In Hula (1927), Clara Bow played Hula Calhoun, a free-spirited young woman on a Hawaiian plantation who falls in love with an English engineer. Directed by Victor Fleming, the film was made at the height of Bow’s fame, in the same year as It and Wings, and it gave her a role that played directly to her image: lively, flirtatious and determined to have her own way.
The tropical setting allowed Bow to be at her most exuberant, dancing and teasing her way through the story, but the performance is not only surface. Hula is also a character who knows what she wants and pursues it, and Bow’s confidence makes that pursuit feel natural rather than forced.
Hula is less famous today than It or Wings, but it is a vivid example of Bow at her peak — a star whose screen personality could carry a light story and make it memorable.