Showing posts with label The Show-Off. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Show-Off. Show all posts

Saturday, August 16, 2014

The Show-Off - a round-up of reviews

The Show-Off, Louise Brooks' fifth film, was officially released on this day in 1926. The film is a comedy-drama about an insufferable braggart who disrupts the lives of a middle-class family. We all know the type, don't we?

The film stars Ford Sterling as Audrey Piper (the braggart), Lois Wilson as Amy Fisher Piper, Louise Brooks as Clara-Joe's Girl, Gregory Kelly as Joe Fisher, Claire McDowell as Mom Fisher, and C.W. Goodrich as Pop Fisher. The film, adapted from the stage play by George Kelly, was directed by Malcolm St. Clair. The screenplay is by Pierre Collings.

The film is very good, and is one of Brooks' best roles in a light drama. The Show-Off received many positive notices - as well as negative reviews, as did Brooks, whose part was somewhat limited. Here is a round up of magazine and newspaper reviews and articles drawn from the Louise Brooks Society archive.


Tinee, Mae. "Ford Sterling Almost a Perfect Bumptious, Bombastic Show Off." Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1926.
--- " . . . splendidly cast and acted."

Reel, Rob. "You'll Remember and Like Ford Sterling as Show Off." Chicago Evening American, July 27, 1926.
--- " . . . is well done, and a lot of fun. You ought to like it."

anonymous. "A Hit on the Stage; as Good on the Screen." Chicago Evening Post, July 30, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks and George Kelly also handle their parts most effectively."

anonymous. "Two New Films Hold Fans Interest." Los Angeles Evening Herald, August 7, 1926.
--- "The cast includes Louise Brooks, who does a bit of excellent acting."

Harrison, P. S. "The Show Off - with Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson, Louise Brooks and Gregory Kelly." Harrison's Reports, August 7, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks makes a good sweetheart of the heroine's brother; in the scenes where she is shown upbraiding the hero for having brought misery upon the heroine's family, she is very good."

Moulton, Herbert. "Sterling Shines in Show-Off." Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1926.
--- "The sweetheart of the brother is played by Louise Brooks, who does well in a negligible role."

anonymous. "The Show-Off at Metropolitan." Boston Herald, August 10, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks is the Clara. The movie people decided that the unhappily married sister of the play was not suited to Louise, so the movie Clara turns up as a next-door neighbor, Joe's girl friend. Miss Brooks has little to do but wear form-revealing gowns and ever so often uteer a 'wise crack,' for all titles of this nature are put right in her mouth."

anonymous. "The Show-Off Less Interesting as Photoplay Than on Stage." New York Post, August 23, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks as Clara has very little to do, but she made a charming picture."

Cohen Jr., John S. "Picture Plays and Players." New York Sun, August 23, 1926.
--- "Directed by Malcolm St. Clair, the film boasts of exceptional naturalistic acting on the part of Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson, Claire McDowell, C. W. Goodrich, Gregory Kelly and - in one sequence - Louise Brooks. . . . Miss Brooks is best in the scene where she burlesques the pantomime employed by Mr. Sterling to describe his automobile experience."

Hall, Mordaunt. "The Braggart." New York Times, August 23, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks, an emphatic type, with her dark hair and eyes and straight eyebrows, is bound to be noticed. Her histrionic efforts in this picture, however, are negligible."

Herzog, Dorothy. "The Show Off." Daily Mirror, August 23, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks spitfires, prisses, oogles and calls it a day of heavy emoting. Miss Brooks is a distinct type, but she seems to suffer from inefficient direction and miscasting. She also appears a trifle rounded, for and aft, in this opera, but this may be due to her skin-tight dresses."

anonymous. "Show-Off at California." San Francisco Bulletin, August 30, 1926.
--- " . . . one of the best comedies of the American screen."

Swint, Curran D. "The Show Off at California." San Francisco News, August 30, 1926.
--- "A romance has been developed between Joe Fisher, the inventor son, given a distinctive performance by Gregory Kelly, and girl next door, fetchingly portrayed by Louise Brooks."

Aston, Frank. "Comedy of Home Seen in Show-Off." Cincinnati Post, September 6, 1926.
--- "And henceforth and forever when we think of The Show-Off we shall picture Louise Brooks and her display of hosiery."

Sargent, Epes W. "Ford Sterling Scores Heavily in Stage Success That Makes Thoroughly Enjoyable Audience Film." Moving Picture World, September 11, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks, Gregory Kelly and C.W. Goodrich form the remaining members of the essential cast."


Sherwood, Robert E. "The Silent Drama." Life, September 16, 1926.
--- "He has taken a simple play of average American life and made a genuinely tender, touching, sympathetic picture of it. . . . a worthy reproduction of a great comedy."




O., H. H. "Stage and Screen." Ann Arbor Times News, September 28, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks as Clara, her sister, almost runs away with the picture."

anonymous. "Stage and Screen." Kalamazoo Gazette, November 8, 1926.
--- "The Show Off has caught the fancy of the town."

Lusk, Norbert. "The Screen in Review: We All Know Him." Picture-Play, December, 1926.
-- "Lois Wilson tossed aside opportunities for shrewd characterization by wearing Paris frocks as a daughter of the Philadelphia poor. Louise Brooks, another little sister of poverty, likewise offended."
O., H. H. "Stage and Screen." Ann Arbor Times News, September 28, 1926.
--- "Louise Brooks as Clara, her sister, almost runs away with the picture."

anonymous. "Stage and Screen." Kalamazoo Gazette, November 8, 1926.
--- "The Show Off has caught the fancy of the town."

Lusk, Norbert. "The Screen in Review: We All Know Him." Picture-Play, December, 1926.
-- "Lois Wilson tossed aside opportunities for shrewd characterization by wearing Paris frocks as a daughter of the Philadelphia poor. Louise Brooks, another little sister of poverty, likewise offended."

Sherwood, Robert. "The Film of the Month." McCall's, December, 1926.
--- named a recommended film

Lane, Tamar. "Best Pictures and Performances of 1926." Film Mercury, December 10, 1926.
--- named one of the best eight films of the year in film trade journal

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Ebert Club Newsletter

Roger Ebert likes Louise Brooks. He's told me so, and he's also written about the actress and her films on more than a few occasions. Apparently, he also just wrote about the actress in the most recent issue of the "Ebert Club Newsletter."

Ebert wrote, "The Sounds of Silents: Science finds that silent movies trigger mental soundtracks in our minds. Oddly enough, this may explain why they create a reverie state in me. I usually listen to them with a musical sound track, but after reading this I tried a little of "The Show Off" on Netflix streaming, and I see what they mean. . . . So try a little of "The Show Off" yourself. Turn off the sound. Here's the complete movie via Google; though Netflix quality is better. Notice that whenever Louise Brooks is on screen, you simply can't focus on anyone else..."


The newsletter includes a link to a Google video of the 1926 Brooks film (as above), and then a paragraph on Louise Brooks "Looking for Lulu" (1998), the outstanding documentary on the actress by Hugh Munro Neely. Ebert goes on the mention The Cat and the Canary (1927) and highlight some of the other kinds of silent and other early films available over the internet. It's an interesting post. And well worth reading. I always enjoy Ebert's writing - he is one of our best critics.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Show-Off screens in Los Angeles July 10

I recently learned that The Show-Off (1926) will be screened "under the stars" on July 10th (that's tomorrow) in Los Angeles, California. This screening is part of a double bill put on by the Heritage Square Museum which celebrates the talents of noted actresses who came to fame during the early years of Hollywood. Also on the bill is A Fool There Was (1915), starring the legendary vamp, Theda Bara.

When The Show-Off opened at the Metropolitan Theater in Los Angeles in August of 1926, it and Louise Brooks drew favorable reviews. The city’s newspapers ran reviews with headlines describing it as a “riot of fun” and a “cure for ailments.” More on this film and this rare screening can be found on examiner.com.

Admission to the Silent and Classic Movie Nights is free for museum members; a $10.00 donation for asked for the general public. These special screenings take place on the lawn near the Palms Depot. Guests are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets to sit on, a small picnic to eat before the movies begin, and warm clothing. Beverages and snacks will be available for purchase. Gates open at 7:30 p.m., with the show starting after 8:00 p.m.
The Heritage Square Museum is located at 3800 Homer Street in Los Angeles. More info at http://www.heritagesquare.org./calendar_of_events.htm

From the picture below, you can see that a crowd is already gathering for what promises to be a swell time.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

"Show-Off" staged in Ann Arbor, MI

The Show-Off, the popular stage play by George Kelly which was the basis for the 1926 Louise Brooks film of the same name, is being staged at the University of Michigan - reports the Ann Arbor News. In recounting the remarkable history of this celebrated but now seldom staged work, the local newspaper noted

"The Show-Off" was the judges' choice for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in the year it premiered on Broadway, but Columbia University, which awards the prize, scandalously rejected the recommendation and instead awarded the prize to Columbia faculty member Hatcher Hughes for his play, "Hell Bent for Heaven." (Seemingly, as a kind of "make-up call," Kelly received a Pulitzer in 1926 for his play, "Craig's Wife.")

The article didn't mention the 1926 Brooks' film or subsequent movies with Spencer Tracy (1934) or Red Skelton (1946). No matter, Ford Sterling will always be my favorite Aubrey Piper. More information on the production, which runs February 12th through the February 15th, can be found here.

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