Clara Bow’s fifteenth movie was The Adventurous Sex, produced in November 1924, with location shooting at Niagara Falls, and released on June 12, 1925. Clara played Patricia Webster. Sadly, this silent movie is now lost.

The Adventurous Sex was one of sixteen movies Clara made in eighteen months. At this stage of her career, she was on the movie treadmill, and not enjoying it. Many of these movies were low budget and of poor quality. However, her hard work was rewarded with an appearance on the cover of Motion Picture Classic, June 1925, her first magazine cover appearance.

Of Clara, Motion Picture Classic said, “Little Clara Bow shows alarming symptoms of becoming the sensation of the year in Hollywood. There is something vital and compelling in her presence. She is the spirit of youth. She is Young America rampant, the symbol of flapperdom.”

Clara Bow’s sixteenth movie was Capital Punishment, produced in December 1924 and released on February 1, 1925. Clara Bow played Delia Tate, the witness to a murder.

The storyline for Capital Punishment was devised by Clara’s producer, B.P. Schulberg. It centred on a man condemned to die for a murder he did not commit. However, Clara saves the day and identifies the real murderer.

The New York Times published a scathing review of Capital Punishment. Nevertheless, the picture gave Clara her biggest break since her seventh movie, Black Oxen.

Clara Bow’s seventeenth movie was My Lady’s Lips, a silent drama released on July 1, 1925, that starred Alyce Mills. The film also featured William Powell, later to achieve fame in the Thin Man series, in his tenth movie role. Clara played Lola Lombard, the daughter of a newspaper magnet. Despite their overlapping careers, Clara and William Powell only worked on two movies together. 

At this stage of her career, Clara was making cheap films at a hectic schedule, often completing the production within two weeks. Vacillating between the flirtatious and the vulnerable, she was used by people in the film industry, and she used some of those people to get her way. 

From the slums of Brooklyn and burdened with low self-esteem, Clara Bow was a complex person, and all those complexities were on display during this phase of her life.

Clara Bow’s eighteenth movie was Eve’s Lover, produced during the early months of 1925 and released on 6 July, 1925. Clara played Rena D’Arcy. This was one of Clara’s ‘loan-out’ movies. She was not the lead actress in this movie, yet her image featured on the lobby cards. Another example of how Clara upstaged everyone, regardless of her status in any given movie.

Clara Bow’s nineteenth movie was Lawful Cheater aka The Lawful Cheaters, a silent crime drama. Clara played Molly Burns, a young woman jailed for “indiscreet behaviour”. Produced during the spring of 1925, the movie was released on July 17, 1925. 

The critics were not impressed with this offbeat crime drama, calling it “slight and trite” and “cheaply produced”. The “sole redeeming factor” was Clara Bow. At one point, Molly Burns appeared in male drag, which was “fun to watch”. However, The British Board of Film Censors did not have a sense of humour – they banned the film.

Clara Bow’s twentieth movie was The Scarlet West, an ambitious silent film about the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The movie was produced in the spring of 1925, with location shooting in Colorado, and released on July 26, 1925. Clara played Miriam. Sadly, no copies of the film survive.