Hula. 1927. USA. Directed by Victor Fleming. Screenplay by Ethel Doherty, based on the novel Hula, A Romance of Hawaii by Armene von Tempski. With Clara Bow, Clive Brook, Arlette Marchal, Albert Gran. World restoration premiere. DCP. Silent. 64 min.
To Save and Project presents the world premiere digital restoration of Victor Fleming’s Hula, which, thanks to the recent discovery of a 35mm nitrate print, hasn’t looked this good in 99 years. David Stenn, author of the definitive Clara Bow biography Runnin’ Wild (who introduces the film on January 11), observes that “Clara Bow cemented her ‘It’ Girl reputation with this smash-hit sex comedy from ex-Bow beau Victor Fleming, the future director of both The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind. Fleming’s Paramount studio-mandated task in Hula was to showcase Bow’s phenomenal screen presence despite the flimsiest of plots. This refined the formulaic ‘It’ Girl template that would ultimately undermine Bow’s trailblazing career.” The portrait of a woman who cannot be tamed, Hula is the flip side of another tropical tale that would scandalize moviegoers the following year, Raoul Walsh’s Sadie Thompson, starring Gloria Swanson; this festival features Lewis Milestone’s subsequent adaptation of that same Somerset Maugham story in Rain (1932), starring Joan Crawford.
Restored by the San Francisco Film Preserve with funding provided by David Stenn.
Preceded by:
Fox Movietone News story 9-395 [Elinor Glyn on “It”]. 1930. USA. Filmed by John W. Cotter. With Elinor Glyn. World restoration premiere. DCP. 5 min.
“O.G. trash novelist ‘Madame’ Elinor Glyn explains ‘It,’ the phrase she invented that’s still in popular parlance today. This raw newsreel footage was never shown in full (and never shown in the US at all) so screens here for the very first time” (David Stenn).
4K restoration completed in 2025 by the Moving Image Research Collections – University of South Carolina, at Fotokem laboratory, from the original 35mm nitrate composite camera negative in the Fox Movietone News Collection. Funding provided by David Stenn.
[Earl Burtnett and His Biltmore Orchestra]. 1928. USA. 35mm. 9 min.
“Unshown theatrically since 1928, this early Vitaphone musical short features Hollywood’s hottest jazz band (favorite fangirl: Clara Bow)” (David Stenn).
Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in collaboration with the Library of Congress and the Vitaphone Project from 35mm acetate fine grain master positives and Vitaphone sound disks. Preservation funded by David Stenn.
