Une fille dans chaque port

The only reason this fllm seems to garner attention is due to Louise Brooks in the final segment. She is attractive enough but displaying little dramatic talent, just a show piece that any woman, actress or not, could have provided the film makers.

I am among those who just 'don't get" Louise Brooks, and I guess I will die unchanged. Nothing special at all in my book. She just had a "look," but no talent.

A buddy movie, that could be termed gay "but without any sex," just camaraderie devoid of the influence of the female.

It never ceases to amaze how, excepting rare instances, silent films often manage to be delightfully charming even if they don't immediately make a major impression. It helps the case of this one to be an early picture of iconic filmmaker Howard Hawks, one of the few surviving works of silent legend Louise Brooks, and moreover, a Fox Films production that wasn't consumed in the tragic vault fire of 1937. Setting aside the participants this may not be a feature that entirely stands out on its own - yet while perhaps not an absolute revelation, it's very ably made and solidly enjoyable, and a fine credit to all involved. 'A girl in every port' may not be a total must-see, but it's a fantastic classic on its own merits, and well worth checking out if one has the chance.

The writers give us a cheeky story of a womanizing lout cruising through various ports, coming into conflict with a fellow seaman who has the same habits, and ultimately finding brotherhood with him and further adventures. For all the social issues and other more serious notions that one could drum up as related points of discussion, the scenario is strictly played for comedy, and that pure intent makes it a good deal of fun from start to finish. The underlying story is solid and engaging in and of itself, but even more important in this case I think is the strong scene writing that gives us flavorful humor and apt guidelines for the actors, marked all the while with just the right measure of heart to help it to stick. Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong lead the cast with terrific performances of glad mirth and commendable expressiveness, and it's honestly a joy just to see them play around. One is rather inclined to think they didn't really need any instruction from Hawks to achieve such gay frivolity (and tinges of sincerity), but let there be no doubt that the man's direction is also wholly superb. Every shot and scene is orchestrated with a buzzing energy, not to mention frolicsome vitality, that squeezes every possible ounce of merriment out of every small moment. In fact, while I can hardly claim as of yet to have seen everything the director made, as far as I'm concerned this easily stands shoulder to shoulder with some of his best.

That excellence absolutely extends to cinematographers Rudolph J. Bergquist and L. William O'Connell, whose contributions reflect an active, dynamic mindfulness exceeding what one broadly associates with the silent era. Some shots in 'A girl in every port' are downright brilliant, for that matter, reflecting not just the gay spirit of the proceedings but an artistry that can't be said of all like fare. Those stunts and effects that are employed come off great, and even details like costume design, hair, and makeup are lovely. The production design and at direction, too, are just dandy, lending to the chipper tenor of the title and further demonstrating just how much skill, intelligence, and care went into it. And I hardly even need say how pleased I am to see Brooks here; she was a performer who was ahead of her time in some ways, particularly in the delicate nuance of her acting, and every opportunity to see her on the Silver Screen is a blessing.

There arguably comes a point in the latter half where the tone somewhat shifts, and the revels are traded in for more story-driven beats in a manner that feels imbalanced; as a consequence the picture might be uneven to some degree. More distinctly irksome, perhaps, is how the ending is a tad too neat and tidy, coming off a bit as Movie Magic more than earnest storytelling. But even at that, at large it's so tremendously smart in its craft, in every capacity - writing, direction, acting, all the work of those behind the scenes - that it forges ahead through the marginal roughness and is all-around stupendously entertaining. To the extent that this is less than perfect, the imperfections are minor.

Flawless it is not, yet while I certainly anticipated liking this when I sat to watch, still I'm taken with just how good it is. Every last trace of the feature conjured and assembled with welcome wit and thoughtfulness, and with a mind only for giving audiences a good time. That goal was very capably met, and between Hawks, McLaglen, and Armstrong, let alone Brooks or anyone else on hand, I don't know who deserves the most credit for its success. One way or another this remains an admirable slice of cinema past, and though as a matter of personal preference it may not appeal equally to all, I'd have no qualms recommending it to just about anyone. Suggested especially for fans of the era, or of those involved, 'A girl in every port' holds up well even more than ninety years later, and is well worth the time it takes to watch.

This is what we call today a "guy film" in which two buddies share everything from drinking bouts to bar room brawls to girls. An early effort by director Howard Hawks, the bar and fight sequences are fast, at times comical and always colorful.

Another interesting thing about the film is that we get a chance to see what ordinary people looked like in the 20's. Being about two sailors and their adventures ashore, we a shown a much more exotic world than we might see today. Take for example when one of our heroes picks up a Dutch girl, dressed in full traditional Dutch costume which was common at the time. From our modern view, we expect her to act like some old fashioned Dutch doll, but instead she acts like any other teenaged girl who is out on a date with a hunk. It is a reminder that people haven't changed that much.

Louise Brooks is another treat in the film. A very extraordinary personality, Louise is the center of attention whenever she is on screen. The sexual tension is highly electric in her scenes. It was because of this film that she was chosen for her famous role as Lulu in "Pandora's Box" where she would make cinema history. All in all, although the film is not one of the greats, it certainly has some great moments and is well worth seeing.

An early directorial effort by Howard Hawks and one of the Hollywood pictures Louise Brooks starred in before becoming a movie legend by acting in two German, G. W. Pabst films, "A Girl in Every Port" also stars in the main roles a young Robert Armstrong (later a regular character actor, perhaps best known for playing the Jack Black role in the original "King Kong" (1933)) and a young Victor McLaglen, who somehow was the only one of the bunch to go onto to win a competitive Oscar ("The Informer" (1935)). Nuanced, McLaglen is not. Don't get me wrong, I love his later supporting roles in John Ford and John Wayne movies, especially "The Quiet Man" (1952), and, for the most part, "A Girl in Every Port" is just his kind of role. It's a "buddy" movie, or "bromance," with lots and lots of guys punching each other, and the way he approaches women like a Looney Tunes cartoon is kind of amusing in an eye-rolling sort of way. But, when the film's final act calls upon him for a couple scenes of dramatic acting, he tried, but it just wasn't in his repertoire.

Unfortunately, McLaglen's character is the protagonist, and much of the film follows him from port to port chasing women, only to discover that another sailor had already had them. Apparently, it's OK for women to share him, but not for other men to share the women he visits only whenever he's in town. Instead of sleeping with any of these women, he, instead, bumps into and gets into physical confrontations with other men. Eventually, McLaglen runs into this other sailor (Armstrong) and, of course, fists are thrown... and thrown some more. Through this male-bonding ritual, they become best pals. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this film is how homoerotic it is, while simultaneously being misogynistic, as well as jingoistic. In one scene, Armstrong's character repeatedly calls McLaglen away from a girl he's putting the moves on so that McLaglen will help him knock around other guys and to yank on Armstrong's fingers, which become disjoined, you know, from all the pounding. (Odd how Armstrong's character has supposedly had so many women, yet the film never shows him trying to seduce one.) The two also walk around on more than one occasion with their arms locked together.

After sailing together for some time, McLaglen decides he's made enough money to settle down. While his buddy is laid up with a toothache, McLaglen goes on land to discover Louise Brooks in a bathing suit. Naturally, he proposes on their first date that they settle down together. Little does he know, however-although we do from the moment Brooks' manager points the cash-heavy sap out to her-that she's a vamp. Brooks does well to steal a couple scenes, and, reportedly, she had enough presence here to gain the attention of filmmakers overseas. But, it's a rather cliched and thankless role, as she's eventually, literally tossed aside in favor of the film's central bromance.

Howard Hawks had been called by film critic Leonard Maltin as "the greatest American director who is not a household name." His imprint in the early Golden Age of Hollywood is everywhere. His versatility in expertly handling all types of genres, from screwball comedies, to westerns, to film noirs, to even musicals, is all encompassing. Hawks played a huge influence on future film directors such as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and France's Jean-Luc Godard. The director's speciality, however, was movies about the friendly bonding of males, a concurrent theme in many of his films.

Beginning as a director in silent movies, his first movie containing the first traces of the Hawksian male trademark is February 1928's "A Girl In Every Port." Hawks wrote the story that the film's screenplay was based. It details a sailor, Spike (Victor McLaglen), who has a girlfriend in every port where his schooner docks at. Trouble brews when he discovers another sailor, Salami (Robert Armstrong), has coincidentally swept every girlfriend of his off their feet, leaving each of them a distinctive heart-shaped charm with an anchor inside. Spike finally catches up to Salami, and they duke it out. Using a similar set-up by the play and the movie "What Price Glory?" Hawks' story has the two adversaries ultimately forming a close bond-that is until Marie (Louise Brooks) enters the scene, stealing Spike (and his money) away from Salami. Film historians cite "A Girl In Every Port" as the first time in the director's oeuvre where his male characters feel friendship is more important than a relationship with a women. In this movie, Louise Brooks plays a conniving thief who is out to steal every penny from the gullible Spike.

An avid tennis player as a youth (he won the United States Junior Tennis Championship), Hawks joined the Aviation Section of the U. S. Signal Corps during World War One teaching untrained pilots how to fly. Living in Pasadena, California, after the war, he had worked summer jobs at film studios. His first employment was as a prop boy for Douglas Fairbanks films. Working alongside the actor, Mary Pickford and Cecil B. DeMille, Hawks secured a position at Paramount Pictures as a Production Editor and script writer. In 1925, Hawks was offered to direct films at Fox Films, with "A Girl In Every Port" his fifth movie.

The 21-year-old actress Louise Brooks' career took a giant leap forward in her role as Marie. Soon after "A Girl In Every Port" was released, German director G. W Pabst spotted her on the screen and felt she would be perfect for what turned out to be her defining role, 1929's "Pandora's Box." This Hawks film and her next appearance in "Beggars In Life" solidified Brooks' reputation as one of the more talented rising new stars in cinema.