It **** (1927, Clara Bow, Antonio Moreno, William Austin) – Classic Movie Review 11,091

Director Clarence G Badger’s 1927 black and white American silent romantic comedy film It stars Clara Bow, the girl with ‘it’ sex appeal, who is a smasher as Betty Lou Spence, a department store assistant chasing her shop-boss owner employer Cyrus Waltham Jr (Antonio Moreno) in the aggressively sexy manner suggested in Elinor Glyn’s infamous source book of that name, a novella originally serialised in Cosmopolitan magazine in February 1927.

Glyn defined It as: ‘That quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force. With “It” you win all men if you are a woman and all women if you are a man. ‘It’ can be a quality of the mind as well as a physical attraction.’

Clara Bow as Betty Lou Spence.

The scheming Betty Lou accepts a date with Waltham’s best friend Monty (William Austin) if they dine at the Ritz, where Waltham also has a dinner date that evening.

Next to Bow’s still extraordinary performance, sexy, magnetic and irresistible, everything else about this late-period silent movie is mundane, but it remains a fascinating, enjoyable, stylish curio.

Glyn herself makes a brief personal appearance as herself and defines ‘It’ for Mr Waltham. Gary Cooper has an early (uncredited) bit part as a newspaper reporter; Josef von Sternberg took over the direction (uncredited) while Badger was ill.

The current DVD version from BFI Video (1999) (UK) and Kino Video (2002) (US) after its 1992 restoration by Thames Television International reveals this antique romantic comedy as a smart-looking style object of a movie, with glowing black and white cinematography by H Kinley Martin.

The film turned Clara Bow into a major star and led her to be labelled the It girl.

Also in the cast are William Austin, Jacqueline Gadsdon, Gary Cooper, Elinor Glyn, Priscilla Bonner, Julia Swayne Gordon, Lloyd Corrigan, Eleanor Lawson, Elmo Billings, Cheryl Holt, Rose Tapley, and stage actress Dorothy Tree in her first film role in a small, uncredited part.

It (1927) lobby card, with Clara Bow.

Sensationally popular though the film was, it vanished. It was believed lost for many years but a nitrate copy was found in Prague in the 1960s and the film was re-released in cinemas by Killiam Shows in 1978 in the US .

In 2001, It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

The restored 1992 alternate version is produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, with music by Carl Davis.

Clara Bow as Betty Lou Spence.

It is directed by Clarence G Badger and Josef von Sternberg (uncredited), runs 72 minutes, is made by Elinor Glyn-Clarence Badger Production, is released by Paramount Pictures (1927) (US), is written by by Hope Loring (screenplay), Louis D Lighton (screenplay), Elinor Glyn (story and adaptation) and George Marion Jr (titles), is shot in black and white by H Kinley Martin, is produced by Jesse L Lasky (executive producer), Adolph Zukor (executive producer), Clarence G Badger (producer, uncredited), Elinor Glyn (producer, uncredited) and B P Schulberg (associate producer), and is scored by William P Perry (1978).

It is shot at Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood.

It had its world premiere in Los Angeles on 14 January 1927 and screened in New York on 5 February 1927 and then released on 19 February 1927, breaking box office records.

Paramount Pictures paid Glyn $50,000 for the concept, and it is one of the first examples of a concept film as well as one of the earlier examples of product placement. Cosmopolitan magazine is featured prominently in a scene where Monty reads Glyn’s story and introduces it to the audience.

Rudyard Kipling had already introduced It in the 1904 short story Mrs Bathurst: ‘It isn’t beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It’s just “It”. Some women will stay in a man’s memory if they once walk down the street.’

Clara Bow as Betty Lou Spence and Antonio Moreno as Cyrus Waltham Jr.

Glyn’s magazine story was not at all like the film: the character with the magnetic personality was a male but Paramount producers suggested the character be female and be working class. Glyn was fully involved in the film adaptation with her story and adaptation credit but very flexible about the transition to screen, no doubt content with her $50,000 and her small part in the film.

With her global fame as The It Girl, Bow came to personify the Roaring Twenties and is its leading sex symbol. But Bow retired from acting and became a rancher in Nevada two years after marrying actor Rex Bell in 1931. Her final film Hoop-La (also restored) was released in 1933. Bow died of a heart attack In September 1965, aged 60.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,091

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

The Royal Theater in Kansas City showing It.