Hitchcock 9

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) presented the Hitchcock 9 at the Castro Theater from June 14 to 16.  I saw six of the nine films on the program.  The Hitchcock 9 is project by the British Film Institute to digitally restore all of Alfred Hitchcock’s surviving silent films.

Blackmail starring Anny Ondra, John Longden & Cyril Ritchard; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by the Mont Alo Motion Picture Orchestra; (1929)

The Ring starring Carl Brisson, Lilian Hall-Davis & Ian Hunter; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by the Mont Alo Motion Picture Orchestra; (1927)

The Manxman starring Carl Brisson, Malcolm Keen & Amy Ondra; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Stephen Horne & Diana Rowan; (1929)

Easy Virtue starring Isabel Jeans, Robin Irvine & Franklin Dyall; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1927)

The Pleasure Garden starring Virginia Valli, Camelita Geraghty, Miles Mander & John Stuart; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Stephen Horne; (1926)

The Lodger starring Ivor Novello, Malcolm Keen & June Tripp; directed by Alfred Hitchcock; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by the Mont Alo Motion Picture Orchestra; (1926)

The same nine films are screening at the PFA from August 16 to 31.  Judith Rosenberg is scheduled to accompany all nine films.  I plan on seeing the three films I missed at the PFA screenings.

It was little odd for SFSFF to have a program so close to their annual festival.  The crowds were a little lighter than the festival proper but still quite strong.  It was also the first time I recall Judith Rosenberg performing at a SFSFF event.  She performs regularly at PFA and Niles Essanay.

Most of the films were not "Hitchcockian" - few murders and the humor wasn't quite so cheeky.

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The festival opened with Blackmail which was Hitchcock's final silent film and it portended his best talkies.  Frank (John Longden) is police detective. He and his girlfriend Alice (Anny Ondra) have an argument over dinner.  It's unclear if Alice is having an affair or goes off with an artist in response to the argument with Frank.  I think the latter but regardless, she goes to his studio where he eventually tries to rape her.  She defends herself with a pair of scissors which ends in the artist death.

Frank is assigned the case the next day and recognizes Alice's glove at the murder scene as well as the victim who he glimpsed leaving the restaurant with Alice.  He tries to steer the investigation away from Alice but she is being blackmailed by someone who saw her enter the artist's studio.  Frank and Alice conspire to handle the blackmailer but he flees leading to climactic chase on the roof of the British Museum Reading Room.

This film felt just like one of the Master's more well known films - sex, blackmail, murder, etc.  Hitchcock shoots a great visual scene where the camera elevates as Alice and the artist ascend the stairs.

Michael Powell of Powell & Pressburger fame worked on Blackmail as a still photographer.

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The Ring wasn't bad although it didn't feel like a Hitchcock film.  "One Round" Jack (Carl Brisson) is a carnival boxer who takes on all comers.  Bob Corby (Ian Hunter) is the boxing champ who steps into the carnival ring against Jack.  Jack doesn't know who his opponent is and suffers a rare defeat at his hands.  Corby was there looking for a sparring partner.

Jack's girlfriend, and eventual wife, (Lilian Hall-Davis credited as "The Girl") is fickle.  She was attracted to Jack because of his boxing prowess but seeing Corby beat him and the following Corby's boxing career, she eventually takes up with the champ.  In fact, Jack must rise up the ranks in order to get a championship fight against Corby in order to win the girl back.  Ironically, it is while Jack is training for the fight that Corby and the girl become an item.  If the old boxing superstition is to be believed, it was because Corby consorted with women that he eventually loses the match to Jack.

The film was a little too pat.  The Ring is Hitchcock's only screenwriting credit and shows a maudlin streak.  I thought it would have worked better if Jack had lost the fight (or the girl) but there is no use in talking about the film that wasn't made.  The final fight scene was nicely done although the two actors did not move like fighters.

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The Manxman was also a love triangle but I enjoyed it more than The Ring.  The title refers to people from the Isle of Man.  Shouldn't they be called Manman or Manmen (plural)?  Hitchcock makes great use of the coastal scenery but Cornwall stood in for the Isle of Man, a small island off the northwest coast of England,

Pete (Carl Brisson) , a poor fisherman and Philip (Malcolm Keen), a lawyer from a prominent family are best friends.  Pete is in love Kate (Anny Ondra) but her father refuses to allow her daughter to marry Pete due to his low station in life.  Pete goes to Africa to make his fortune.  Africa?  Anyway, before he leaves he ask Philip to "take care" of Kate until he returns and can marry her.  You know were this is going.

In Pete's absence, Kate & Philip develop attraction towards each other but it isn't until news of Pete's death reaches them that their passion can be fully expressed.  Philip is being groomed for a judgeship on the island (which is called a Deemster).  Additionally, Philip's family objects to his consorting with people like Kate (a tavern keeper's daughter) and Pete.

News of Pete's death was inaccurate as he arrives back on Isle of Man healthy and wealthy.  Although she has stronger feelings from Philip, Kate marries Pete so as not to break his heart and not to mention Philip has kept their relationship on the QT.  There is a great scene where the wedding reception is held at a grain mill, the same spot of many of Philip and Kate's trysts.  Kate's father (the stern looking Randie Ayrton) delivers a wedding toast about something being ground up like the grain under the millstone.

Kate & Pete settle into married life while Philip is appointed Deemster.  If Kate could just let go of Philip, everything would be alright.  Kate gives birth (the father is open question) and the stress of being a new mother and being married to a man she doesn't truly love is too much.  She goes to Philip to rekindle their affair but he has a career and reputation to protect.  Distraught, Kate attempts suicide but is unsuccessful.  Attempted suicide is a crime on the Isle of Man and Kate is prosecuted in Philip's courtroom.

Despite his wife's erratic and hurtful behavior, Pete is still in love with her and pleads with Philip to free her to his custody.  Pete still doesn't know about Philip and Kate's relationship.  Philip agrees to let Kate go in the custody of her husband but she refuses.  While watching the proceedings, Kate's father begins to realize that Kate is in love with another man...and that man is Philip.  He publicly accuses Philip of betraying Pete and impregnating his daughter.  Philip admits to this and leaves the bench.

The final scene is Kate & Philip leaving the Isle of Man to jeers of a mob.  That seemed a little overdone but according the program notes, it would have been consistent with the prevailing attitude of the time.

The Manxman was very good and I liked it quite a bit.  I was going to say that I liked it quite a bit for a love triangle story but decided there was no need to qualify statement.  The three lead actors gave strong performances.

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Easy Virtue was adapted from a Noel Coward play which seems like odd source material for both Hitchcock and a silent film.  I thought I saw the stage version of Easy Virtue at ACT a few years back, but I was mistaken.  ACT has never performed Easy Virtue.  I'm wondering where I saw it.  Since seeing the film, I realized it had been remade a few years ago with Jessica Biel, Colin Firth & Kristin Scott Thomas.  I still can't figure out where I saw the stage version.

Anyway, the Hitchcock version is a film I like better today than when I saw it.  I won't say I liked it but I've gone form mild dislike to neutrality.  As the film opens, Larita (Isabel Jeans) is married to a drunken wife beater.  Accused of adultery, she accepts divorce to get away from him.  The divorce brands her an adulterer or woman of "easy virtue" so she leaves for the French Rivera where she meets John Whittaker (Robin Irvine), a rich young man.  Afraid to reveal her divorce or more specifically the grounds for her divorce, she keeps her first marriage a secret.  John falls in love and asks her to marry him and she accepts.

John takes Larita back to England to meet his family where his mother shows an antipathy towards her. News of her first marriage and particulars of its dissolution come to light.  Larita eventually decides to end her second marriage for different reason that her first.  Tired of the hostility and realizing another woman loves John, Larita gets divorced for a second time.

Condensed to 70 minutes, the film didn't leave much room for character development.  Moreover, it looked like a play that had been filmed.  I'm also sure that some of Coward's biting dialogue was lost on the intertitle cards.

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The Pleasure Garden was kind of ham-handed in some of its characterizations.  Jill (Carmelita Geraghty) arrives in London with a letter of introduction addressed to the proprietor of the Pleasure Garden Theater - a dance and variety revue.  Jill apparently comes from a small town and is immediately the victim of a pickpocket.  Jill promptly loses her letter and her money.  Patsy (Virginia Valli), a kind-hearted chorus girl at the Pleasure Garden takes pity of Jill and invites her to stay at her place.

Jill's boyfriend Hugh (John Stuart) shows up in London with Levet (Miles Mander) Levet, slight acquaintance.  Whatever her background, Jill is self-confident to the point of arrogance.  She gets a lead role on the basis of her talent and quickly gets high-handed with Jill and to a lesser extent Hugh.  In the meantime, Patsy & Levet being a romance despite signs of Levet's misogyny and other character flaws.

Hugh is sent overseas for work and Levet is soon to join him although he first marries Patsy.  Jill begins to carry on an affair with a prince which Hugh is unaware of.  After their honeymoon, Levet goes Africa although it looked more like a South Seas/Pacific island where he meets Hugh, keeps secret Jill's affair and takes up with local girl.  Patsy becomes concerned after not hearing from her husband for a long period.  Shacked up and not thinking much of his wife, Levet makes up an excuse by saying he has been ill.

Concerned for his health, Patsy immediately sets out to join him so she can nurse him back to health.  When she arrives unannounced, she discovers Levet has been carrying on with the native girl.  This sends Levet into a tizzy.  He forces the girl from his hut she refuses.  He settles the matter by drowning the girl.  Determined to get his wife back, he looks for her and find her tending to Hugh (who really is ill).  Levet forces Patsy to return to the hut where his guilt over killing the woman drives him crazy.  Actually, I wondered if his behavior was the result of untreated syphilis.  I don't know why that popped into my mind.

Hugh has warned his boss that Levet is acting erratically.  The boss arrives at Levet's house to find him trying to kill Patsy.  He shoots & kills Levet.  In the meantime, Hugh has read in a newspaper that Patsy brought that Jill is marrying the prince.  As Patsy arrives, the two find consolation with each other - one  a fevered man who has just learned he has been jilted and the other woman just barely survived attempted murder.  I'm sure that's a happily-ever-after relationship.

Miles Mander seems to be enjoying himself playing the dastardly Levet.   Carmelita Geraghty also seems to embrace the "success has gone to her head" Jill.  Virginia Valli & John Stuart seem a little flat in their roles.  A little melodrama goes a long way and this film had too much for my taste.

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The full title of The Lodger was The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog.  A serial killer called "The Avernger" is terrorizing London.  His MO is to kill young blonde women.  He even kills them on Tuesday night every week.  Joe (Malcolm Keen), a policeman is assigned to case.  His blonde girlfriend Daisy (June Tripp) lives & works at her parents boarding house.  Joe has determined that the Avenger's murders are working their way across London and if the pattern holds, next week his hunting ground will be in the vicinity of Daisy's boarding house.

Mr. Drew (Ivor Novello) arrives at the boarding house and rents a room.  A peculiar man, Drew is secretive and has the paintings of beautiful blonde nudes removed from his room.  Drew & Daisy become friendly during his stay which leaves Joe resentful.  In addition, Daisy's mother hears Drew entering the house late one night...only to discover the Avenger has struck again and right around the corner from her house.

Daisy's parents and Joe come to believe Drew is the Avenger but Daisy is unconvinced.  She even goes out with him the Tuesday night.  Joe arrests the lodger and finds a gun, a map with the Avenger's murders marked on it, newspaper clippings and a photo of an attractive blonde woman.  Joe thinks he has caught the Avenger despite Daisy's protest.  Drew escapes custody and hides out with Daisy's help.  Drew explains that the woman in the photo is his sister and one of the Avenger's victims.  Drew had promised his dying mother that he would catch the Avenger and he has been hunting him ever since which explains his suspicious behavior.

With a manhunt on for the Avenger/Drew, a crowd becomes suspicious of Drew and Daisy.   It appears as though a lynching is inevitable but at the crucial moment, a paperboy, hawking his newspapers, loudly announces that the Avenger has been caught and the mob disperses.

Not quite a MacGuffin but definitely a red herring, Hitchcock keeps the deception up for the entire film.  I don't think the Avenger's face was shown in the film.  The lodger's true intentions remained hidden throughout the film which allowed for a "surprise" ending.  The Lodger felt like a Hitchcock film and a good one at that.  Ivor Novello is particularly creepy as the eponymous character.

East Bay Express

Three time in three days, I trekked to the East Bay.  I went to the Niles Essanay in Fremont, Rialto Elmwood in Berkeley and the New Parkway in Oakland.  I had never been to the Elmwood or New Parkway (or the Old Parkway).

Ben-Hur starring Ramon Novarro & Francis X. Bushman; directed by Fred Niblo; silent with intertitles; live accompaniment by Jon Mirsalis; (1925)
Django starring Franco Nero; directed by Sergio Corbucci; Italian with subtitles; (1966)
Beasts of the Southern Wild starring Quvenzhané Wallis & Dwight Henry; directed by Benh Zeitlin; (2012) - Official Website

I saw Ben-Hur at Niles Essanay, Django at the Elmwood and Beasts of the Southern Wild at the New Parkway.

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Since I've written so much about the New Parkway, I guess I should start with it.  Given a half day off from work on the 24th, I ventured over to Oakland for the 6:45 PM screening of Beasts of the Southern Wild. The theater is located on 24th Street between Telegraph and Broadway.  As I approached the theater, I thought the building had been tagged (i.e. graffiti).  There is no traditional signage for the New Parkway.  "The New Parkway" is spray painted on the outside wall.  There are some images of three guys (two with Oakland A's caps and one with a SF Giants cap) with dollar signs for left eyes that I thought was some leftover Occupy Oakland commentary.

The first thing I noticed when walking in is that the lobby was spacious and looked like a cafe.  If the food is good, it wouldn't surprise me if the cafe could be operated as a stand-alone business.  The only object to indicate that a movie theater is nearby is the old school film projector used as ornamentation.  The box office is at the concession bar which includes six (if I counted correctly) beers on tap.  The kitchen is semi-open so you can see the food staff preparing food.

I ordered a grilled cheese with tomatoes which was a little dry.  Honestly, I could have made a grilled cheese of similar quality and I'm an average cook at best.  I don't think they pressed the sandwich with oil or butter. My mother made great grilled cheese - the secret is too use butter but not too much!  On the day I went, a complimentary beverage was included with the price of admission.  Having driven, I passed on beer and selected an Italian soda.  The food is delivered via a wireless system.  I was given a plastic card.  When I sat down in the theater, each table had a wireless card reader.  I inserted the card into the reader which informed the staff where I was seated.  The food was delivered to my table.   There was a button on the card reader console which indicated I could order food from my seat.  I didn't try that feature.

The theater consisted of a floor space with mismatched couches, booths, love seats, chairs, coffee tables and various bric-à-brac.  Behind the floor were three levels of stadium style terraces with individual seats and love seats.  Next to each seat is a side table for one's food.  The entire effect of the interior is an industrial space with garage sale chic furniture and Oaklandish graffiti art on the walls.

There were only 8 or 10 people at my screening.  It was Christmas Eve but the turnout was still a little disappointing.

As for Beasts of the Southern Wild, it wasn't my cup of tea.  A fantasy involving a child's imagination, the film explores death and the circle of life while mixing in what appears to be Hurricane Katrina footage and the prehistoric beasts from the title.  There were a lot of shots of piles of crayfish and the bayou.  There was a particularly interesting scene where four young girls visit a floating brothel and begin dancing with the ladies.  Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy, the daughter and Dwight Henry as Wink, the father give strong (borderline crazy) performances.

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The Elmwood is on a stretch of College Avenue I had never been to before.  A nondescript single screen theater which has now been divided into three screens, the Elmwood was most notable for the interesting looking neighborhood it resides on.

Django, undoubtedly re-released to take advantage of Tarantino's upcoming Django Unchained, left me underwhelmed.  Set in a fetid, muddy Southwest US town where the Mexican, ex-Confederates and ex-Union soldiers speak Italian, Django was long on violence and Franco Nero's steel blue eyes.  Much preferring Leone's Man With No Name trilogy, Django's extended scenes of violence and silence left me bored at times.  The beautiful Loredana Nusciak (born Loredana Cappelletti) is ridiculously cast as Django's Mexican love interest.


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A healthy crowd turned out on Saturday, December 22 for the silent version of Ben-Hur (projected from a Blu Ray).  Hewing closely to the 1959 film's plot but clocking in at approximately an hour shorter, the silent version doesn't have the grandeur of the William Wyler/Charlton Heston classic.  The most expensive silent film ever made, Ben-Hur was a blockbuster hit when it was released.  I thought Francis X. Bushman's Messala overshadowed Ramon Novarro's Ben-Hur.  Ben-Hur looked to be no match for Messala whereas Heston and Stephen Boyd seemed more evenly matched (not to mention the homosexual undertones).  

The chariot race scene is still exciting although there weren't any blades on Messala's chariot but Ben-Hur's stallions were white.  The silent Ben-Hur is a significant film in its own right but I simply prefer the Charlton Heston version.

Women Behaving Badly

I saw a few films where the general theme was women behaving badly; sometimes men were behaving badly as well.

A Labor of Love; documentary; directed by Robert Flaxman & Daniel Goldman; (1976) - Official Website
The Wild Pussycat; (1969)
Bridesmaids starring Kristen Wiig; (2011) - Official Website
It starring Clara Bow; silent with intertitles; (1927)

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A Labor of Love and The Wild Pussycat were part of the YBCA's Vintage Erotica series. The film I was most interested in seeing was Camille 2000 directed by Radley Metzger. However, the Roxie's I Wake Up Dreaming series conflicted with the first screening and I didn't feel well so I passed on the second screening.

A Labor of Love was a "making of" documentary. The subject was The Last Affair which is billed as the only hardcore porn film ever filmed in Chicago. I'm not sure how that claim was verified. I'm not sure why The Last Affair deserved a documentary on its making. Quoting Roger Ebert from 1976, "The Last Affair is an appallingly bad movie - so completely bankrupt in ideas, in characterization, in simple common sense that it's little wonder its makers bought a theater to get it shown." Based on the little I saw in A Labor of Love, I have to concur with Mr. Ebert.

What is interesting is that the documentary is more interesting than the source material. For the record, The Last Affair was repurposed before its release so the sex scenes were edited out. That may or may not have improved the film. The premise of The Last Affair as stated in A Labor of Love is that there is a brothel catering to women stocked with all kinds of men...the rare and elusive brothel catering to heterosexual women, right up there with the unicorn and the last honest man. That's all one needs to know about The Last Affair.

A Labor of Love interviews the director and actors working on The Last Affair. They don't quite seem to realize they are making porn dressed up as pretentious schlock. A Labor of Love is most enjoyable when it captures the spirt of the 70s. The actors all speak about empowerment, women's rights and all the other 1970s buzzwords. Director Robert Flaxman took questions after the screening. He said all the actors talked a good game of swinging and free love but when it came time to actually film the porn, they realized they were in over their head (no pun intended).

The most fascinating subject was actress Debbie Dan who reminded me of every 1970s stereotype I recalled. She looked and spoke like an amalgamation of actresses from the era. She talked about women's liberation and how she wasn't uptight about sex but it seemed to be an act. Dan was a trooper though. Even though she had her period that day, she showed up with douche bag in hand to film her sex scene.

A Labor of Love is a fascinating and valuable time capsule of the sexual revolution circa 1976. It's well worth a viewing. I wouldn't call it erotica by any stretch.

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The Wild Pussycat was a Greek soft-core porno flick from the swinging 60s; the dialogue was dubbed. Before the film, YBCA film curator Joel Shepard said The Wild Pussycat was the only film in YBCA history to receive a standing ovation when they screened it a few years ago. The film was better attended than any YBCA screening I've been to.

The plot involved a young woman who is avenging her sister's death. Vera and Mike (or was it Nick?) are a couple but Mike certainly abuses the relationship. She pimps Vera out, has rough sex with her in front of the landlord to avoid paying rent and ties her up and makes her watch him having sex with another woman. Eventually, he kicks Vera out of the apartment and she commits suicide. Unfortunately for Mike, Vera left a diary which details her degradations. More unfortunatrely, Vera has beautiful sister who is out for vengeance. Vera's sister Nadia (Gizela Dalli) is protagonist of the film.

Nadia lures Mike to her boudoir with the promise of sex but instead drugs him and chains him up in a secret, soundproof room behind the bedroom mirror. From that vantage point, Mike will suffer excruciatingly as Nadia beds a number of men and women. Mike can only look upon the frolicking through the mirror with his right hand conveniently out of camera range.

Eventually, the sexual sadism becomes too much for Mike to handle he goes insane. If the filmmakers played this film straight, it would have been a all-time classic. However, it was played tongue-in-cheek (and other other orifices) which gives it a campy feel. Still not a bad film but not quite worthy of a standing ovation. The audience was roaring with laughter at times but kept their seats as the credits rolled.

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I saw Bridesmaids at the Balboa. The film has done well at the box office and is well reviewed. Tagged as "The Hangover for chicks," I thought the film deserved to stand on its own merits. From the commeercials, I was expectng more raunchy humor but most of the film deals with Annie (Kristen Wiig) who is asked to be the maid-of-honor at her childhood best friend's wedding. Annie has some serious issues she is dealing with. Mainly, her bakery has gone bankrupt robbing her of her self-confidence as well as the work she loves to do. Annie is stuck in a job she doesn't like, living with odd duck English roommates and perpetually broke. At this point, she has to deal with Lilian's (Maya Rudolph) wedding which would be stressful enough except Helen, another bridesmaid, seems intent on upstaging Annie at every turn and displacing her as Lilian's best friend. Throw in the other bridesmaids, a sexually frustrated mother of three, a sexually inexperience housewife and the groom's wacky sister and you the recipe for The Hangover minus the Y chromosone.

Bridesmaids reels it back though. Whenever the film has a oppotunity amp it up, it steps back gives Annie an emotional (but funny) setback to deal with. Bridesmaids is more Wiig's vehicle to showcase the insecurities and ultimate triumph of Annie than a rauchy ensemble film with the gender roles reversed. Annie even has a sensitive love interest whom she runs away from after their first intimate encounter. Along the way, there are plenty of laughs. Counting up Annie's misadventures, she takes bridesmaid to restaurant where they get food poisoning, she makes a spectacle of herself at the bridal shower, she is removed from an airline flight by a US Air Marshall and she violates several motor vehicle laws to the consternation of her love interest (a highway cop).

Bridesmaids is also notable for being Jill Clayburgh's final film. She played Annie's mother.

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Many years ago, I went to the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont. I'm not sure if they screened films at the time. Regardless, I did not see a film on my previous visits. For a few years, I wanted to revisit Niles Essanay because they screen silent films there every week. However, it is all the way over in Fremont which is about a 50 minute drive for me (assuming no traffic).

On the Saturday night during Memorial Day Weekend, with nothing else tempting me in the City, I trekked to Fremont. I was thinking the rain and holiday would keep the crowds down. According to the staff, the crowd was a little larger than usual that night.

The Essanay Studios were down the street from the current museum and theater. The theater was a functioning nickelodeon at the time Essanay Studios was active. The announcer speculated that Charlie Chaplin and Bronco Billy Anderson may have watched films in the same space we were occupying.

The feature film that night was It starring Clara Bow. The two short films preceding it were:

The New York Hat starring Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore; with Mae Marsh and Dorothy & Lilian Gish; directed by D.W. Griffith; silent with intertitles; (1912)
The Danger Girl starring Gloria Swanson; silent with intertitles; (1916)

I had a bit of a headache that night. My health seems to be on the wane as of late. I seem to have gone from one serious illness to a number of smaller ailments that manifest themselves as malaise. Anyway, that's the leadup to saying, I dozed off during The Danger Girl.

I was awake for both reels of The New York Hat which was a cautionary tale of the damage gossip can do in a small town. It didn't really impress me but it was one literally one out of hundred of short films Pickford made before she became America's sweetheart.

After an intermission which reinvigorated me with a tour of the projection booth and a short discussion with Jason Wiener regarding a Slate article on the film projectionists union, I was ready to go for It.

What is It? The concept was developed by Elinor Glyn through a series in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1926. Prior to the film, Glyn made of list of those who have It - Clara Bow (how coincidental), Rudolph Valentino, John Gilbert, the doorman at the Ambassador Hotel and Rex the Wonder Horse. Distinct from sex appeal, It is loosely defined by Glyn and others. I guess you may not be able to describe It but you'll recognize It when you see It.

After the film, Bow was known as the It Girl. Prior to the film, her moniker was the Brooklyn Bonfire. Bow was also one half of the inspiration of Betty Boop. Singer Helen Kane was the other half.

When I selected the title for this post, I was not just referring to porn actresses and dysfunctional bridesmaids. I was also considering Clara Bow whose peronsal life was much criticized as well as Betty Lou, her headstrong character in It.

It is the story of a department store shopgirl who is secretly in love in the wealthy and debonair Cyrus Waltham, Jr. (Antonio Moreno) who owns the store. Waltham doesn't give her a second look but his best friend Monty Montgomery (William Austin) thinks she has It after reading Glyn's article.

Bettly Lou is far from a shrinkig violet. When Monty asks Betty Lou out, she uses the opportunity to go to the same restaurant where she knows Waltham will be that night. While there in a makeshift evening gown, Betty Lou catches Waltham's eye despite his dining with his fiancée and her mother. However Waltham doesn't recognize her as the girl from his department store.

Once Waltham discovers her identity, he is drawn to her high spirits. They spend a day at an amusement park (which I believe was filmed Playland at the Beach) and things are proceeding well for Betty Lou. Betty has a roommate, a single mother when being a single mother was something to be ashamed of. When child protective services or whatever they were called in 1927 show up to take the child away, Betty claims the child as her own and cites her job and clothes (gifts from Waltham and Monty) as proof of her ability to financially care for the child. An enterprising newspaper reporter (Gary Cooper, uncredited) hears the story and prints it in his newspaper.

When Waltham reads the article, he is mortified and realizes that headstrong and forward are one thing but bastard child is another thing all together. Waltham breaks it off with Betty Lou but when she learns his reasons, she plots revenege which takes place during a hilarious act set on Waltham's yacht.

It was a delightful comedy and I certainly recongize that Bow had It. She combined sex appeal and comedic talents like nothing I've seen since Colleen Moore in Her Wild Oats. Bow played Betty Lou with a little more sex appeal than Moore's Mary Lou.

I don't know how often I'll be going to Fremont to watch films but it was great to finally catch a film at Niles Essanay.