The Boob (Silent) (Full Screen)

Farm boy Peter Good's best gal runs off with a bootlegger. So the hapless boob goes running after them... and straight into culture-clash farce that pits his hick heroism (patterned after the actions of granite-jawed cowpokes seen on local Bijou screens) against the wiles of slick-haired gangsters and gin-soaked jazz babies. William A. Wellman, the Hollywood great whose many credits include Wings, The Public Enemy, and The Story of G.I. Joe, directs this rollicking silent comedy highlighted by surprising visual touches. Young Joan Crawford plays a tough, glamorous revenue agent who helps Peter save the day.

This early William Wellman directorial effort stars George K. Arthur as the title character, an incredibly naïve farmhand named Peter Good. Spurned by Amy (Gertrude Olmstead), the girl he loves, Peter sets out to prove that he isn't a boob. He joins a posse hunting for a gang of bootleggers, and sure as shootin' he rounds up the bad guys single-handedly. The film's highlight is an elaborate production number set at a burlesque theater, where scores of contract starlets have their clothes removed with the help of wires and pulleys. Billed third in the cast is Joan Crawford, whom MGM was obviously preparing for bigger and better things.

Adventure | Love | Romance | Romances | Romantic Comedy | Silent

Genre:

• Silent Film

Product Series:

• Warner Archive Collection