The Cardboard Lover

Nils Asther has just found lover Jetta Goudal with a singer, and is trying to decompress from her when American tourist Marion Davies asks him for his autograph. He hires her to make Miss Goudal jealous, and to keep him from returning to her. It's a task which Miss Davies enthusiastically accepts.

Although the copy I just looked at had no soundtrack and was not very good -- it looks like it was drawn from a VHS print recorded too fast -- it was watchable. The results are sterling for a Marion Davies comedy. Far too many performers in a comedy are afraid to look foolish. Not Miss Davies! She takes spills, looks silly in walking in heels, and sticks her rear end in the camera's eye as she tries to crank an automobile. Miss Goudal looks like a parody of director Robert Leonard's ex-wife, Mae Murray, and Asther, while he doesn't show much in comedy chops, does make some funny faces as his valet pulls a chest plaster away from his skin.

MGM was rarely the home of great comics, even if they were about to hire Keaton and eventually ruin him. It must have been nice to have Miss Davies releasing through them, especially with Hearst footing the bill when the budgets ran over.

Marion Davies doing what she does best, even though she does overplay her hand on occasion. The picture is worth watching just to see the expressions on Nils Asther's face as he has a large chest plaster slowly removed.

Marion Davies plays an American girl touring Europe who gets hired as a 'cardboard lover' to teach Nils Asther's two timing girlfriend Jetta Goudal a lesson, but then she gets stuck on him.

A high point is Marion Davies' parody of Jetta Goudal's vamping. A grand Hollywood production with wonderful sets and women's costumes.

Marion Davies shines like a 1000 watt light bulb in this delightful comedy set in Monte Carlo. Davies plays a dizzy autograph hound who falls for a visiting tennis star (Nils Asther) in a hotel. He's got an exotic girlfriend (Goudal) who's cheating on him and he wants to win her back so he hires Marion to be his "Cardboard Lover" to make her jealous. Marion takes the issue to heart, even after she's been fired from the job; she's a pest with delightful results! The film contains one of her trademark impersonations as well as a bit in drag as a bellhop. Very funny and charming throughout.

There's no question about it--this is Marion Davies' film all the way (evidenced as well by the opening credit "A Marion Davies Production") and she carries that responsibility beautifully. Yes, her pantomime could at times be considered as "playing to the back row," but the exuberant character she creates in doing so succeeds not only in making us laugh (at times so much that it hurts), but also in creating genuine sympathy; and of course we're rooting for her romantic aspirations to come true.

However, also worthy of much praise is Nils Asther as Davies' leading man. In some of his others silent films I've seen, Asther strikes me as rather dull--exotic, to be sure, but oddly lacking in much charisma. Here, though, he absolutely comes to life in a role that calls for much physical comedy (the scene with the chest plaster is a truly hilarious bit), but also leaves him with his dignity in tact as a romantic lead. He and Davies make an excellent screen couple and they look like they were greatly enjoying their scenes together.

Like many of Marion Davies' MGM comedies, this is film that is unavailable on DVD or home video and is rarely screened. If you ever have the chance to see it live, don't miss the opportunity.