Dulcy

This was an egregious misfire, considering the talent involved. I kept waiting for a belly laugh or even a chuckle, but I could barely force one throughout the picture. Marion Davies was a talented comedienne, but here her timing seemed off and she appeared ill at ease with the material. All I could think of was that this must have worked better onstage, as it was adapted from a play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, two of the biggest names on Broadway at the time. To top that, the Director was King Vidor, one of Hollywood's best. I thought the website rating was overly generous by half, which is what I rated it; half of it.

Stiffly-done farce in which Davies plays an obnoxious character, and the result is not only obnoxious but almost unbearable. Way before Lucy, this is the wacky dame who puts her foot in her mouth too many times and in endless variations. Kaufmann and Connelly's lines fall flat, and Vidor seems to be a little frightened of the microphone in this early talky. Some of the lesser characters are funny in a Rodney Dangerfield sort of way, and the "other William Holden" is good as a pompous businessman.

This early talkie is a bit creaky—sound recording technology certainly wasn't perfected yet, for one thing. It's also very evident that it's a movie version of a stage play—there's no doubt it's "stagey," which bothers some people. So it takes some doing, but Marion Davies' wacky performance eventually overcomes these distractions.

Davies is both nutty and charming as Dulcy, a wealthy young socialite who is determined to help her fiancé put over a big business deal.

Elliott Nugent is fine as the fiancé who would much prefer that Dulcy mind her own business; his performance, like his character, is pretty much overshadowed by the much bigger and bolder Davies personality. Old character actor William Holden is very good as the blustery and flustered business magnate with whom Davies is trying to match up Nugent.

Davies' extremely expressive face places her much more in a class with fellow comedians than with other female movie stars of the day; while her screen presence is nothing at all like, for example, Joan Crawford's—it's not entirely unlike Stan Laurel's or Harold Lloyd's.

Her appeal lies in a kind of well-meaning goofiness that other characters may find irritating but is both hilarious and endearing to us viewers. A great example: the drawing room scene in which a house guest sings a song while Davies aggressively shushes everyone and then noisily unwraps a box of candy.

The comic plot is okay and there is some funny dialog. But the main attraction of the picture is certainly the star—this is lots of fun for fans of Marion Davies and her other comedies.

There is absolutely no bias against early talkies, despite giving a low rating and negative review to 'Not so Dumb'. The title alone gave the feeling of not to expect much, so expectations were not exactly high. There is also no bias against Marion Davies, who was a natural in comedy, or against King Vidor, responsible for silent film greats 'The Big Parade' and 'The Crowd' (high recommendations if you haven't seen them already).

'Not So Dumb' just doesn't work and redeeming qualities are sadly few. There are far better Davies vehicles, more her early work than later, of which 'Not So Dumb' is very much a lesser one and doesn't show her in a good light. And it is for me definitely among Vidor's worst, not a patch on the best of his silents and he even did better later. Neither of them are well served and neither of them, after solid careers in silents, seemed comfortable here with the still in infancy talkie film medium.

What redeems 'Not So Dumb' a little is the supporting cast, all doing very well with what they're given. Amusing George Davis comes off best.

Did like the costumes and sets which were quite elegant.

A word that can't be used describing the rest of the production values sadly. Most of 'Not So Dumb' looks cheap, with very static camerawork that is very restricted and never opens up or feels cinematic and editing that lacks cohesion. Davies' comedic chops are not in sight in a very strident and over-compensated performance that has no subtlety whatsoever. Making her character incredibly irritating. Vidor's direction is very ill at ease and like he didn't know what he was doing.

Furthermore, the sound is very distorted which makes some of the dialogue hard to hear. Not that it was worth hearing anyway, with it being so stilted and unintentionally camp. The story would have been out of date and old-fashioned at the time and creaks badly now, it is slight and when there is a story discernible it is neither interesting or natural. The length is not long but the dullness of the pacing and lack of interest or connection with the story makes it feel longer than it actually is.

On the whole, pretty weak failure and to be for completest sake pretty much only. 3/10

Marion Davies stars in her second talkie feature as the scatterbrained Dulcy, who's engaged to dull Gordon (Elliott Nugent) and hosting a weekend party with hopes of furthering his business venture with old fogy Forbes (William Holden, not not that one) who arrives with his wife and daughter. Dulcy's brother Willie (Raymond Hackett) is also on hand.

As a surprise she's hired a new butler (George Davis) newly on parole as well as two surprise guests: the eccentric Van Dyke (Donald Ogden Stewart) who has shares in movie studios and the equally eccentric writer Leach (Franklin Pangborn).

Forbes turns out to be a sour old thing and Dulcy can't stop chattering in an effort to liven up the weekend party of mismatched people. After failed attempts at parlor games and billiards, Dulcy ends up helping Pangborn elope with Forbes' flaky daughter (Sally Starr) with the help of his wife (Julia Faye).

Eventually the daughter's pearls go missing, the butler/parolee runs off, and a stranger comes to the door with information on one of the guests.

Based on a 1921 play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly that starred Lynn Fontanne, this was a starring film in 1923 for Constance Talmadge and again in 1940 for Ann Sothern.

Davies is fun and Pangborn is good as well. Everyone else is OK. Directed by King Vidor the film is awkwardly assembled with silent close-ups inserted into dialog scenes. This was a modest hit in 1930.