As part of its month long tribute to director Howard Hawks, the British Film Institute will screen the 1928 Louise Brooks film, A Girl in Every Port. The film, by consensus the best of Hawks early silent efforts, is set to play on January 2 and January 7.
When A Girl in Every Port premiered on February 18, 1928 at the massive Roxy Theater in New York City, it played to a packed house. At the time, advertisements placed by Fox claimed the film set a “New House Record – and a World Record – with Daily Receipts on February 22nd of $29,463.” Considering admission was less than one dollar per person, that’s a lot of money in a single day – then and now.
The film also received good reviews in New York’s many daily newspapers as well as in the national trade journals which covered the movies.
Mordaunt Hall, writing in the New York Times, described it as "A rollicking comedy,” while the New York Telegram called it “a hit picture” and the Morning Telegraph pronounced it a “winner.”
Irene Thirer, writing in the Daily News, noted “Director Howard Hawks has injected several devilish touches in the piece, which surprisingly enough, got by the censors. His treatment of the snappy scenario is smooth and at all times interesting. Victor’s great, Armstrong’s certainly appreciable, and Louise Brooks is at her loveliest. The rest of the gals from other ports are good to look at, too. Roxy’s got a winner this time.”
Similar sentiments would be echoed in the other New York City papers including the German-language New Yorker Volkszeitung, socialist Daily Worker, and the still publishing Women's Wear Daily.
Reviewing the Roxy premiere, the anonymous critic for TIME magazine wrote, “There are two rollicking sailors in this fractious and excellent comedy. . . . A Girl in Every Port is really What Price Glory? translated from arid and terrestrial irony to marine gaiety of the most salty and miscellaneous nature. Nobody could be more charming than Louise Brooks, that clinging and tender little barnacle from the docks of Marseilles. Director Howard Hawks and his entire cast, especially Robert Armstrong, deserve bouquets and kudos.”
Elsewhere, editor P.S. Harrison described the film in Harrison Reports as “An enjoyable comedy,” while Pare Lorentz, in a round-up of new releases, wrote in Judge, “This particular presentation is funny at times, and made pleasant by a neat array of new faces and figures.”
A number of critics singled out Brooks, and a number described her as “pert.”
Regina Cannon, writing in New York American, stated “Then comes THE woman. She is Louise Brooks, pert, fascinating young creature, who does high and fancy diving for a living. . . . Miss Brooks ‘takes’ our hero in somewhat the manner that Grant took Richmond. . . . Louise Brooks has a way of making a junior vamp and infantile scarlet lady seem most attractive.”
More info: Additional details about the BFI screenings can be found on the British Film Institute website at http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/january_seasons/howard_hawks/a_girl_in_every_port
Thomas Gladysz is an arts journalist and author. Recently, he wrote the introduction to a new “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Böhme's classic book, The Diary of a Lost Girl (PandorasBox Press). Gladysz will speak about his new book at the Village Voice Bookshop in Paris on January 13, followed by a screening of the film at the nearby Action Cinema.
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