Quand la femme est Roi

American author George Barr McCutcheon's six Graustark books (appeared 1901-1927) copy the idea of British author Anthony Hope's three Ruritania books (appeared 1894-1898). The plot of "Beverly of Graustark" (1904), the second book in the series, is even very similar to that of "The Prisoner of Zenda", the first Ruritania book. Given the large number of films based on the latter, it is not surprising that there were also two silent movies based on the Graustark version of the theme of friendly impersonation of a monarch. The first was Beverly of Graustark (1914).

Despite its light touch, the present film is so blunt in its humor that it can perhaps better be called a farce than a comedy, although that is in part due to it being silent. Marion Davies was popular in cross-dressing roles, so it is not surprising that this angle is maximally exploited. Still, it is a very effective comedy for the time and quite amusing even today.

The last 3 or 4 minutes are in black, red and white: apparently realized with an early form of Technicolor.

Marion Davies is a young American woman who must stand in for her cousin Prince Oscar when he is injured while being escorted to take his throne. She falls in love with goatherd Dantan, who helped rescue her from the evil General Marlanax, and after assorted palace intrigue everything ends happily.

Marion Davies is OK in a role that seems perfect for Mary Pickford. Quite competent, but there is nothing to go out of the way for.

Certainly not the first film to feature a character cross dressing for disguise, but it might perhaps be the first film to contain a two strip technicolor sequence AND a cross dressing character. I wouldn't be shocked if it wasn't though. This cross dresser has a name of course, Marion Davies who plays the title role, Beverly. The plot is quite simple, Beverly's cousin gets injured while skiing, and just so happens that he's scheduled to take the seat of a throne. After being mistaken as her cousin, Beverly goes along with it and before she knows it, threats are being made on her life by someone who also wants the seat. All around I thought it was very enjoyable and I believe the story worked like it was intended. The color sequence was unexpected and a delight to see. There is also a couple short scenes that are tinted, which always adds extra atmosphere. Why the entire movie wasn't tinted, I don't know. We even get a POV type shot of two hands holding a rifle.

This isn't the first film that Marion Davies has been mistaken for a male. If you've seen "When Knighthood was in Flower" (1922), you might remember when she dressed in a mans wardrobe. She was also mistaken for a man in "Peg O' My Heart" (1933). Not surprisingly, there is a 1914 version of "Beverly of Graustark", which I haven't seen but looks like its available on YouTube.

Recommended to silent film fans, and although there are better choices, its also a good starting point for anyone unfamiliar with silents.

This film was released on Blu-Ray/DVD by Undercrank Production.

Marion Davies is compelled to impersonate the Duke or Prince of Graustark to save the kingdom from evil Prince Snarkalot or something. That basic plot has probably been filmed a hundred times but no others had the gifts of Marion Davies, who once again proves she was one of the funniest actors ever filmed. Her facial expressions, her physical movements, she took second place to nobody.

Also doesn't hurt that she's gorgeous. So of course the film works in a romance angle with Antonio Moreno, who put the dash in dashing. Wow.

There are a lot of fun set pieces: Uncle Fatso taking the poisoned drink, Davies getting drunk on too many toasts, the royal ball, and most funny of all the night chamber scene. I laughed out loud.

Before cousin oscar (hale) can travel to graustark to take over the monarchy, he is injured. In desparation, beverly (davies) does drag to fill in at the prince's introduction. When assassins try to take out "the prince", dantan the local goat herder (moreno) comes to the rescue. But when beverly falls for him, she is still posing as the prince, so there's the dilemma! Some interesting trivia comes with this production.. right at the open, marion davies' name is about twice as large as her co-star antonio moreno. This was about halfway through davie's film career; she had been acting for about ten years, and would act (and produce) for another ten years. Larger than life davies was allegedly the live in girlfriend to newspaper publisher william hearst, who had helped to bump her acting career into gear. Directed by sidney franklin; made some pretty major films, even nominated for "good earth". According to wikipedia dot org, the story is based on the 1904 novel by george mccutcheon. The very last scene is in color. You'll be blinded by the reds and the sparkles! A rarity in the 1920s. For more early early films made on color film, see the list of early color feature films at wikipedia. There aren't many prior to 1920, and it was pretty rare for another twenty years. It's a really good restoration, with all new music. The story is all quite silly, but fantasies that take place in far off, exotic lands are always fun to watch.