Beauty's Worth

Snoozer, Quaker, whatever. This movie is a tough slog.

Marion Davies is the youngest remaining member of some Quaker sect. Arriving in town is Tommy Hollywood and his mom. He is introduced to his long-lost cousin Marion and he drags her into society.

This movie is so plodding I felt like I was reading a book full of title cards, interspersed with some scenes of live people, none of whom ever did anything interesting.

Even the little show they put on, where Marion is allegedly putting her talents to entertaining use, is entirely dull. I can't believe anyone in 1922 thought that was amusing.

It didn't take me long to use my PVR to FFW through this movie. It was painful, to be honest.

Marion Davies is a Quaker girl raised strictly by her two aunts. She goes to a fancy resort with childhood friend Hallam Cooley and his mother. Though she has a longstanding crush on him, he does not reciprocate, instead he is interested in a well dressed golddigger. To get his interest, Marion Davies allows rich and bored artist Forrest Stanley to dress her up and stars in his charade play, but when he does become interested, she realizes that he is only interested in the surface and goes for the artist instead.

Most interesting for the doll charade scene, where Marion Davies gets to act. The women's costumes are in the best Hollywood tradition.

Marion Davies is a contemporary Quaker girl raised by dour aunts in an unworldly fashion. She wants to be wed to Hallam Cooley, whom she has loved since they were children together When Cooley's mother invites her to stay with them at the posh resort of Haven, she goes, dressed like a Dutch doll. Everyone thinks she is a plain, stupid thing, except for perceptive artist Forrest Stanley -- and the movie's audience, of course. She is called upon by the snobby clothes horses at the resort to persuade Stanley to design an elaborate game of Charades for them. He agrees on condition she appear in the Charades in costumes he designs; he will also design an ensemble for her, and guarantees Cooley will propose. When Cooley does....

The modern movie-goer will recognize this sort of movie from examples like THE PRINCESS DIARIES, in which already-gorgeous Ann Hathaway is made to look like all the other well-groomed rich people, and suddenly she is beautiful. Sandra Bullock has also appeared in a number of these, like TWO WEEKS NOTICE and MISS CONGENIALITY. This is a well-produced example of the genre. The highlights are the scene of the Charades, with Miss Davies appearing in exotic costumes on a lavish set designed by Joseph Urban; and the scene in which Lydia Yeamans Titus, playing Miss Davies' Quaker servant, gets drunk.

I had the pleasure of seeing this movie on a DVD produced by Ed Lorusso with a fine organ score by Ben Model. Ed's earlier DVD productions of silent movies have been very successful and have shown up on Turner Classic Movies' Silent Sundays slot. Let us hope they have the sense to do the same for this one.

Marion Davies' blockbuster hit in September 1922, "When Knighthood Was In Flower," followed the actress' typical parts in March 1922's "Beauty's Worth." As a reflection of the type of role she was pigeonholed, Davies plays a young Quaker who is allowed out of her overseer aunts' village for the first time to visit family friends at a resort. The son of the hosting family is embarrassed by Davies' naivete, until, because of her beauty, she becomes a magnet for men vacationing there. She quickly adopts a flapper style, complete with smoking a cigarette in public, the only time the actress is ever seen on screen puffing away.

One highlight of "Beauty's Work" is a doll sequence Davies participates in. The actress nails down the doll-movements to a tee, partly because she was recreating a routine she had performed during her days as a Ziegfeld girl in 1916.

Prudence Cole is a shy Quaker, dominated by her two old crone aunts. Prudence feels some affection for rich Henry Garrison. Garrison strings her alone for his own amusement, inviting her to a party at his estate.

There, Prudence meets artist Cheyne Rovein, who offers to help Prudence impress Garrison. Rovein designs some costumes for Prudence, then engages the party-goers in a game of charades, highlighted by skits in which Prudence, dressed in various outfits, suggests clues. Suddenly Garrison becomes more interested, but will Prudence end up with him or Rovein?

This film has so many bad things going for it, it's hard to know where to start. Boring pretty much describes it. The charade skits are really stupid, and painful to sit through - I actually started hitting the fast forward button.

Hallam Cooley, as Garrison, looks repulsive, so it's hard to imagine any dame falling for him, even if they wanted his dough. He spends most of the film playing Davies, but then the skits get his manly fluids going - and the same goes for every other guy in the crowd.

Apparently just seeing Davies not wearing her Quaker outfit is the equivalent of taking Viagra. Davies is fair in her acting, Stanley better. June Elvidge, as a woman interested in Cooley, gives a nice performance. Lydia Titus and Thomas Jefferson (not the President) are supporting characters who could easily have been cut from the movie. In fact, a lot of this movie should have been cut. If Davies really wanted to impress Cooley, she should have just had sex with him, which would have taken about five minutes, and the film would have been mercifully over that quickly.