This first film version of George Kelly's stage comedy The Show Off stars former Keystone Kop
Ford Sterling in the title role. Though he's only a thirty-dollar-a-week clerk, Aubrey Piper (Sterling) is an incorrigible braggart, brimming full of grandiose get-rich-quick schemes. Quickly ingratiating himself with the family of his fiancee Amy Fisher (
Lois Wilson), Aubrey inveigles them into an investment scheme that nearly results in ruination for all concerned. Even though he and his victims are saved from penury by a last-minute miracle, Aubrey shows no signs of having learned his lesson by film's end -- but Amy loves him anyway. Critics in 1926 were amused by
Ford Sterling but impressed by the coolly authoritative performance of up-and-coming
Louise Brooks in a minor role. The Show-Off was remade with
Spencer Tracy in 1934 and with Red Skelton in 1947. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide