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.

From director Robert Z. Leonard. Marion Davies stars as Marianne, whose beloved Andre (George Baxter) has shipped out to the front. Sometime later, a company of American G. I.s are stationed in town, and one of them, Stagg (Lawrence Gray) falls hard for Marianne. Stagg, along with his buddies Soapy (Cliff Edwards) and Sam (Benny Rubin), make life miserable for the poor French girl with their incessant jokes and songs, although she eventually warms to them all. Also featuring Scott Kolk, Robert Edeson, and Emile Chautard.

This was Davies first sound film, and I found her charming, funny and with a good voice, even with her thick and phony French accent. The scenes where she dresses as a French soldier are a highlight. My favorite song was one by comic relief Rubin, a cantor-esque number called "The Girl from Noochateau". The movie is overall is harmless fluff, a bit overlong at 111 minutes, but a promising sign in the development of the musical in the new sound medium.

This was meant as a musical take on 1925's "The Big Parade".

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!

I first learned of Marion Davies when I saw the HBO movie "RKO 281", about William Randolph Hearst's attempts to stop "Citizen Kane" from getting released (Melanie Griffith played Davies). I've finally seen her in her first talkie. Robert Z. Leonard's "Marianne" is nothing special on its own, depicting a US platoon coming to a small town in France during World War I. A lot of the humor derives from the troops' arousal at the sight of the title character, played by Davies. Since this got made before the Hays Code, there's one line that I'm sure couldn't have gotten included just a few years later (you'll know it when you hear it).

I understand that Davies was usually a comedienne. I haven't seen most of her work, so I can't judge how much this movie uses her talent. Sometimes I get the feeling that she mainly got put onscreen for her looks (she WAS a real babe).

All in all, the movie's nothing spectacular. I guess that it wasn't intended to be laugh-out-loud funny like the Marx Brothers. Worth seeing, if only once.

I have been interested in Marion Davies ever since my first visit to "The Ranch", Wm Randolph Hearst's estate in San Simeon, now a California state park.

Charlie Chaplin considered Marion to be one of the best female comedians (the IMDb spell checker can't find the female equivalent) - the tragedy as I have heard is that Hearst kept pushing her to do dramatic roles. This was one such movie - and I understand her first "talkie" (besides one of the world's first) - there are some scenes of her in a comedy role but I have to say the movie was so boring to me I hit fast forward (it is not in the theaters anymore ;-) ) - just to get to the end.

Of the Marion Davies movies I have seen, so far "Show People" is my favorite - in it you can tell she has a self-deprecating sense of humor about herself and "show people" (particularly if they have met success)

Anyway I think my giving this a "5" was generous - it seem to just wander and wander without a destination until the end.