Look, I think Marion Davies is under-rated as a comedienne. Seeing her silent comedies has been a revelation to me. It's sad that her portrayal in Citizen Kane likely relegated her to punchline status in Hollywood history.
On the other hand....
Davies is not a convincing dramatic actress. She's too flighty. She has no dramatic range. And frankly, by the 1930s she's already into her mid-30s and had done enough drinking to look 40+. She's way too high mileage to be the ingenue. So if William Randolph Hearst was pushing her into movies she didn't belong in, then he and she probably deserved to get roasted for it.
Blondie of the Follies is neither funny nor satisfyingly dramatic. It wastes Marion Davies's comedic talents AND those of Zazu Pitts. It buries Robert Montgomery's considerable charm.
It's just another flat, dull, earnest, stiff early-talkie snoozerama. Watch it with one finger on the FFW button. Yer gonna need it.
On the other hand....
Davies is not a convincing dramatic actress. She's too flighty. She has no dramatic range. And frankly, by the 1930s she's already into her mid-30s and had done enough drinking to look 40+. She's way too high mileage to be the ingenue. So if William Randolph Hearst was pushing her into movies she didn't belong in, then he and she probably deserved to get roasted for it.
Blondie of the Follies is neither funny nor satisfyingly dramatic. It wastes Marion Davies's comedic talents AND those of Zazu Pitts. It buries Robert Montgomery's considerable charm.
It's just another flat, dull, earnest, stiff early-talkie snoozerama. Watch it with one finger on the FFW button. Yer gonna need it.