C'est une gamine charmante

TCM will be showing this gem on April, 29th 2007. So be sure not to miss it!

This little silent film is very dear to my heart. When ever I am feeling down or crying over some problems at school; I always pop in The Patsy. It never fails to erase all the sorrows from my heart and I feel as good as new. This film is the perfect medicine.

The story is simple enough: Marion Davies plays Patricia Harrington who lives in an average, modest house with her normal everyday family. She crushes really bad on her sister's boyfriend Tony (Orville Caldwell) and she will stop at nothing to get him. Along with Pat's quest for her man, there is another side to the plot. Pat is sadly mistreated by her mother (Marie Dressler) who seems to prefer her sister (Jane Winton). Even though Pat has the sure love of her wonderful and sensitive father (Dell Henderson) she craves for her mother's love as well. So, as always, Pat picks a hilarious and clever way to finally get her mother's attention....

The Patsy's print looks brilliant and it has a flawless soundtrack by Vivek Maddala. His score for this film is even better than his score for Wild Oranges. Lots of the title cards are really funny and witty - I have so much fun reading them!

If you want to introduce somebody to silent films, show them this one, especially if they're a lady. Everybody loves comedy, the print is in good shape, the story is still common today, and there are no "over-the-top" acting styles that have turned people off silent films before in the past.

Davies stars as the put upon sister in this delightful comedy with a soul. The first screwball comedienne, Davies reinvented herself in 1928 in this and her other comic gem, Show People. Davies then launched into sound with Marianne (also excellent). Freed from the stagy costume dramas Hearst loved, Davies found her own voice in these late silent comedies. Davies stars here with Marie Dressler (in a comeback vehicle) as well as Lawrence Gray, Jane Winton, Dell Henderson and the rather dull Orville Caldwell. The family bickering is fun, with Dame Marie lording it over the household and favoring the beautiful daughter (Winton) to make a good marriage.

When Davies, as the Patsy, decides to "get some personality," the house comes down in laughter. As stated elsewhere here, her impressions of Mae Murray, Lillian Gish, and Pola Negri are dead on funny and amazingly accurate. You have GOT to see Marion Davies transform herself into Lillian Gish! Amazing. Her impressions of Murray and Negri are hilarious. Davies was well known for her acid impressions of Hollywood's grand ladies. One wonders what this trio of stars thought about Davies' take on them.

Fun all the way and interesting to see handsome Lawrence Gray in a secondary role as the rich playboy. He was Davies' singing co-star in Marianne in 1929, her starring talkie debut. You gotta see this and Show People.......

Judging by most other reviews on this site I'm not going out on much of a limb when I say The Patsy is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I don't mean just funniest silent films. I mean funniest movies, period.

The plot is simple enough: younger sister (Marion Davies) moons over older sister's boyfriend. That's all anybody needs to know.

After that, it's one hilarious set piece after another. Dinner at the yacht club. Davies spouting gibberish out of a book of inane aphorisms. Davies mimicking her Hollywood contemporaries.

The intertitles are sharply funny. The physical comedy is pure gold.

Yes, Davies has charm and comedic gifts that have been overshadowed by her portrayal on the ponderously dull Citizen Kane. If you can't fall in love with her here, you're colder than New Hampshire granite.

As for Marie Dressler, what a force. It's not an exaggeration to say she might have been the funniest film actress of all time. I'm not sure she even needed dialogue to be funny. On the other hand, if you're familiar with her speaking voice from having watched one of her talkies (e.g., Min and Bill) it makes this performance that much better.

Unless you have some kind of disease that prevents you from watching silent movies, I unreservedly recommend The Patsy.

A hillarious movie from director King Vidor, with Marion Davies AND Marie Dresler! As the perpetually feuding mother and daughter, Dresler and Davies are not only side-splittingly funny, they are actually quite touching. The rest of the film delivers on all these levels as well.

If anybody believes that Susan Alexander Kane was an actual representation of Marion Davies, they aught to watch this film. Marion is a delight to watch, always full of warmth and energy, always beautiful and charming, and constantly surprising. Take for instance a scene in which she spies on her sister and the sister's boyfriend. Marion, or Pat rather, walks back and forth through the doorway, changing hats and characters, stopping at one point to remark "When in Bagdad, do as the Bagdaddies do!" Or there's the scene where she barges into an intended conquest's house and finds him in a state of drunken delirium. In an (unsuccessful) attempt to rouse him (or at least his attention), she goes about the room impersonating a series of popular film stars. First she's Mae Murray, then Lillian Gish, then Pola Negri. Gloria Swanson's Chaplin imitation is no match for the brilliance of this scene.

Viewed with a modern audience, this film transcends the generations. Though so much has changed in the many years since it's conception, so much is still the same. The Patsy is one of the greatest silent comedies, and one of the best comedies to boot, and one of the best silents, that I think I have ever seen.

I had never seen Marion Davies in a movie until now.What a treat.Such a pretty,talented,funny,expressive ability she had.Charisma with a capital "C",a doll for sure.No wonder Hearst loved her so.Marie Dressler I have seen before,and she usually is the dominant mother,head of the household.She is stern, but comes through as caring in the end.I love everything about silents,the quirky,shaky movements,the old phones,the hairdo's and clothes.This movie transported me back in time to the twenties.I also liked marion's sister jane in this movie.She had a sexuality and charm that was rather advanced.Very flirtatious and fickle.Loved the scene where marion show's off different hats and those faces,priceless.