (1922).
When Kitty's (Walton) father, a lion tamer played by Rex de Roselli, becomes incapacitated, his daughter, Kitty, decides to take over his act. Hayden Delmar (William Welsh), the circus owner, is romantically attracted to his new star, as if Bradley Caldwell (Roscoe Karns), the rich and spoiled son of a millionaire. She chooses neither one, but when Caldwell father pleads with her to tame his son the way she handles her lions, shoe accepts the challenge. During her assignment, she begins to realize she is falling in love with her subject. Meanwhile, Delmar, the owner, begins to make unsavory advances toward her, although she has earlier rejected him. This leads Caldwell to forcefully rescue her from the lecherous owner.
The Man Tamer is somewhat of a morbidly bizarre film. Though not quite as "arty" as say The Devil's Circus or He Who Gets Slapped and not even bordered on tragedy. However, one interested in such classics will find this little gem quite entertaining to say the least.
