Infamous as showgirl turned mistress/film star under newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, and famously misrepresented in CITIZEN KANE as a talent-free lush, the real Marion Davies is now recognized by most critics as a naturally gifted comedian too often forced into ill-suited dramatic roles. Hearst couldn’t bear seeing her take pratfalls and had the cash & clout (for a while) to push her on the public as a great tragedian. At least, that’s current critical consensus. Truth is, she wasn’t much of a comedienne either. Even lighter roles played like a game of charades with Marion pulling face, more good sport/good-time gal than comic actress.* Not so here. Just this once, in a largely dramatic role laced with comic trimmings, she lives up to the role of a lifetime . . . her lifetime. Developed as slum-rags-to-uppercrust-riches by Frances Marion & dialogued in laughs, tears & showbiz camaraderie by Anita Loos, it reflects something of the real Davies as a one time working-class daughter raised to the heights of Prohibition Manhattan Cocktail Society, a blonde follies girl wooed & won by rich playboy Robert Montgomery, coping badly with ‘this thing called love,’ as Cole Porter put it. Running away from a tenement homelife; guided by Billie Dove as the best pal (and maybe a bit more?) who cleared the showbiz path ahead only to find herself overtaken by this blonde upstart; well helmed and strongly cast by Edmund Goulding (check out those one-take family scenes in the tenement apartment). With Davies still looking young & pretty at 35 (she's superbly lit by cameraman George Barnes), balancing jokes, drinks & tragedy without guying the material. Even the artificial moments feel grounded.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *A lot of Davies’ positive critical rehabilitation tied to guilt over the KANE portrayal.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: As Davies’ on-stage dancing partners, that’s the world famous Rocky Twins, famous androgynous beauties from Norway in their one-and-only film appearance.
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