La Galante Méprise

On Quality Street the principal occupation is gossip. Doctor Conrad Nagel is courting Marion Davies. But Napoleon is threatening, and so Nagel marches off to war. When he returns, he finds Miss Davies and her sister, Helen Jerome Eddy, running a school, and Miss Davies feels like an old maid, and dresses like one: she wears (gasp!) glasses! There's a bit of awkward conversation, and when Nagel leaves, she rants, dresses in girlish fashion, and announces to her sister and servant Kate Price that she is her own niece. Nagel walks in at this point, and she behaves most coquettishly. Nagel seems fascinated, and so Miss Davies decides to humiliate him.

It clearly was the sort of movie that she and her lover, William Randolph Hearst, could agree on. She knew her talents were as a light comedienne. He wanted to see her in major dress dramas, so James M. Barrie's play, with its Regency furniture and clothing, was an artful compromise. Miss Davies offers three performances here, as the young Phoebe, the older one, and as Livy, with some nice layering to indicate that the last is an act. Nagel, a competent but usually uninspiring male lead, is quite good here, looking a lot like Fredric March would in dress dramas a decade later; and the bevy of gossips include Flora Finch. At 115 minutes it moves a trifle slowly, but Miss Davies has a lot of different emotions to run through, and it's an excellent, if old-fashioned drama.

In 1927 and 1928, as the silent era was coming to an end, Marion Davies turned out seven films, not counting the abandoned FIVE O'CLOCK GIRL. In 1929 she made the talkie plunge in MARIANNE.

In those 7 films Davies played an amazing array of characters in SHOW PEOPLE, THE PATSY, TILLIE THE TOILER, THE RED MILL, THE FAIR CO-ED, THE CARDBOARD LOVER, and QUALITY STREET. Few silent-screen actresses could have produced so many terrific films in a 2-year period. Of these only TILLIE remains hidden away in an archive somewhere; the other six films are available on DVD or VHS.

QUALITY STREET is based on a play by James M. Barrie and was remade as a talkie for Katharine Hepburn in 1937. This silent version is terrific in its costumes, sets, and of course in Marion Davies in the dual roles of Phoebe and Livvy. Phoebe is about to be engaged to Conrad Nagel when he suddenly goes off to the Napoleonic Wars. Years later he returns to find Phoebe an old maid. Furious that he should find her old, she masquerades as her made-up niece Livvy and captures his romantic attentions.

Essentially playing three characters, Davies is just wonderful as the hopeful young Phoebe, the plain and worn-out Phoebe who runs a school, and the kittenish Livvy. Nagel is solid as the suitor. Helen Jerome Eddy plays Susan, Kate Price is Patty. Flora Finch, Margaret Seddon, and Marcelle Corday play the busybodies.

Davies proves once again that she was a fine actress and a super comedienne. She's a delight here and dominates every scene she's in. During this period she ranked among the top FIVE box office stars (with Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, William Haines, and Norma Shearer) for MGM but still the urban legends persist about her unpopularity and lack of talent. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Davies has a remarkable dramatic scene after she learns that Brown is taken with Livvy and has forgotten her, seeing that she is an old maid. She discards the Livvy dress and make-up and, staring into a mirror, dons her "old maid" clothes, neatly tucking her hair into her plain bonnet. In essence, she is accepting her fate as an old maid. Her sadness is palpable. It's a moving moment from a great actress.

In her best comedies, such as The Patsy and Show People, Marion Davies absolutely sparkles. She was a first rate comedienne, a worthy successor to Mabel Normand as the screen's greatest female comic, and undoubtedly an influence on those who followed her, especially Carole Lombard and Lucille Ball. (I'll bet that both Carole and Lucy went to Davies' movies when they were teenagers and watched her closely.) Marion was gifted, and several of her movies are still fun to watch, but it's hard not to wonder what she might have done with better professional guidance. Her Hollywood career was dominated by her paramour William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate who also produced her films, and W.R. had an unfortunate fondness for old- fashioned costume dramas. It's said that he liked to see Marion dressed up in period outfits. Perhaps he believed the high-toned settings of these films, most of which were based on novels or plays, helped elevate his girlfriend's stature in the public mind. Therefore, with infrequent exceptions, Davies was compelled to avoid contemporary stories or anything too jazzy during much of the Jazz Age, instead devoting herself to the historical pieces W.R. preferred.

Quality Street, based on a 1901 play by J.M. "Peter Pan" Barrie, is set in England at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the milieu we tend to associate with the works of Jane Austen. As in her novels, this story features a bright and spirited young lady who suffers some setbacks on her way to (implied) marital bliss with a grinning, handsome young swain, a doctor in this case. But Barrie's story lacks the sharp social observation Austen brought to her books, and also lacks the colorful supporting characters she created to populate her world. Quality Street revolves around a relatively small group of people, and is focused entirely on the fortunes of Phoebe Throssel (Marion Davies), a woman who lives with her sister and is courted by Dr. Valentine Brown (Conrad Nagel). A marriage proposal is expected, but instead war breaks out and the doctor leaves for battle. Phoebe and her sister set up a classroom in their home and teach day students to make ends meet.

The first portion of the film detailing the lovers' courtship is fairly lively and promising, but once Phoebe becomes a teacher the pace becomes leaden and the humor vanishes. Years have passed, and Phoebe is now a sad, dispirited "old maid" who pulls back her hair under an unflattering cap and has to wear spectacles to read. (In Hollywood movies, it seems, being an unmarried woman is bad for your eyesight.) When Brown, now a uniformed Captain, returns after years away, he behaves and looks exactly the same—only with the addition of a dashing scar on his cheek—but when he sees how Phoebe has aged his disappointment and dismay are obvious. (Personally I suspect that combat has a more deleterious effect on one's appearance than teaching, but perhaps there are teachers who would disagree.) Once he's gone, Phoebe finally erupts with anger and frustration and decides to masquerade as her own niece, a fictional creation she calls 'Miss Livvy.' She meets with Captain Brown in this guise, a more flirtatious and naughty version of her younger self. He fails to recognize Phoebe, and is almost instantly smitten with Livvy, and soon he is taking her to a party in her aunt's place.

I haven't seen or read the original Barrie play, but based on a synopsis, and on the 1937 sound remake that featured Katharine Hepburn, it appears that the silent version took liberties with the original story at this juncture, and in doing so garbled the point Barrie was trying to make. Although it strains our credulity that Captain Brown can't tell the difference between Phoebe and "Livvy," we're willing to accept the mistaken identity convention, familiar from Shakespeare and farce comedy; as we head into the final scene the important point is how the man is going to choose, and what the choice says about his character. In Barrie's original version (and in the Hepburn film) Brown comes to dislike Livvy, and tells her that her Aunt Phoebe is a far superior woman. Thus, we know he's a decent guy. But in the silent film, it appears that he is so smitten with Livvy he's on the verge of proposing to her, and only learns the truth about the deception from a servant. Then he has the gall to tell Phoebe that heart and character are more important than a youthful, pretty face—although he was willing to ignore Livvy's flighty personality, just as he now ignores Phoebe's mature beauty—as they go into their final clinch. So our leading man comes off as stupid and shallow, and our leading lady comes off as so desperate she'll accept him on any terms. I don't think this was what J.M. Barrie had in mind.

Well, on the plus side the movie boasts sumptuous production values. Like her contemporaries Pickford, Fairbanks, and Swanson, Marion Davies had a hand in the production side of her movies, and they always look great. The cinematography is especially notable. Over all, this is a comedy-drama that could have used more humor, but Davies and the other players make the most of the occasional opportunities to amuse. I just wish the leading lady had been given more comic material. For much of the way, and despite the entertaining moments, this is like watching Marion Davies try to give a performance while confined in a straitjacket.

Marion Davies is nearly engaged to Conrad Nagel, but then he decides to join the British army to fight in the Napoleonic wars. When he returns perhaps ten years later, he seems to snub her for being too old, so she decides to test his love by impersonating her mythical niece Livvy from London.

Very well done. The contrast between Marion Davies' two characters is fun and interesting. The dialog in the titles may seem queer, but is probably taken from the J.M. Barrie play.

The cinematography has some unusual camera angles and some of the scenes could not be done as they are in a sound movie, especially the gossips.

James M Barrie is now remembered solely for 'Peter Pan', but his play 'Quality Street' was once extremely popular ... so much so that in Britain a brand of filled chocolates were named Quality Street. Barrie's play (despite this film version and a remake) is now out of fashion, but the Quality Street choccies are more popular than ever ... and are exactly the sort of sweets that would be devoured by some lovelorn woman whilst reading a Mills & Boon romance paperback containing the sort of historical claptrap seen in this film.

I screened a videotape of 'Quality Street' that was transferred from a nitrate print that had already begun to deteriorate. In my several decades of movie-watching, I've viewed hundreds of reels of nitrate films that have begun to decompose, and I've got pretty good at ignoring the ripples and slurries while concentrating on the surviving portions of the image. Yet, because I'm accustomed to absolute image clarity when watching videos or DVDs, I found the very minor nitrate deterioration in this video transfer to be deeply distracting. When I see the ripples of deteriorating nitrate, I expect to smell the odour of vinegar ... but on this video, all I could smell was the head-cleaner solution.

Much has been said elsewhere about the relationship between Marion Davies and her backer WR Hearst. Davies proved that her real talent was for frothy comedies of manners in modern settings, but Hearst preferred to cast her in elaborate costume dramas that would present her as a 'serious' actress. 'Quality Street' was clearly chosen for her by Hearst. This story takes place in England during the Napoleonic wars: there are plenty of scoop bonnets, mob caps, plumed shakos and Empire waistlines on offer here. We're solidly in Jane Austen territory, but with a story and characters below Jane Austen's standards.

SPOILERS COMING. The basic storyline here is very similar to 'Madam Satan' and 'Two-Faced Woman': when a man loses interest in a woman, she creates a younger and more vivacious identity, then proceeds to regain his interest as this 'other' woman. The leading man here is Conrad Nagel, who zombies his way through this role even more dully than usual for him. When Dr Brown (Nagel) appears to be no longer enamoured of Phoebe Throssel (Davies), she becomes her own niece Livvy. The doctor seems to prefer Livvy to Phoebe. The end of this story is deeply unconvincing, when Brown announces that he prefers Phoebe after all. A maidservant (Kate Price) has already revealed the imposture to Brown ... so we never know whether his preference for Phoebe is genuine.

The costumes and sets are impressive throughout, except for an anachronistic house number outside Phoebe's residence at 56 Quality Street. (British residences didn't have house numbers until Queen Victoria's reign.) Even more impressive here is the virtuoso camera work by Hendrik Sartov, who filmed this movie's dolly shots with a hand-held camera while wearing roller skates. But we get the usual flaw of movies set in the past: everything is too clean, and everyone's teeth are too good. This is especially conspicuous during one sequence featuring Flora Finch as the local gossip. Sartov's camera skates in for a tight close-up of Finch's mouth, and he holds this while we notice how impeccable Finch's teeth are. I doubt that anyone in Georgian England had such fine choppers.

The intertitles feature lots of 'La, sir!' dialogue that should please readers of Regency romances. This really isn't my sort of story; I kept expecting Dame Barbara Cartland to show up. I'll rate 'Quality Street' 6 out of 10.