Hoopla

This is one of my favorite movies from Clara. She shows her usual yet incredible range of emotions perfectly blended to her character, Lou. Although a beautiful performance by Clara, the movie seems somehow restrained, not being as heart-stirring as some of her silent performances. It is unique, though, in the fact that Clara seems to have shed much of her "IT" girl image that was so evident in her later silent films. All-in-all, a beautiful performance by Miss Bow and a deliciously intriguing story line.

Hoopla is a talkie remake of The Barker, a famous play of the day that was made into a hit silent/part-talkie starring Betty Compson (Oscar nomination) who played Carrie while Dorothy Mackaill played Lou. Here Bow plays the lead role of Lou, a good-time carnival girl who, on a bet, chases after the boss' innocent son only to fall in love. Bow is remarkable in her final film and follow-up to the sensational Call Her Savage (1932). Her vitality and sexuality jump off the screen and make her very contemporary. She's also a fine actress, able to jump from comedy to drama easily. She rivaled Jean Harlow in her ability to make audience like tramps. As the hoochie koochie dancer, Bow gets to do a couple of numbers. Her final costume is a doozie. The cast is quite good. Hunky Preston Foster is wonderful as the boss and father of the innocent boy. He's aged about 10 year but carries the part well. Minna Gombell as Carrie, Florence Roberts as the fortune teller, James Gleason, Herbert Mundin are good, but Richard Cromwell is a bit gooey. If not for personal problems, Clara Bow could have had a great career in talkies. Too bad.

It's a tragedy that this should be Clara Bow's final film. She certainly had many years of good work ahead of her. She lights up the screen whenever she appears. She has wonderfully dramatic as well as comedic scenes here. Unfortunately, as much cannot be said about other cast members performances. Her final "snake hips" costume is the most revealing onscreen apparel of her career.

The extraordinarily fortuitous fact of being an existant does beguile and entrance us all into the illusion of a vibrant and eternal immortality. Thus Clara Bow in HOOPLA. Time illumines our vibrancy, then by a thousand surreptitious cuts does eventually slay each of us diminution by infinitesimal diminution. Thus did time to the irrepressible Clara Bow.

A brazen fairground dancer finds herself falling for the son of the show's manager after accepting $100 to make him fall for her. Clara Bow's final movie sees her give a winning performance, even though her brassy showgirl is no romantic fit for Richard Cromwell's wet-behind-the-ears youth. The movie starts out strongly, but becomes increasingly formulaic as its story unfolds. Worth watching just to see the fat lady being loaded onto the train!