Hoopla (1933)

Wow! Such a good movie.

So much average

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Fortunately director Frank Lloyd does not disappoint with his 1933 Hoop-La which turned out to be Clara Bow's final film. She is wonderful. Her performance alone would make the film a must-see, but she receives excellent support from Minna Gombell, Herbert Mundin, Preston Foster, Richard Cromwell and the rest of the side-show folk. Lloyd's skillful direction is not confined to his players, but extends to his creation of atmosphere and realistic effects. Of course Lloyd had a big budget to play around with, and he uses it with both daring and sympathy. Admittedly, the background is no Nightmare Alley, but it's no Shirley Temple kiddie-land either. (Available on an 8/10 LostFlix DVD).

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.

Fresh-faced student Richard Cromwell (as Chris Miller) jumps off a train, to join father Preston Foster (as Nifty Miller)'s traveling carnival. Mr. Foster wants his son to stay away from the sleazy side-show folk, and pursue his interest in becoming a lawyer; but, Mr. Cromwell wants to spend some quality time with his dad. With the kid around, Foster must move bed-partner Minna Gombell (as Carrie) to other quarters; so, she slips under the covers with Clara Bow (as Lou). Ms. Gombell doesn't appreciate losing her bed-space to Cromwell; so, she asks Ms. Bow to seduce him. Bow says she doesn't want to be a "cradle robber", but changes her mind for $100.00.Bow and Cromwell try to make it believable, after her swimming scene (to their credit); but, watching them is like watching Mae West seduce Charles Ray. A re-make of "The Barker" doesn't seem like an inappropriate vehicle; however, "Hoop-la" exploits the plumper Bow's past and (at the time) notoriety. This is precisely the kind of exploitation Bow should have been moving away from, at this point in her career. Not an awful film, all things considered. But not enough for Bow to carry on after all the "Hoop-la". So Bow, born within only two years of Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Katharine Hepburn… sadly, retired.***** Hoop-la (11/30/33) Frank Lloyd ~ Clara Bow, Richard Cromwell, Preston Foster

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.