Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies (2001) (TV)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Hugh Munro Neely

Writers:

Elaina Archer (writer) &
Hugh Munro Neely (writer) ...

Release Date:

14 February 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot Keywords:

Drunk Woman | Stuttering | Adultery | Stutterer | Reference To Orson Welles

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Charlize Theron	...	Herself - Narrator (voice)
Jeanine Basinger	...	Herself
Cari Beauchamp	...	Herself
Robert Board	...	Himself (as Bob Board)
Kevin Brownlow	...	Himself
Charles Champlin	...	Himself
Mary Collins	...	Herself
Stanley Flink	...	Himself
Frederick Lawrence Guiles	...	Himself
Belinda Vidor Holiday	...	Herself
Virginia Madsen	...	Herself
Constance Moore	...	Herself
Suzanne Vidor Parry	...	Herself
Carl 'Major' Roup	...	Himself (as Carl Roup)
George Sidney	...	Himself

Runtime:

57 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company:

Timeline Films

Movie Connections:

Features The Bachelor Father (1931)

I was never a Marion Davies fan so you may find my review biased...

Growing up, all I ever knew about MARION DAVIES was that she was the protégé and mistress of William Randolph Hearst and there were rumors galore that Orson Welles based his CITIZEN KANE on the relationship between the real life newspaper magnate and an untalented actress by the name of Marion Davies.

When finally I did get to see a few films of Marion Davies, I remained unimpressed by her so-called "talent" as a comedienne that others refer to. Only one of her pictures, THE RED MILL, even made a favorable impression on me. The rest were mired in old-fashioned acting techniques and staging that belonged more to the silent period than "talkies". In other words, I never warmed up to Miss Davies as an actress. In sound films, there's certainly nothing special about her speaking voice or her appearance and whatever talent she had seemed minimal to me.

Still curious, I viewed the documentary to get a better overall view of the woman and her career and to see whether I would come away with a better impression. I didn't. They say she was the forerunner of the sort of beautiful, funny comedienne that Carole Lombard was. Well, I'll take Carole any day--both as an actress and comedienne.

I'm still left with the impression that MARION DAVIES was a mediocre screen personality with minimal talent and find it difficult to believe that people are talking about her as if she was a truly dazzling comic talent. I just don't see it that way.

And the documentary itself is a disjointed thing--full of film clips, still photos, audio voice-over of Davies expressing thoughts about herself and her career (bad recordings), and a few remarks by people like RUTH WARRICK and CONSTANCE MOORE that bear no more weight than feathers.