Hoopla (1933)

After 60+ motion pictures, Clara Bow Bell made her exit with this fun Mae West like drama about a bad girl who finds the opportunity to go good when a scheme of revenge goes awry. She is a hooch dancer who "collects favors" and goes after the boss's son (Richard Cromwell) after the boss's mistress (a most feisty Minna Gombell) convinces her to seduce him and get her hands on some of papa's (Preston Foster) cash. Of course, the fabulous redhead is hiding a heart of gold behind those trashy looking gold sequins and love comes flying out of the big heart that melts the ice in her outside demeanor.Having gained a bit of weight and looking a bit blowsy, Bow still has "It" as she plays one of her few bad girls. She's not as sexually aggressive as Mae but plays cute and coy when out to seduce the innocent Cromwell. Florence Benson is amusing as a haggish looking fortune teller who first encounters Cromwell, believing him to be a naive patron. She steals the spotlight in an amusing drunk scene with Bow, Gombell and Cromwell. While not as glamorous looking as Mae's big 1933 carny hit "I'm No Angel", it is still fun, a bit more high brow than MGM's cult horror film "Freaks" which showed a much darker side of carny life. Clara may not have liked the results of this film, but over 80 years later, it holds up better than some of her higher budgeted talkies she did while still in her prime.

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.

Very few performers can take an ordinary or above average script and make the movie stand out and make you want to see it again. I think Clara Bow was one of the few actresses that had that ability- not just with this film (and this story arguably centers around the father-son characters, not Clara's), but many of the others throughout her career. Without Clara in the part of Lou, this is just an average pre-Code film that would have been long forgotten (they certainly weren't trying to put anything by the censors in this one- a skinnydipping scene, Clara undressing, and Nifty's girlfriend upset because she can't spend the night with him because he doesn't want his son to know- by 1935 the Hays Office would would not permit any of this on screen). Watching her seduce the naive son of the carnival barker was fun to watch, as was the scene when she gets busted by a cop and a father for conning a ring from another young man. Hoopla does provide an interesting glimpse into carney life and rail travel in the early 1930s. The supporting cast is fine, particularly Richard Cromwell as Nifty, but I think with a little more effort on the writing and direction this could have even better. Although this may be one her better sound films, I wouldn't rate it at quite at the same level of Clara's best silent films, It and Mantrap, but it's still enjoyable. Clara clearly thrived in the silent environment and some have said that dialogue and the the constraints of the early sound stages restricted the uninhibited It girl. Maybe so, but I would argue that much of that can be attributed to the average material she was given to work with. This actress was capable of much more if she had been cast in better roles throughout her career. According to her biographer, Clara was not enthusiastic about making Hoopla, she just wanted to get it over with so she could fulfill her contract to Fox and retire. Regardless, if you are a Clara fan or just a fan of pre-Code films, odds are you will enjoy this one. I know I did and will watch Clara again and again!

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.