The Lawful Cheater
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Frank O'Connor
Written by	Adele Buffington Frank O'Connor
Produced by	B.P. Schulberg
Starring	Clara Bow David Kirby Raymond McKee
Production company	B.P. Schulberg Productions
Distributed by	Al Lichtman Preferred Pictures
Release date	July 17, 1925 (1925-07-17) (US)
Running time	1492.91 m (5 reels)
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

The Lawful Cheater, sometimes referred to as Lawful Cheaters, is a 1925 American silent crime drama film written by Frank O'Connor and Adele Buffington. The film was directed by O'Connor for B.P. Schulberg Productions, and starred Clara Bow, David Kirby, and Raymond McKee.^[1][2] After its 1925 U.S. theatrical release, the film was banned by the British Board of Film Censors.^[3]

The film is presumed to be a lost film.^[4]

Plot

Molly Burns (Clara Bow) is a young woman whose indiscreet behavior causes her to be caught and jailed in a police "round up" of suspicious characters. Her prison experience causes her to reflect upon and reform her own life. She convinces jail authorities that her two brothers and her boyfriend could be dissuaded from a life of crime. After her early release, she attempts to reform her indiscreet friends.

Cast

Reception

In American Film Cycles: the Silent Era, the film is called an "offbeat crime drama".^[1] In noting the film was a "cheaply produced melodrama" with a storyline that was "slight and trite", Hal Erickson of AllRovi wrote that beyond the film benefitting from actual use of New York City locations, Clara Bow acted as the film's "sole redeeming factor." He noted that at one point in the film, Bow's character of Molly Burns appeared in male drag which even if "far from convincing", was "fun to watch."^[5]