Il caso Hearts & Davies

If you don't know anything about newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst or silent film actress Marion Davies, you probably won't come across this tv biopic while you're trying to decide what to watch this evening. You wouldn't know what to look for! But if you did know what to look for, look no further than this lovely, adorable, sweet yet dramatic, well-acted love story starring Robert Mitchum and Virginia Madsen.

If you've been reading my reviews, you know how I feel about virile, studly actors being put out to pasture when they get old, and thankfully, Robert Mitchum's career didn't take that turn for a very long time. At sixty-eight years old-which, back then, was the equivalent to seventy-eight nowadays-he starred in two romantic films! In Reunion at Fairborough, he actually had a bedroom scene with Deborah Kerr, and in The Hearst and Davies Affair, he had beautifully tender scenes with twenty-four-year-old Virginia Madsen! A perfect choice to be cast as the powerful, magnetic mogul with a dashingly romantic side, it's easy to see why Virginia's character can't resist him, even though he's married.

Virginia looks beautiful in her wigs and 1920s dresses, designed by Dianne Cohoon. Fans of the golden age will love the sets and throwbacks to silent films, including Lorne Kennedy playing Charlie Chaplin. If you've already seen The Cat's Meow, rent this one for the bigger slice of the story. Plus, you'll get to see Robert Mitchum acting exactly the same as he did thirty years earlier: singing, dancing and romancing!

The love affair between William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies is the stuff legends are made and the legend is certainly preserved if not entirely accurately in The Heart And Davies Affair.

William Randolph Heart, heir to a silver mine fortune could be considered America's first media mogul. He owned a chain of newspapers back when print was the way you get the news and he used it to try and launch a political career. He did make it to a couple of terms in the House of Representatives. but that was it.

Unlike what this film says, Hearst had given up his own ambitions by the time he spotted young Marion Davies in the Ziegfeld Follies chorus in 1916 and fell instantly. If Hearst couldn't have a career in politics, as far as his personal life he was going to have his cake and eat it too. He just had young Marion move in with him and never divorced wife Millicent Hearst who kept her dignity despite public humiliation. Caroline Yeager plays Millicent and she has one telling scene with Robert Mitchum.

Robert Mitchum might not have been my first choice in casting William Randolph Hearst. But his portrayal does capture the ego of the man who lived like a king, even to constructing his own palace in California called San Simeon.

Virginia Madsen plays Marion Davies and from all accounts Marion was a gracious and fun loving woman. Her best films in my opinion were some of her sound features where in a few she showed a natural gift for comedy. A gift that WR only reluctantly had her show. He wanted her to be an eternal virginal little girl on screen like Mary Pickford. But Pickford and Davies both grew up in their roles.

I also have to mention Doris Belack who played a young Louella Parsons, the first and maybe the greatest of Hollywood gossip columnists. With the Hearst chain behind her Parsons was a most powerful woman in Hollywood and she could make or break careers. She was a big influence in making Marion Davies the star she became. I only wish that the film had mentioned her husband who was a doctor that specialized in social disease. In his hands passed some of the most well known private parts in the country and therefore he had an unimpeachable source for gossipy blind items for his wife. Belack's Louella had a lot of bite.

The Hearst And Davies Affair is a quality bit of TV film making and not to be missed by fans of Robert Mitchum or Virginia Madsen.

I have little interest in the affair between William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies. However, I do enjoy Robert Mitchum films and decided to watch this, even if I didn't care about this power couple....as it's hard to really care about them for so many reasons...such as Hearst's ruthlessness, adultery, alcoholism and more.

Despite the couple not being folks I'd care to spend time with, the film is entertaining and interesting...and also very much a broad overview of their lives together. In fact, this is my biggest complaint....as the pair were together for decades but the film never gives you any sense of this and misses much of their lives together. It really should have been a miniseries, not a 94 minute film. It's like watching a movie about Germany or the 19th century....there's just too much material and what you get is a bit sketchy. Also, no attempt was made to make Hearst (Robert Mitchum) or Davies (Virginia Madsen) look like they aged at all during the film...whereas in real life, both naturally aged. Hearst got greyer and Davies put on some pounds. In this sense, the film was disappointing as some makeup and prosthetics seemed oddly absent.

Overall, a mildly interesting overview of their lives together...but not deep enough or well made enough to make it anything other than a time-passer. The actors tried their best but the film needed more.

This is a TV movie with good production values. It was filmed in the actual Hearst Castle. Madsen and Mitchum give good performances. Over all enjoyable. It is still available on some on-line video retailers.

Where May I watch this film? It seems interesting. Robert Mitchum is one of the best.