UK TV to show Clara Bow documentary

[barry byrne]

An early notification of a TV screening of "Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess: Clara Bow" that may be of little interest to most readers as it is on the UK digital channel BBC 4 at 21.00 on Sunday 30 December.

This item stood out, in what is a fairly dismal TV Christmas schedule, featuring mainly the usual films that they usually show anyhow, and with very little of likely interest to readers of this forum.

[Michael O'Regan]

Ah, fantastic.

[Gagman 66]

Thanks for the info. Any word at all on who produced this new documentary on Clara? Oh, for a Colleen Moore documentary one of these days. Long since overdue.

[silentmovies742]

An early notification of a TV screening of "Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess: Clara Bow" that may be of little interest to most readers as it is on the UK digital channel BBC 4 at 21.00 on Sunday 30 December.

This item stood out, in what is a fairly dismal TV Christmas schedule, featuring mainly the usual films that they usually show anyhow, and with very little of likely interest to readers of this forum.

Yes it is rather abysmal this year. One has to wonder if this is because of all the cable channels. There is so much programming now and it is spread so thinly across all the channels, that it is hard to look at the main channels and say "wow" as they seemingly don't have access to the best films anymore, nor do they seemingly have the money to make much drama. The most bizarre decision yet by the BBC was to show their 3-part ghost drama on Sundays in November rather than over Christmas when ghost stories are traditional fare! Another possible gem I spotted on BBC4 was a Sammy Davis Jr TV special which even as a huge fan I know very little about.

[barry byrne]

Tomorrow night folks, if this has slipped away in the holiday haze.

[silentmovies742]

I have to say I thought this was actually rather good. Nothing revelatory, but nice new interviews with the likes of Brownlow, and the first time I have seen footage from Maytime. It's a pity that BBC4 didn't see fit to round it off with a showing of It, Wings, or even Call Her Savage or Hoop-la. Instead they somehow attempted to create a link with the rather surreal Julie Andrews and Sammy Davis TV special which followed (apparently Julie Andrews was a screen Goddess too - something which their documentary of the same name from the previous week somehow forgot to tell us).

[N_Phay]

Well I just watched it and I must say I thought it was rather good too. The bits I liked the best were the recollections of her neighbours from when she lived in the suburbs later in her life - imagine having Clara Bow as your neighbour! I was rather jealous. And the technicolor bit from "Red Hair" that they showed at the very end. I had not seen this before and brief though it was, it was so beautiful that I felt quite moved by it, which is silly but what the hell. Generally, the best/most interesting bits I thought were her post-movie career life. Also I haven't seen "Hoopla" and now I want to watch it.

I suppose I could quibble that if I was to think of a "lost film goddess" then you know, NORMA TALMADGE kind of springs to mind before Clara Bow, but that's being picky really - I would assume that people with a passing knowledge of silent films would have heard of Bow but maybe not Talmadge, I'm probably being overoptimistic about this though!

Also, Louise Brooks AGAIN! Is there some kind of secret law that any doco about silent films has to feature Louise Brooks. Sure, she was a looker, interesting and was in some great films. So were a bunch of other overlooked 20's performers, enough already!

Def worth watching anyway

[barry byrne]

I must say I was impressed also, sadly the credits were nigh unreadable, since they split the screen and minimised them immediately but it does seem to have been a BBC production. The colour film clip was excellent, if brief.

However, is it not a bit strange to run a show emphasising just how significant Clara was, what an excellent actress she was, how her films were now being rediscovered and then schedule or show none of them at any time in the future? BBC4 could have used it as a walk on the wild side to introduce one of her films to their specialist audience.

Just in passing, fans of Ginger Rodgers should check out the BBC 2 schedules next week.

[didi-5]

It hasn't really been a 'screen goddess' season has such, has it? And to have a Clara doc and none of her films is crazy. The Julie Andrews special though was superb, although she's hardly in the same league as the great screen legends!

Some good films showing next week - K Hepburn, G Rogers, R Scott (screen god?) etc. They might be filler but they're cherce ...

[Michael O'Regan]

However, is it not a bit strange to run a show emphasising just how significant Clara was, what an excellent actress she was, how her films were now being rediscovered and then schedule or show none of them at any time in the future? BBC4 could have used it as a walk on the wild side to introduce one of her films to their specialist audience.

I absolutely agree. Well, I watched a couple of her films immediately after, in any case.
I thoroughly enjoyed the programme. The clip from Red Hair, I also found moving. In fact, I'm never unmoved by any reading or re-reading of Clara's life.

[barry byrne]

Is there some kind of secret law that any doco about silent films has to feature Louise Brooks.

Yes, up there with the no film about Paris without a shot of the Eiffel Tower basic law.

[mrbertiewooster]

The documentary was produced by Elaine Shepherd for BBC Productions.

It featured interviews with Bow's daughter-in-law Jackie Bell Chavez, Oscar-winning costume designer for The Artist Mark Bridges, Kevin Brownlow, Diana Serra Cary, Leonard Maltin, biographer David Stenn and William Wellman Jr. as well as Paula Garrett from Walking Box Ranch in Nevada, a former psychiatric aide Jacob Kazanjian and one of Bow's Culver City neighbours Greg Shagohian

Richard Arlen (1968), Louise Brooks (1980) and Clara Bow and Rex Bell (1933, 1937) all feature in archival interviews. There's also a brief clip of Bow from 1947 radio quiz show.

Archive material was supplied by ABCNEWS VideoSource, AP Archive/British Movietone, BBC Motion Gallery, Budget Film Stock Footage, Collections of the Library of Congress, Estate of Clara Bow, FremantleMedia Limited, Getty Images (UK), Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection, MoMA, Moving Image, Paramount Pictures, Photoplay Productions Ltd, Producers Library, Ralph Edwards Productions, 20th Century Fox, University of Nevada, Las Vegas - Public Lands Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archive

Shepherd writes about the production here: http://bristolsilents.org.uk/2012/12/23 ... clara-bow/" target="_blank" target="_blank

You can also view fragments from some of Clara Bow's lost silent films here: http://fan.tcm.com/_Clara-Bow-Lost-Sile ... 66470.html" target="_blank" target="_blank

And for those in LA, there is a Clara Bow season showing this month and next at UCLA: http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2013- ... its-screen" target="_blank" target="_blank