Marianne

When most silent stars feared the talkies, Marion Davies jumped in with this saucy musical comedy, playing a WW I French girl wooed by 3 American doughboys (Lawrence Gray, Cliff Edwards, and Benny Rubin). Good songs, including title tune and 'Just You, Just Me," as well as Edwards' solo (I forget the title) keep this early talkie moving nicely. Davies was a consummate comedienne and proves it in her starring talkie debut, doing impressions of Maurice Chevalier and Sarah Bernhardt as well as singing and dancing. Edward and Rubin are good comic foils, and Gray is a handsome leading man. Solid MGM talkie with good production values and sound. Davies and Gray had starred together in the silent film, "The Patsy." And I SILL say that Davies ranks with Lombard, Loy, and Arthur as the 30s best comediennes.

French farm girl MARIANNE has constant difficulties with the American soldiers stationed in her barn after the Armistice.

This film was the starring talkie debut for Marion Davies, one of the most charming and talented actresses of her day. As the mistress of William Randolph Hearst, one of America's most powerful men, Davies probably could have had her pick of roles. In some respects, MARIANNE is an odd choice. There is virtually no action, most of the scenes take place in a kitchen and a barn, and Davies speaks her entire dialogue, often in French, with a very thick accent. But she is so lively and full of joie de vivre, so infectiously good-natured even when angry, even mimicking Chevalier & Bernhardt, and impersonating a young male officer, that she becomes the main reason for watching the film today. It is indeed unfortunate that Marion Davies' gifts have become obscured and her films nearly forgotten.

Lawrence Gray, who had shown much skill as a comic actor during Silent days and had worked with Davies then, here plays the American doughboy who falls for Marion. The funny business is handled by two of MGM's newest acquisitions, Yiddish dialect comedian Benny Rubin and ukulele-playing Cliff Edwards. Marion's noble French boyfriend is enacted by George Baxter.

As with many other early sound films, the movie suffers with too much talk. However, the recurring musical sequences are mostly quite welcome. The opening scene, with its idyllic look at Marion's village, shows the quality of art direction for which MGM was famous.

And pity the poor pig Anatole!

While Marianne is not Marion Davies' best effort, it does contain some delightful moments where she absolutely sparkles. Granted her accent isn't all it should be, but give her a break - it was, after all, her very first talkie and her main focus was on conquering her stammer.

I'm not one to normally write reviews, but I just had to remark upon a previous reviewer (niro's) comments. To say that Welles and Mankewicz got it "right" when they fashioned Susan Alexander after Marion is incorrect and just plain mean. Even Welles, in his foreword to Marion's memoir, apologized for making this parallel, saying "To Marion Davies (Susan Alexander) bears no resemblance at all." Reviewer niro also errs regarding the brilliant documentary "Captured on Film" - this outstanding film contains NO inconsequential interviews - with or without "fans". Furthermore, it isn't Joseph Cotten's character who searches to find the meaning of Rosebud, but an off-camera interviewer whom we never see. Tell me, niro, have you ever even seen Citizen Kane OR Marianne?

Pretty cute filmy with Marion Davies as a French mademoisette on a farm who has adventures with, and becomes the adored mascot of some dough-boys at the end of World War I. As for the plot, well, who cares about the plot, except that it provides for some vaudeville performing, and joking, and singing, and lovemaking patter between her and a soldier. High points include Davies' mangling of the English language, her impersonation of a French officer to get her American sweetie out of the guardhouse, and the musical number during the celebration on the eve of the Americans' departure. In spite of the general lightness and playfulness of tone, the picture also manages to fit in some pathos and nobility and self-sacrifice when Marianne and the American part company in favor of her fiancé, returned blind after four years' absence in the war. Sometimes it's dated, sometimes it's silly, and sometimes it doesn't work so well; but it is all the time Marion Davies, and her presence in any film makes it worth watching, no matter how bad it is; one of the few actresses it's possible to say that about.

With the current rush to assure us that Marianne Davies was the victim of a CITIZEN KANE hatchet, job her films are being rather weirdly up rated.

MARRIANNE creaks and what Davies shows here is guts rather than talent, performing in French (of a sort), singing, doing her impressions and delivering the awful `I present you with the air' dialogue with a scary determination, she registers like somebody's mum trapped into appearing in a local operetta society performance.

The studio have poured the best state of the art technique into the piece with varied angles, glossy sets and even a wobbly dissolve in camera to impress the voracious early talkie audience but they would have done better to flesh out the doughboys in Europe plot with more than the two gags they repeat endlessly.

Of the desperate cast, Benny Rubin manages to seem most at ease.