Rolled Stockings, Louise Brooks' ninth film, was
officially released on this day in 1927. The film is a romantic drama, set on a college campus, involving roadhouse adventures and a climatic race involving the schools' rowing team. The film, shot mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, is lost.
The film stars five of Paramount's "junior stars," Louise Brooks as Carol Fleming, James Hall as Jim Treadway, Richard Arlen as Ralph Treadway, Nancy Phillips as The Vamp, and El Brendel as Rudolph. The film, based on the screenplay by Percy Heath, adapted from an original story idea by Frederica Sagor, with titles by Julian Johnson, was directed by Richard Rosson.
The film received many positive reviews, though Brooks sometimes only received faint praise. Here is a round up
of magazine and
newspaper reviews and articles drawn from the Louise Brooks Society
archive.
McN., J. "James Bill Good Stuff."
Columbus Citizen, June 13, 1927.
--- ". . . the provoking presence of Louise Brooks."
anonymous. "College Fun Features New Film at 'Met'."
Los Angeles Examiner, June 17, 1927.
--- "Louise Brooks is utterly adorable as Carol Fleming. She is exactly the type college boys swoon over. She displays a sincerity in her work that has been absent from her previous roles. Though this particular part offers little opportunity to show any great acting, she measures up splendidly in the few scenes that border on the emotional."
Barnes, Eleanor. "Rolled Stockings Unfolds Great Comedy Drama."
Los Angeles Daily Illustrated News, June 17, 1927.
--- "Hall and Arlen do nice work in this production, and Louise Brooks, judging by this film, is destined to go a long way. She has some of Colleen Moore's qualities with a dash of Florence Vidor thrown in, and a lot of her own distinctive personality."
Rush. "Rolled Stockings."
Variety, June 20, 1927.
--- "The casting of the young stars is fortunate. Miss Brooks, who has done several excellent things, here finds a role for her demure charm, with its tricky suggestion of mild sophistication."
anonymous. "Strand."
New Orleans States, June 27, 1927.
--- "One of the best comedies of college life that has been seen hereabouts in sometime."
Feldkamp, Frances V. "Movie Reviews."
St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 27, 1927.
--- "Louise Brooks is the girl; enough of a looker to make any man lose his head and fraternity pin."
Taaffe, Agnes. "Movies." Minneapolis Daily Star, June 27, 1927.
--- " . . . which co-stars Louise Brooks and James Hall, two personable screen performers who have the ability to hold the interest of the fans throughout six lively reels. . . . Louise Brooks gives a highly diverting performance as the flapper."
Sheekman, Arthur. "Rolled Stockings Is Amusing Trifle, Very Collegiate."
Chicago Daily Journal, June 29, 1927.
--- "Miss Brooks, as you know, is always a lovely ornament for any picture, and more than good enough as an actress."
Heffernan, Harold. "The New Movies in Review."
Detroit News, July 4, 1927.
--- "The dark-eyed Louise Brooks, with a flashy, new hair trim, is the destructive siren who infests the snappy little college known as Colfax."
Armstrong, Everhardt. "Brothers Are Rivals For Flirt's Fancy."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 15, 1927.
--- "The vivacious and flirtatious heroine of
Rolled Stockings is Louise Brooks, of
Love 'Em and Leave 'Em fame."
anonymous. "Rolled Stockings is College Thrill."
Seattle Times, July 17, 1927.
--- "Paramounts 'youth' picture, which is now at the Coliseum Theatre, has everything - a thrilling college crew race, some exciting automobile scenes, snappy comedy, a good love story and lots of pep."
Thirier, Irene. "Both College Caper Films, Rolled Stockings Draws Better Than Poor Nut."
New York Daily News, July 18, 1927.
--- "
Rolled Stockings has Louise Brooks - lovely, no, lovelier than ever. . . . You're going to like this movie and the players in it."
author unknown.
New York Graphic, July 19?, 1927. (United States)
--- "Paramount's junior stars romp through this playful picture and participate in an exciting regatta, a few romances, a fight, a road house sequence and college dances."
Cannon, Regina. "
Rolled Stockings on Screen."
New York American, July 19, 1927.
--- "This is another college story and it is realistic enough to be entertaining. . . . Louise Brooks is seen for the first time in a 'straight' role. This child is so smartly sophisticated that it has seldom been her lot to portray anything but baby vamps on the screen. She has an unusual personality which the camera catches and magnifies, dresses snappily and makes the most of her every movie moment."
lliott, James M. "
Rolled Stockings Average."
New York Daily Mirror, July 20, 1927.
--- " . . . manages to be pleasant, mildly absorbing and sufficiently accurate for the purposes of the picture. . . . Louise Brooks looks remarkably like Clara Bow, though she lacks the famed pep of our national flapper."
O., H. H. "Stage and Screen."
Ann Arbor Times News, August 15, 1927.
--- "The three stars, Louise Brooks, James Hall and Richard Arlen are so thoroughly likeable and the story so different from the usual line of college bunk, that Rolled Stockings proves to be a delightful bit of cinema entertainment."
