Zander the Great (1925)

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

George W. Hill

Writers:

Salisbury Field (play)
Lillie Hayward (writer)

Release Date:

2 May 1925 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Mamie (Marion Davies), an orphan girl who was abused in the orphanage, is taken in by Mrs. Caldwell (Hedda Hopper)...

Plot Keywords:

Arizona | Based On Play | Character Name In Title

Cast

Marion Davies	...	Mamie Smith
Holbrook Blinn	...	Juan Fernández
Harrison Ford	...	Dan Murchinson
Harry Watson	...	Good News
Harry Myers	...	Texas
George Siegmann	...	Black Bart
Emily Fitzroy	...	The Matron
Hobart Bosworth	...	The Sheriff
Richard Carle	...	Mr. Pepper
Hedda Hopper	...	Mrs. Caldwell
Jack Huff	...	Zander (as Master Jack Huff)
Olin Howland	...	Elmer Lovejoy (as Olin Howlin)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carmencita Johnson	...	Baby

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Zander The Great opened at the Empire Theater on April 9, 1923 and ran for 80 performances.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood (2000) (TV)

Great Marion Davies Film

Yet another great Marion Davies film from the silent era.

Fabulous opening scenes with Marion as a 12-year-old orphan with pig tails and freckles. The opening is filmed to show the backs of girls laboring over wash tubs. You see no faces until they load up a wicker basket with a ton of clothes and the girl stumbles under the load only to fall and send the wash flying. The camera zooms in on the girl tearing off the washing and it's MARION DAVIES! She is beaten by the hideous matron (Emily Fitzroy) but is saved when the trustee (Richard Carle) discover her beating and sends her to Mrs. Caldwell (Hedda Hopper) to live. She helps Hopper with her infant son, Zander, while she waits for the return of her husband from Mexico.

Years pass and Hopper dies. The orphanage descends to take away the baby but Marion escapes in a flivver and heads for Arizona (with the pet wabbits) were the baby's father (Harrison Ford) is hiding out with his gang. Through pure luck she happens upon their hideout (he's a bootlegger) but wins them over through her cooking.

But he's a good man and is fighting a border war with an evil outlaw (George Siegmann) while the sheriff lurks.There's a big shootout and things end happily as Ford is not the real father, but a friend of the father who was killed.

Davies is just wonderful here as the orphan but also as the resourceful woman who saves the day. The opening scenes of Davies buried under piles of laundry and zooming about on a motorized bike are very funny.

Ford, who was a major star in his day, is also excellent. The supporting cast is solid: Fitzroy is grotesque as the head of the orphanage, Harry Myers and Harry Watson as the gang, and Olin Howland as the suitor co-star.

Great happy ending scene with tons of wabbits.