drednm

We don't have any discrepancies. I didn't post any of these lists.

Box office results from the 1920s (and even into the 1930s) are quite hard to find. Even Variety didn't do "year-end" box office results. They used to track the films in big cities on a weekly basis but I doubt they were terribly reliable and there was no way to verify reports. In the late 20s, Variety started issuing year-end popularity of stars at the various studios, which also depended on how many films a star had in release, since it seemed to be based on total rather than per-film. But even there, no numbers were given, just a list.

This list probably make more sense than the other, specially since it doesn't explain what "popular" means or how it's rated. Marion Davies and Gloria Swanson were popular in the 1920s and are among the few silent stars who have a fan base today (along with Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Valentino, and some others).

TCM article on the Marion Davies film. "Over at Warner Bros., Hearst did exert his considerable influence during the casting phase of Cain and Mabel, the story of a musical star's romance with a heavyweight boxer. Jealous of Warner Bros. contract star Dick Powell whom Marion Davies found attractive, Hearst vetoed the popular young crooner from being cast as the film's second male lead. The part went to Allen Jenkins instead." No. The part went to Robert Paige (then billed as David Carlyle). Allen Jenkins did not sing. Powell co-starred in two other Davies films, Hearts Divided and Page Miss Glory. The article also flatly states Cain and Mabel bombed, yet looking at contemporary weekly box office reports shows the film did quite well, especially in cities. It might not have been a mega-hit, but it's unlikely that it bombed.

Marion Davies in another shot with the artist, Federico Beltran Masses.

Federico Beltran Masses was an artist who painted several portraits of Marion Davies.

Here are Marion Davies and Rudolph Valentino when they were voted "King and Queen of the Screen" by theater owners at their 1924 convention. Davies was likely the #1 female box office star in the 1922-24 period with both When Knighthood Was in Flower and Little Old New York in release. Both films ranked among the top hits of their years. Other Davies hits from these years were Beauty's Worth, The Bride's Play, The Young Diana, and Adam and Eva.

Fields has a small role in JANICE MEREDITH, a cameo really. It's a complicated restoration because, as I understand it, UCLA has some material that LoC does not have, apparently there were differences in the American and British prints. The lousy print that has been circulating for years is from the British print and was released on VHS by Videobrary many decades ago. Since Warners now has the copyright most of the MGM silents, it seems unlikely anything is going to happen regardless of which archive holds them. LoC does not, to my knowledge have prints of YOLANDA or TILLIE THE TOILER, and MoMA and Eastman won't be sharing their prints for a Kickstarter.

I've Kickstarted ENCHANTMENT and THE BRIDE'S PLAY, both of which have aired on TCM in great restored prints. I've also Kickstarted BEAUTY'S WORTH, THE RESTLESS SEX and the incomplete but oh so watchable APRIL FOLLY and BURIED TREASURE. Ben Model released the fabulous WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER which is available on Amazon along with BEAUTY and BRIDE dvds. A restored JANICE MEREDITH might be possible but the project might have to involve UCLA, which complicates everything. YOLANDA would require all new titles in English and it's a long film (but excellent). LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY might be tricky because the color sequences have not been restored along with the B&W at Library of Congress. I have no idea what kind of work it would take to restore the color. All the remaining silents are controlled by Warners. I believe most of these are complete at Library of Congress. These include ZANDER THE GREAT, LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY, BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK, THE FAIR CO-ED, THE CARDBOARD LOVER, and QUALITY STREET. TILLIE THE TOILER is at other archives and probably locked up.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-case-for-marion-davies_us_5a15b0b8e4b009b331ad76a2

Easy one. NONE!

Ben Mankiewicz does not write the little blurb/intros. He may have input but I know a few people who actually write these. He's basically a talking head. The blurb/intros usually latch onto "talking points" today's audience might be familiar with. Colman is practically forgotten; Dietrich is still an icon. I complain about the same treatment of Marion Davies. Whenever they intro one of her films, it always turns to William Randolph Hearst and/or Orson Welles. They don't talk about Colman/Davies (and lots of others) because no one has heard of them. No one has heard of them because they don't talk about them. It's a vicious circle.

This was one of my Kickstarter projects.

Here's a great choice.

An animated horse's **** works.... might be considered typecasting though.

I watched my completed Kickstarter project Buried Treasure (1921) starring Marion Davies a young woman whose trances lead to the discovery of a past life and buried pirate treasure. Stories of reincarnation were not very common at the time (churches tended to frown on the idea) but this is an exciting and sumptuous film (design by legendary Joseph Urban) with Davies in a dual role. Co-stars Norman Kerry, Anders Randolf, Edith Shayne, and Earl Schenck. I re-sequenced the film from Library of Congress, tinted it, added a synopsis for the missing final reel and commissioned David Drazin for the new score. He arranged several of my original songs and wove them into his score. Here's my DVD cover.

I vote a BIG BIG BIG no to dubbed movies.

A big comeback for Marlene Dietrich after she had been placed on the infamous "box office poison" list.

My faves MARION DAVIES GLORIA SWANSON LILLIAN GISH CONSTANCE TALMADGE BESSIE LOVE MARY PICKFORD NORMA TALMADGE BETTY COMPSON COLLEEN MOORE MARIE DRESSLER

This has probably been brought up before but why do the threads run backwards? Oldest first, rather than newest first?

With the holidays approaching, I highly recommend Undercrank's 3 recent Marion Davies releases: WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER (DVD/BLU combo pack), BEAUTY'S WORTH (DVD), and THE BRIDE'S PLAY (DVD). All three have been restored from 35MM prints from Library of Congress and all three have new scores by Ben Model. All are available at Amazon.

YUCK BIG TIME

Norma Desmond !