drednm
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Posts posted by drednm
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This was an MGM film. Not sure Hearst would have had the power to remove Arbuckle. Davies mentions in her bio that no one liked the dailies so Arbuckle was replaced rather than scrap an expensive Davies film.
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Yes it seems Arbuckle kept working as a director, mostly short films, and in 1932 acted in 6 short films under his real name for Warners. He was set to make a feature film for Warners when he died in 1933.
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The Red Mill is also on DVD.... Arbuckle was hired to direct the film but probably didn't do all that much work since George Hill replaced him. Arbuckle for the screen credit as William Goodrich. According to Davies, E.J. ("Eddie") Mannix also directed.
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Who knows. After seeing so many of her films, I guess I champion her because she always got a bad break because of the Hearst thing. Even know, when TCM debuted Enchantment, the intro was all about Hearst. Been there, done that. There was very much more to Davies than her life with Hearst.
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When I sold TCM my Enchantment project, I pushed for a SOTM but they had already planned the Silent Star of the Month (November 2014) with the Davies film as the kickoff. In theory, enough films exist for a SOTM tribute if they have or can get the licensing agreements. Here's the list I suggested:
ENCHANTMENT
THE RED MILL
THE PATSY
SHOW PEOPLE
MARIANNE
NOT SO DUMB
POLLY OF THE CIRCUS
BLONDIE OF THE FOLLIES
PEG O' MY HEART
FIVE AND TEN
GOING HOLLYWOOD
OPERATOR 13
HEARTS DIVIDED
CAIN AND MABEL
PAGING MISS GLORY
EVER SINCE EVE
THE BACHELOR FATHER
FLORODORA GIRL
DAVIES BIO
QUALITY STREETThat's 20 films. All of these have been shown on TCM before. There are a few more silent but they have not been restored... There's also my new project, THE RESTLESS SEX '20, which is now being scored.
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I read somewhere that the children of Arthur Jr. and Marion Lake, which would be Marion Davies' great-grandchildren, were pursuing the legal rights issue ... but of course I can't find it now.
The picture posted with the blog item shows Marion in 1959. I have no idea who the man is. It's not Horace G. Brown.
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At least one of the five sons (George) remained friends.... the others did not. They were desperate that Davies not have any say in the "family business." The wife Millicent had been a performer in the 1890s and billed with her sister as "the bicycle girls." All five sons were born before Hearst most likely met Davies.
After Patricia Lake's death-bed confession that she was the daughter of Davies and Hearst, her two children could have become Hearst heirs. There are conflicting stories about whether they ever legally pursued this. Apparently both Arthur Lake Jr. and Marion Lake are still alive (in their 70s).....
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It seems old pal Edmund Goulding offered Marion Davies the role of Mrs. Brown in the 1943 film Claudia but Hearst didn't want her to play a character part and especially not the mother of the leading lady (Dorothy McGuire). The role went to Ina Claire.
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Hearst had a lot of control of what kinds of parts Davies would play. The only role where she played a married woman was Not So Dumb. She married in the finale of many films but didn't have to play a wife. The only film in which she played a mother was The Restless Sex in 1920, and again at the finale of the film. Even then, she stands over a crib and makes goo-goo faces but never holds the baby. They are never in the same scene together.
Marion existed on screen and off in a kind of netherworld. Not quite a wife. Not quite a mother. Not quite a real woman. Even as she aged and approached 40, she played roles much younger. Many actresses of the time did.
But she was prevented from playing the kinds of roles that could have established her as a solid actress. All those great roles played by Gladys George, Wynne Gibson, Mary Astor. I think Davies had a lot more depth than what we see in her films. We see glimpses of it in Peg o' My Heart.
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Thanks.... That's Davies and husband Brown at JFK's inaugural festivities.
I like all her films and rewatched Cain and Mabel just the other days. Fun film, but Warners was not MGM and she just never settled in.
By the time of her death she had been out of films for nearly 25 years. Had she lived another ten years or so she might have seen the rediscovery of Show People at least. Many others like The Patsy have only been reclaimed and re-assessed in the last 10-20 years. The discoveries keep coming.
Enchantment was well received last year, and I hope The Restless Sex will receive an equal reception later this summer.
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There's no edit function once posted.... Yes born 1863....
Thanks
Ed
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Here's an article I wrote about this great character actress of the 1930s.
http://fan.tcm.com/blogpost/alison-skipworth-grand-dames-and-old-broads
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I vote NO to Danny Kaye. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYUK
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Janice Meredith is a long historical film that has lots of good stuff in it. Davies and Fields and Harrison Ford are among the chief delights. As with the previous historical pageants, Hearst demanded authenticity, so the film has great scenes like Washington crossing the Delaware, etc. Perhaps not a great film, but certainly not the failure we have been told about. But this is one of those "in between" films that will probably never be restored or get a DVD release. TCM will likely not air it since it's only in OK shape. There may be a great 35MM copy stored somewhere. I've been told MoMA has shown it, so that's likely. It's an MGM film, so I assume it's now owned by Warners.
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We could skip all those "versions" since we have plenty of films that show the real thing. And yes it's PAGE MISS GLORY.
Several of her other silenst like JANICE MEREDITH, TILLIE THE TOILER, and ZANDER THE GREAT would be great TCM additions but the "rights" issue probably prevents that.
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Here's the list of films I sent to Charles T.
List I came up with:
ENCHANTMENT
THE RED MILL
THE PATSY
SHOW PEOPLE
MARIANNE
NOT SO DUMB
POLLY OF THE CIRCUS
BLONDIE OF THE FOLLIES
PEG O' MY HEART
FIVE AND TEN
GOING HOLLYWOOD
OPERATOR 13
HEARTS DIVIDED
CAIN AND MABEL
PAGING MISS GLORY
EVER SINCE EVE
THE BACHELOR FATHER
FLORODORA GIRL
DAVIES BIO
maybe QUALITY STREETThere are a few public domain silent also. But all the above films have, I believe, been shown on TCM at some point.
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I thought about her. And I'd be all for it. Not really sure how the programmers view her, since they seldom play her movies (and many titles are in the TCM library).
Well I know Charles T. likes her and so does Osborne. They snapped up my ENCHANTMENT project and used it to launch last November's SOTM to silent stars (most of whom don't have enough extant films for a SOTM tribute). I had sent Charles a list of films I figured they had access to ... about 20.
I was disappointed when they world premiered the film that Ben M (or his writers) went right into the Hearst stuff rather than spotlighting Davies' real talent and 20-year starring career in movies.
My current project is Davies' 1920 film THE RESTLESS SEX and she's marvelous in it. I continue to hope, but other than a birthday tribute, she seems unlikely to be SOTM.
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I'd still vote for Marion Davies. Here's a shot from Little Old New York (1923).
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Looks like tons of ads for new movies.....
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Looks like about 100 spam ads got posted to the CFU.... Better spam filters needed, TCM.....
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Ha Ha
Project is now 72% funded.....
Please consider helping get another Marion Davies film out of the archives. This film has not been seen in public since 1920!
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After the success of ENCHANTMENT (1921)..... My new Kickstarter campaign has launched:
https://www.kickstar...stless-sex-1920
Solid romantic drama starring Marion Davies.
Please take a look.....
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My new Kickstarter campaign has launched:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1079843982/the-restless-sex-1920
Solid romantic drama starring Marion Davies.
Please take a look.....
Your Movie Bucket List
in General Discussions
Posted
The 1930 Holiday is floating around.
Two that are locked up in archives I'd like to see are The Barker (1928) a part-talkie that stars Milton Sills, Betty Compson (Oscar nomination), Dorothy Mackaill, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. The other is John Gilbert's infamous His Glorious Night (1929).