Had she been given a second chance in Hollywood, Louise Brooks might not have been so quickly dismissed into forgettable B-pictures that were the only thing she made after returning from Europe. But as is the case with performers who have either left the studio in a bad way, or were known for being erratic, disruptive, or plain uncooperative, or could not make the transition from one period of their career to the next (in this case, silents to talkies), they were immediately replaced with performers who could fill their shoes. The remarkable thing is how quickly Louise Brooks fell. Not three years before this little movie she was considered the hottest woman in Tinseltown -- the personification of the flapper and an icon of the times, a more sophisticated counterpart for the full-blooded carnality that was Clara Bow. However, her disdain for the Hollywood scene and her refusal to record the voice-over for her character for the movie THE CANARY MURDER CASE proved to be her undoing. Plus, her success in the European scene might have buried her even further down, since Hollwyood might not have taken too well to this occurrence in foreign lands. In any case, Louise Brooks was over, whether she knew it or not, and had she returned to Europe she might have continued her career as an actress. She didn't, and this is her entrance into talkies, awkward, stiff, with little to do but enunciate corny lines. WINDY RILEY GOES Hollywood exists in an extremely bad print, with truly grating sound and dirty images. A sad plunge into the void, hardly a way for an actress to enter a new phase in her career.
Review of Windy Riley Goes Hollywood
