The Show Off
Louise Brooks does not play the lead in this rediscovered comedy directed by Malcolm St. Clair, but as we have found, even in supporting roles she is often the most memorable actress/character in the film! Even the New York Times, in its 1926 review, noted, “Louise Brooks, an emphatic type, with her dark hair and eyes and straight eyebrows, is bound to be noticed.” The premise of The Show Off, which also stars Ford Sterling and Lois Wilson, involves a Pennsylvania Railroad clerk who poses as an important executive to impress his sweetheart. She falls for his bluster and marries him, to the dismay of her family. As in many of the Twenties comedies, the plot revolves around finances--the wife's family's mortgage money, in this case--the lack of which brings on near “tragedy” and, through clever twists, provides an opportunity for our dubious hero to redeem himself in the eyes of his in-laws.