What did critics think of Louise Brooks and It Pays to Advertise (1931)? Opinion of the film was mixed. Here is a survey, in the form of a number of quotes, from some of the newspapers and magazines of the time. All sources are American.
“It Pays to Advertise is a sweet comedy for anybody’s bill. Frank Tuttle has taken a cast composed largely of veterans, injected some 1931 highlife into the familiar stage comedy and emerged with a fast moving laugh getter. Carole Lombard, Helen Johnson and Louise Brooks, the latter making her American reappearance, handle the feminine roles satisfactorily.” — Don Ashbaugh, Motion Picture Herald
“Rumor hath it that the picture was made in 10 days, and it shows it. . . . Louise Brooks flashes in and out of the opening scenes and looks like a good bet for bigger roles.” — Hollywood Reporter
“Still another old play, It Pays to Advertise, finds its way to the screen this week. . . . Norman Foster, Carole Lombard and our old friend, Louise Brooks, who has returned to the fold of Hollywood, have been given fat parts.” — Nie, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“There certainly is nothing alarming about It Pays to Advertise, but it holds your attention throughout, and that is something that a lot of motion pictures do not do in this day of quantity production. . . . Carole Lombard is pretty as the Mary Grayson in the cast, but Louise Brooks, who used to be quite a name in the photoplay world, is more attractive as the actress who does the airplane fall and is not seen thereafter.” — Kansas City Star
“Two hours of good, clean fun. . . . Wichita’s own Louise Brooks [is] in the cast.” — Wichita Beacon
“I was a trifle sad at seeing the lovely Louise Brooks make a ‘comeback’ to the movies in such a 10¢ part as she had.” — Claude A. La Belle, San Francisco News
“Louise Brooks, whom we haven’t seen on the screen for quite some time, appears just long enough just to be recognized. She is interesting, individual and capable. We wonder why she hasn’t been given bigger and better opportunities.” — Ada Hanifin, San Francisco Examiner
” . . . is really entertaining. It is light comedy – fast comedy, in fact.” — Jerry Hoffman, Los Angeles Examiner
“Although slightly outmoded and rather obvious for this sophisticated generation, It Pays to Advertise is still good fun.” — Theatre Magazine
“. . . a sweet comedy for anybody’s bill. . . . Carole Lombard, Helen Johnson and Louise Brooks, the latter making her American reappearance, handle the feminine roles satisfactorily.” — Don Ashbaugh, Motion Picture Herald