It (1927)
This movie was kind of awesome. I don’t usually care overmuch for silent films but this one was pretty entertaining; I laughed more than I have at most recent “comedies.” Clara Bow was much better - funnier, more natural - than I thought. I was expecting more of a vamp, or maybe a strenuously “madcap” flapper. But since the only thing I’d seen her in was “Wings,” and that was at least 15 years ago, my point of reference was a little off. Instead (and despite her first “this is my IT Girl face” close-up) she came across as a real person, albeit one with some overly stylized facial expressions and kind of silly hair. The hero was incredibly boring, but as Jeanine Basinger notes in her commentary (yes, it was entertaining enough that I watched it twice!) the hero is almost entirely beside the point. Theoretically he has “it,” but only in the most cursory of fashions; no one really cares. He’s just there to give way under Betty Lou’s charms, make an ass of himself to show her strength of character (1920s pre-Code shopgirl version), and eventually give her the wealthy husband she deserves. I’m supposed to disapprove of the poor-girl-trying-to-marry-up plot, but this movie made it very hard to resent it. She doesn’t dislike her current life, indeed she makes sure to introduce the rich guys - hero and his 1920s-gay friend - to the charms of mild poverty (bus rides, Coney Island), rather than trying to take them for all she can. Who can blame her for hoping to improve her circumstances by marrying the 1920s-hot son of the owner? And only on her terms: He gets fresh, she slaps him. He misjudges her (she claims a friend’s baby as her own to get the wealthy matrons off friend’s back; hero hears of it and assumes it’s true, and offers her a less-than-honorable arrangement), she drops him. Once she knows what went wrong, she makes it right. There are far worse plots out there. Fun trivia: one of the title cards describes the customers as “crabby,” which means I can use it in my next 1920s-set November novel. And I win 50 invisible points for figuring out that the no-lines, uncredited reporter character was played by Gary Cooper.
