Wonderfully delightful and highly entertaining! The biggest hit of Marion Davies career that continues to entertain generations over 80-years later! Highly recommended!
© 1928, 2004 Turner Entertainment Co. Package Design © 2009 Turner Entertainment Co. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.
DVD TITLE: The Patsy
YEAR OF FILM: 1928
DURATION: 77 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: B&W, Dolby Digital Stereo
COMPANY: Warner Archive
RELEASE DATE: August 18, 2009
Directed by King Vidor
Story (Play) by Barry Conners
Written by Agnes Christine Jonston
Titles by Ralph Spence
Produced by Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst, King Vidor
Music by Vivek Maddala
Cinematography by John F. Seitz
Edited by Hugh Wynn
Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons
Costume Design by Gilbert Clark
Starring:
Marion Davies as Patricia Harrington
Orville Caldwell as Tony Anderson
Marie Dressler as Ma Harrington
Lawrence Gray as Billy Caldwell
Dell Anderson as Pa Harrington
Jane Winton as Grace Harrington
Pat Harrington (Marian Davies) is the patsy in her family, the forgotten good girl who watches her flirtatious sister collect all the fellas. But when sis two-times her current beau, the dreamboat Pat secretly loves, Pat seizes her chance. She knows that to get a man, a girl needs to get some personality. So she gets three, mimicking Mae Murray, Lillian Gish and Pola Negri in a daffy plot to make the dreamboat jealous. Davies radiates comic charm, highlighted by her dead-on impersonations of the three cinema divas, in this audience pleaser directed by King Vidor (The Crowd) and costarring Marie Dressler (Min and Bill) as Pat’s battle-ax of a mother. Gloriously fun and frothy, The Patsy was the biggest hit of Davies’ career.
A Cinderella silent film that has stood the test of time and entertained many generations, Marion Davies 1928 film, “The Patsy” is magnificent!
Directed by King Vidor, “The Patsy” was a wonderful vehicle for Davies to showcase her comedic skills but also why she was one of the best actresses of her time. The film would also be the necessary vehicle for actress Marie Dressler to make her comeback (and in 1931 and 1932, Dressler would win back-to-back Oscars for the “Best Actress in a Leading Role”).
But for Marion Davies, “The Patsy” is considered her best film that she has starred in.
And for many so long, many silent film fans have waited for this film to be released on DVD after being teased with a beautiful print shown on the cable network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Unfortunately, Warner Bros. is no longer releasing classics DVD’s via retail but with the Warner Archive, you can purchase a DVD-R on demand ala wbshop.com (or through Amazon and other stores that do carry the Warner Archive titles).
“The Patsy” is a film that revolves around the Harrington family. Grace Harrington (played by Jane Winton) is the eldest daughter that Ma Harrington (played by Marie Dressler) cares for and spoils. Meanwhile, Patricia Harrington (played by Marion Davies) is the youngest daughter who is constantly picked on by her mother and sister. Her father Pa Harrington (played by Dell Henderson) doesn’t like how Pat is always teased and picked on or taken advantage of (hence the title of the movie “The Patsy” and also a play on her name).
Ma Harrington feels that Pat will be the person who will cause her health problems even though Pat is just upset that she never gets anything good and it’s always her sister Grace.
For Pat, she envies Grace because she is dating a man named Tony Anderson (played by Orville Caldwell) and Pat can only wish that she was with him.
As Tony comes to visit, he reminds everyone about the party at the Yacht Club. As the women get ready, Grace takes Pat’s new jacket and when Grace tries to make a fuss about it, once again Grace wins and Ma Harrington supports Grace instead of Pat. When Tony comes to pick Grace up, Ma Harrington leaves with Tony and Grace, leaving Pat with her father in a car with no adequate cover and thus her hair can easily get messed up.
While at the club, Grace just watches Tony and can’t keep her eyes off him but Ma Harrington is on to her and does not want Pat ruining anything between Grace and Tony.
Meanwhile, the rich Billy Caldwell (played by Lawrence Gray) has arrived and when he sees Grace, he falls head over heels for her. He pretends he’s a waiter and tries to get close to Grace and succeeds. When Ma Harrington finds out that Billy is interested in Grace, she tries to be all chummy with him. While Billy moves in and asks Grace for a dance, Tony can’t believe that Billy has taken Grace from him. As for Pat, she tries to console him and so while Billy and Grace are dancing, Grace asks Tony to dance with her but for Tony, it’s because he needs to find out what Grace and Tony are doing instead of paying attention to Grace. In fact, Tony has no idea that Grace has fallen for him.
When Billy takes Grace on his motorboat, Tony can’t believe what has happened and so Pat and Tony try to take a row boat to follow. With Grace and Tony together in the boat, she tells him that she likes a guy who doesn’t know she’s there. Tony tries to give her advice and that she needs personality to get the guy she wants.
So, Pat goes on a quest to get closer to Tony with the advice he gives her on how to attract a guy.   Not knowing that she is doing all she can to make him attracted to her. But will it work?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Patsy” is presented in 4:3 black and white. While the print is pretty good for a film that is over 80-years-old, as one can expect from a silent film, there are scratches that can be seen on the print. But fortunately there is no nitrate decomposition and the film looks great considering its age. Blacks are nice and deep, contrast is well-done. No blurriness or ghosting.   Silent film fans or fans of the talent in the film should enjoy the picture quality of this release.
As for audio, the audio is presented in Dolby Digital and the music is actually fantastic for this film. The music for this new release is composed by Vivek Maddala who did a wonderful job on “The Ace of Hearts” from the “Lon Chaney Collection” and the Greta Garbo silent film “The Mysterious Lady”.
Intertitles are easy to read and are not the original intertitles but are quite clear for this DVD release.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Unfortunately, most Warner Archive titles do not come with any special features.
I absolutely adore Marion Davies!
“The Patsy” is perhaps the precursor to the screwball comedy and Marion Davies does a wonderful job with her comedy in this film. From playing the spunky younger sister who is starry eyed over her sister’s boyfriend Tony, to the comedic side of the actress as she tries to showcase her newfound “personality” in which Ma and Grace Harrington think she is going insane. But possibly the most memorable scenes is when she does her imitation of Lillian Gish, Mae Murray and Pola Negri. According to the New York Times review of the film back in 1928, Davies impersonation infuriated Murray and Negri but delighted Gish.
But Davies was absolutely ravishing in this role. What man can turn down as she looks at the man she loves with her alluring eyes. Needless to say, this is a film that Davies works it, knows how to use the camera to showcase her comedy skills but also to display her emotions and passion.
The performances by Davies is stellar but it helps to have a magnificent performance from Marie Dressler and Del Henderson. As for Jane Winton (who plays Grace), many people may recognize her for a part she did a year earlier for Murnau’s “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” in which she played “The Manicure Girl”. Needless to say, the movie did enhance the careers of the main characters of the film, with Marie Dressler benefiting from her role and jumpstarting her career to win two consecutive Oscars in 1931 and 1932.
As for King Vidor, the filmmaker does a wonderful job in creating the Yacht Club dance and captures a moment of time of the urban haute bourgeoisie.  The film is wonderfully directed and at 77-minutes long, the timing was right and for the most part, it’s an easily accessible silent film for those wanting a romantic comedy.
Which now brings us to the DVD. As mentioned, this is part of the Warner Archive and not a retail DVD. This is part of Warner Bros. DVD on demand and the fact is that one will not be seeing many of these classic films on DVD or possibly Blu-ray. Classics may not be a huge moneymaker with today’s audiences but for those who do care about silent films and classics that have not been released in the US, Warner Archive was the way to go.
I’m going to admit that I was on the fence for purchasing this DVD-R release. Mainly because it’s DVD-R, there is no significant packaging, no special features. So, aside from taping it on TCM, if you want the DVD, this is the only way to go.
Everything worked perfectly on my DVD player, and I tested on my Mac and everything played fine. Of course, if there was one thing that is hard for me to justify is paying the $19.99 retail price for a DVD-R with no special features. But fortunately, the Warner Archive titles often go on sale and you can get them for under $10 during the wbshop.com sales (granted, you may have to buy 5-10 titles).
But for my first Warner Archive purchase, I was definitely pleased and can’t wait to purchase more. The only thing I recommend for those (like myself) who take a long time to watch a DVD is to test these DVD-R’s on your player immediately when you received them and to make sure they are working correctly, and so if you need to return it, you can. From what I hear, WB has a good return policy. So, that’s good to know.
Overall, “The Patsy” is a fantastic silent film. It may not have the bells and whistles that I would have liked to see but from here on in when it comes to classics, our only way to obtain these titles are through Warner Archive. But if you are looking for a silent film worth purchasing in the archive or a silent romcom, “The Patsy” is highly recommended!
