JohnHowardReid The Boob (1926), a 10/10 Warner Archive release, is mostly of interest to really devoted Joan Crawford fans who won't mind the facts that her role is small and that's she's poorly costumed, made up, and photographed. In addition to this disservice to Joan Crawford, the movie is slackly directed by a heavy-handed William Wellman. In fact both both director Wellman and the script heavily favor the "comic" antics of Charlie Murray, George K. Arthur and soon-to-be-wed (to M-G-M director Robert Z. Leonard) Gertrude Olmstead. True, the movie does have its fun moments (the uplifting chorus costumes), but basically it runs out of puff well before its actual conclusion.It could be said that at least "The Boob" obviously cost M-G-M a little bit of money. Not much. The unlikely speakeasy set, for example, is a left-over from "Ben Hur".

utgard14 The Boob is a charming silent comedy about a farm boy named Peter Good (George K. Arthur) who is in love with a girl named Amy (Gertrude Olmstead). Amy, as is so often the case, doesn't like Peter back. So, to prove himself to Amy, Peter dresses up like a cowboy and goes after bootleggers. Wait...what? Yeah, it's a little dumb plotwise but it's cute and funny. Nice performances from Arthur and Charles Murray as Cactus Jim. Contrary to the way the film is advertised on TCM as well as the DVD cover, it is not a starring vehicle for Joan Crawford. Joan has a small part as a revenue agent (!). This is also an early William Wellman film before he made it big with "Wings."

MartinHafer When this film was introduced by Robert Osbourne on Turner Classic Movies, he talked mostly about Joan Crawford in the film. However, she is not a huge part of the film and her part doesn't give her much to do. So, if you are seeing it only for Joan you'll probably be disappointed. However, this is not to say that it's a bad film--I enjoyed it very much.George K. Arthur is the boob--a dumb but determined man who wants to win the heart of a local girl. So, and this shows what a boob he is, he dresses up like a cowboy and goes in search of bootleggers. He figures if he plays the action hero, she's bound to fall for him. In the process he, of course, makes a mess of things again and again--though being a romantic-comedy, he manages to somehow prove himself.While this is not a silent that will change your life, it is entertaining and fun--with a few laughs. Why Arthur completely faded as an actor is something I'd like to know--as he was pretty popular as a silent star. However, director William Wellman went on to many fantastic projects. Just a year later, he'd direct the first film to receive the Best Picture Academy Award ("Wings").

bkoganbing The Boob features the talents of George K. Arthur as a naive country boy who is trying very hard to impress a young lady Gertrude Olmstead, but she can't see him for beans, much preferring the slick talking city guy Antonio D'Algy. He even puts on a big cowboy outfit, but Olmstead laughs at him, saying he's just a Tom Mix wannabe.This was my first exposure to the comic talents of George K. Arthur whose career sputtered to a halt with the coming of sound. The role he plays here would be the kind that Joe E. Brown would do in the Thirties, Red Skelton might try in the Forties and after his split from Dino, Jerry Lewis might have a go in the Fifties at. There's rumor of bootlegging being done in the area and guess what, D'Algy's at the bottom of it. I think just about anyone else can figure out where the rest of this film is going.Former Mack Sennett employees Hank Mann as the soda jerk and Charles Murray as the grizzled old time western sidekick to Arthur are featured. Murray has a very nice turn as a man who just because Prohibition is in the land is not going to let that stand in the way of that old western tradition of the saloon. In fact I've often wondered what happened to the saloon in Prohibition times and The Boob does provide something of an answer.The film might have been forgotten today, but for the presence of Joan Crawford in a secondary role as a Treasury agent. In fact that's a feminist concept many years ahead of its time. What must Eliot Ness have thought of this film? Crawford could have been given a lot more to do in this film. In her next film she would also be in support of a silent screen comic, Harry Langdon in Tramp Tramp Tramp.The Boob was pleasantly amusing enough and it was interesting to see Joan Crawford in her silent days, something I hadn't done until now.