Well, looks like I'm not going to make it to 28 romantic movies in 28 days. There's a first time for everything, including a failed Romancefest. So, I'll just skip right to the top of the list with IT.No, not IT as in the made for TV horror movie starring Ben Heller as a handsome young Boy Scout. I'm talking about the silent romantic comedy from 1927, also called IT.
The movie is loosely based on a Cosmopolitan article by Elinor Glyn (who shows up in a cameo as herself) that attempts to define the concept of "it" -- that certain something some people have that seems to make them irresistible.
Clara Bow stars as a shopgirl who is in love with the rich owner (Antonio Morino) of the department store in which she works. Her roommate (Priscilla Bonner) is a single mother who is too sick to work, so Bow is helping her out. When Bow is noticed as potentially having "it" by the department store owner's friend (very funny and fussy William Austin), she welcomes the attention in an attempt to get closer to Morino.
As it is in films like this, there are many obstacles and misunderstandings that pop up to prevent the two love birds from getting together, this time including a misunderstanding about just who is the mother of Bow's roommate's baby.
The film probably would have been forgotten by today if it wasn't for the central performance by Bow -- she is so cute and charming and funny that the whole movie flies by like a breeze, no matter how many times the central couple makes up and breaks up. Clara Bow really does have "it", so this can be seen as a rare instance of perfect casting -- she defines the movie and the movie defines her.
It's a nice note to end the month on, even if I didn't get up to 28 movies. Oh well, there's always next year.
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