Editing Colleen Moore (section)

===Success===
The next stage of her career was with the [[Christie Film Company]], a move she made when she decided she needed comic training. While with Christie she made ''[[Her Bridal Nightmare]]'', ''[[A Roman Scandal (film)|A Roman Scandal]]'', and ''[[So Long Letty (1920 film)|So Long Letty]]''. At the same time as she was working on these films, she worked on ''The Devil's Claim'' with [[Sessue Hayakawa]] (in which she played a Persian woman), ''When Dawn Came'', and ''[[His Nibs (film)|His Nibs]]'' (1921) with [[Chic Sale]]. All the while, [[Marshall Neilan]] had been attempting to get Moore released from her contract so she could work for him. He was successful and made ''Dinty'' with Moore, releasing near the end of 1920, followed by ''When Dawn Came''.

[[File:The Wall Flower (1922) - 1.jpg|thumb|260px|{{center|[[Film still]] of [[Gertrude Astor]], Moore, and [[Richard Dix]] from ''[[The Wall Flower]]'' (1922)}}]]
For all his efforts to win Moore away from Christie, it seems Neilan loaned Moore to other studios most of the time. He loaned her out to [[King Vidor]] for ''[[The Sky Pilot]]'', released in May 1921, yet another Western. After working on ''The Sky Pilot'' on location in the snows of [[Truckee Range|Truckee]], she was off to Catalina Island for work on ''[[The Lotus Eater (1921 film)|The Lotus Eater]]'' with [[John Barrymore]]. In October 1921, ''His Nibs'' was released, her only film to be released that year besides ''The Sky Pilot''. In ''His Nibs'', Moore actually appeared in a film within the film; the framing film was a comedy vehicle for Chic Sales. The film it framed was a [[parody|spoof]] on films of the time. 1922 proved to be an eventful year for Moore; she was named a [[WAMPAS Baby Stars|WAMPAS Baby Star]] during a "frolic" at the [[Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)|Ambassador Hotel]] which became an annual event, in recognition of her growing popularity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Gregory Paul |title=The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History |year=2006 |pages=122 |publisher=www.storyofhollywood.com |isbn=0-9776299-0-2}}</ref> In early 1922, ''[[Come on Over (film)|Come On Over]]'' was released, made from a [[Rupert Hughes]] story and directed by [[Alfred E. Green]]. Hughes directed Moore himself in ''The Wallflower'', released that same year. In addition, Neilan introduced her to [[John McCormick (producer)|John McCormick]], a publicist who had had his eye on Moore ever since he had first seen her photograph. He had prodded Marshall into an introduction. The two hit it off, and before long they were engaged. By the end of that year, three more of her films were released: ''[[Forsaking All Others (1922 film)|Forsaking All Others]]'', ''[[The Ninety and Nine]]'', and ''[[Broken Chains (film)|Broken Chains]]''.

''[[Look Your Best]]'' was released in early 1923, followed by two Cosmopolitan Productions, ''[[The Nth Commandment]]'' and ''Through the Dark.'' By this time, Moore had publicly confirmed her engagement to McCormick, a fact that she had been coy about to the press previously. Before mid-year, she had signed a contract with [[First National Pictures]], and her first two films were slated to be ''[[The Huntress (film)|The Huntress]]'' and ''[[Flaming Youth (film)|Flaming Youth]]''. ''[[Slippy McGee (1923 film)|Slippy McGee]]'' came out in June, followed by ''[[Broken Hearts of Broadway]]''.

Moore and John McCormick married while ''Flaming Youth'' was still in production and just before the release of ''The Savage''. When it was finally released in 1923, ''Flaming Youth'', in which she starred opposite actor [[Milton Sills]], was a hit. The controversial story put Moore in focus as a flapper, but after [[Clara Bow]] took the stage in ''[[Black Oxen]]'' in December, she gradually lost her momentum. In spring 1924 she made a good but unsuccessful effort to top Bow in ''The Perfect Flapper'', and soon after she dismissed the whole flapper vogue: "No more flappers ... people are tired of soda-pop love affairs."<ref>Los Angeles Times, May 18, 1924</ref> Decades later Moore stated Bow was her "chief rival".

[[File:Photoplay, January 1926.jpg|upright|right|thumb|Moore on cover of ''[[Photoplay]]'' magazine, 1926 ]]

''[[Through the Dark (1924 film)|Through the Dark]]'', originally shot under the name ''Daughter of Mother McGinn'', was released during the height of the ''Flaming Youth'' furor in January 1924. Three weeks later, ''[[Painted People]]'' was released. After that, she was to star in ''Counterfeit''. The film went through a number of title changes before being released as ''Flirting with Love'' in August. In October, First National purchased the rights to ''Sally'' for Moore's next film. It would be a challenge, as ''Sally'' was a musical comedy. In December, First National purchased the rights to ''Desert Flower'' and in so doing had mapped out Moore's schedule for 1925: ''Sally'' would be filmed first, followed by ''The Desert Flower''.

By the late 1920s, she had accomplished dramatic roles in films such as ''[[So Big (1924 film)|So Big]]'', where Moore aged through a stretch of decades, and was also well received in light comedies such as ''[[Irene (1926 film)|Irene]]''. An overseas tour was planned to coincide with the release of ''So Big'' in Europe, and Moore saw the tour as her first real opportunity to spend time with her husband, John McCormick. Both she and John McCormick were dedicated to their careers, and their hectic schedules had kept them from spending any quality time together. Moore wanted a family; it was one of her goals.

[[File:Colleen Moore photographed by Henry Freulich.jpg|upright|right|thumb|Promotional portrait of Moore at the height of her fame, c. 1927, showing the famous Dutchboy bobbed haircut that she made famous, and which she apparently kept until the day she died]]

Plans for the trip were put in jeopardy when she injured her neck during the filming of ''[[The Desert Flower (film)|The Desert Flower]]''. Her injury forced the production to shut down while Moore spent six weeks in a body cast in bed. Once out of the cast, she completed the film and left for Europe on a triumphal tour. When she returned, she negotiated a new contract with First National. Her films had been great hits, so her terms were very generous. Her first film upon her return to the States was ''We Moderns'', set in England with location work done in London during the tour. It was a comedy, essentially a retelling of ''Flaming Youth'' from an English perspective. This was followed by ''Irene'' (another musical in the style of the very popular ''Sally'') and ''Ella Cinders'', a straight comedy that featured a cameo appearance by comedian Harry Langdon. ''It Must Be Love'' was a romantic comedy with dramatic undertones, and it was followed by ''[[Twinkletoes]]'', a dramatic film that featured Moore as a young dancer in London's Limehouse district during the previous century. ''Orchids and Ermine'' was released in 1927, filmed in part in New York, a thinly veiled Cinderella story.

In 1927, Moore split from her studio after her husband suddenly quit. It is rumored that John McCormick was about to be fired for his drinking and that she left as a means of leveraging her husband back into a position at First National. It worked, and McCormick found himself as Moore's sole producer. Moore's popularity allowed her productions to become very large and lavish. ''[[Lilac Time (1928 film)|Lilac Time]]'' was one of the bigger productions of the era, a World War I drama. A million-dollar film, it made back every penny spent within months. Prior to its release, Warner Bros. had taken control of First National and were less than interested in maintaining the terms of her contract until the numbers started to roll in for ''Lilac Time''. The film was such a hit that Moore managed to retain generous terms in her next contract and her husband as her producer.