It (1927 film)

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It
Directed by	Clarence G. Badger
Produced by	Clarence G. Badger
Written by	Elinor Glyn (novel) Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton
Starring	Clara Bow Antonio Moreno William Austin Gary Cooper
Cinematography	H. Kinley Martin
Editing by	E. Lloyd Sheldon
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	1927
Running time	72 min.
Country	United States
Language	Silent film English intertitles
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

For the 1990 mini-series based on Stephen King's novel see It (1990 film).

It is a 1927 romantic silent film which tells the story of a shop girl who sets her sights on the handsome and wealthy owner of the department store where she works. Because of this film, actress Clara Bow became known as the "It girl"—"It" being a euphemism for sex appeal and sass.

[edit] Plot and actors

Shopgirl Betty Lou Spence (Clara Bow) has a crush on her dashing employer Cyrus Waltham Jr (Antonio Moreno), the manager of and heir to the "world's largest store". But there are many stumbling blocks on her way to married bliss: they belong to incompatible social classes, he is already engaged to the blonde socialite Adela Van Norman (Jacqueline Gadsden), and she finds herself sidetracked by Cyrus' geeky friend Monty Montgomery (William Austin). But she has one thing going for her—she's got "IT", "that quality", as authoress Elinor Glyn herself explains in the movie, "which draws all others with its magnetic force". Drama strikes when Betty Lou bravely proclaims herself an unmarried mother to protect her sickly roommate Molly (Priscilla Bonner) from having her baby being taken away. Monty overhears the tale and tells Cyrus, who but she eventually gets her prince, and saves his fiancée's life on the way.

Stage actress Dorothy Tree had her first film role in a small, uncredited part. Also appearing in a role—that of a news reporter—is a young Gary Cooper.

[edit] Production

The movie was adapted by Elinor Glyn, Hope Loring, Louis D. Lighton, George Marion Jr. and Frederica Sagor Maas (titles) from the novel by Glyn (who has a small role as herself in the movie). It was directed by Clarence G. Badger and Josef von Sternberg (uncredited). In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.