Page Miss Glory

One of Hollywood's persistent myths is that Marion Davies was a dismal actress who received starring roles only because her longtime lover was Charles Randolph Hearst. Page Miss Glory disproves that notion. She was an adroit comedienne -- and here, she breathes life into a screwball plot that would have been pretty lame without her. She's a naive newcomer to New York working as a chambermaid at a hotel where con artists Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh haven't paid the tab for a month. How they turn her into the mythical temptress, Dawn Glory, and her romance with flier Dick Powell -- who's just as delightfully dopey as she is -- take up most of the film. You can probably chalk up the negative comments about Miss Davies to Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" in which Dorothy Commingore played Kane's mistress, a Davies-like actress known for her wooden performances. But catch "Page Miss Glory" -- or any one of several other movies she made before she quit the screen to look after Hearst -- and you'll discover just how much fun she was.

After William Randolph Hearst took his Cosmopolitan Pictures off the MGM lot and onto Warner Brothers, Marion Davies for her first film was given the title role in Page Miss Glory. The film is based on a Broadway play that ran only 63 performances during the 1934-1935 season.

Press Agents Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh concoct a phony beauty by taking facial features from several known movie stars to create the perfect American beauty. When asked to produce her, our intrepid duo is stuck, but when hotel chambermaid Marion Davies comes in to make up the room, it seems like a prayer has been answered.

O'Brien and McHugh are playing roles that they've both done dozens of times alone and together at Warner Brothers in the Thirties. I think Pat O'Brien pulled more cinematic cons than any other player on record. Davies has some very funny moments and I know she wished she could have done more films like this one.

Dick Powell plays a Charles Lindbergh like aviator with a nice tenor voice who sings the song Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote for the film Page Miss Glory. It's done during a dream sequence when Davies still thinking like a chambermaid, imagines herself being swept up romantically by Powell.

Page Miss Glory is one of Marion Davies better sound features and still worth seeing today.

Page Miss Glory (1935)

*** (out of 4)

When William Randolph Hearst took his girlfriend Marion Davies and production company Cosmopolitan from MGM to Warner, he bought the best talent on the lot and ended up delivering one of the better films of his career. In the film, wannabe money makers (Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh) decide to get some quick cash by forging a picture to win a contest for the best looking woman in America. They end up winning but to their horror the press starts to eat up the story of "Dawn Glory". When a reporter (Lyle Talbot) begins to get close to their scheme, they discover that the motel chambermaid (Davies) actually looks like the girl in the photo. This mistaken identity farce begins to lose a lot of steam during the final half hour but with this amazing cast there's really no going wrong here. This certainly isn't a classic movie or one that needs to be studied in film schools but if you're a fan of Davies or the wonderful supporting cast then you're in for a treat. Not only do we get Davies, O'Brien, McHugh and Talbot but we also have Dick Powell, Mary Astor, Allen Jenkins and Patsy Kelly. Kelly and Jenkins are pretty much underwritten characters but the rest get to do all their tricks and end up turning over plenty of laughs for the viewer. The most shocking thing is that Davies doesn't have the most to do in the film as she remains a supporting player throughout. This is just fine because when she is on the screen she really tears it up and she's the best as the dimwitted chambermaid who never really catches on to what's going on. O'Brien is his usual fast paced self and he works wonderfully well with McHugh, which shouldn't be too shocking since both men played perfectly well as the sidekicks to James Cagney in various Warner films. Astor nearly steals the film with another strong performance and Talbot delivers the good as well. People are always going to debate on whether Davies was a talented actress or just the mistress to the most powerful man in America but I think this film proves she could be good if given the right material and support around here. Again, this isn't a masterpiece but there's enough here for film buffs to really eat up.

With a great cast and nice idea, 'Page Miss Glory' sparked my interest straight away. It was further interesting seeing silent film star Marion Davies, whose films took a while to be re-discovered and even in her day her personal life and relationships tended to overshadow her career (or at least thought to be), in a talkie role that was one of her last.

'Page Miss Glory' was a decent film if not a great one. It is not one that will appeal to everybody, and hasn't done, very understandably. The same, as in not appealing to everybody, can be said for Davies herself, not hard to see why again. Won't consider myself a fan of her but she has her charms. There are however a fair amount of good things while with elements that are easy to criticise.

Davies does carry the film very well, showing herself to be a charmer, a good comedienne and the ability to command the screen. The cast in fact are the reason to see the film. Dashing Dick Powell, razor sharp Pat O'Brien (very funny too) and equally funny Allen Jenkins are the standouts in support. Patsy Kelly and Barton MacLane are also good.

Further good things are a snappy script that has its fair share of hugely enjoyable moments and a lively pace. The film is never dull, is competently directed and has some decent production values. The title song is a lovely one.

Less good is the rather thin story, in terms of the basics, that does try to do too much at points, some of it and the characters don't serve much point.

Was also disappointed that Mary Astor had too little to do and Joseph Cawthorn and Al Shean are on the annoying side.

Overall, decent but not quite enough glory. 7/10 Bethany Cox

PAGE MISS GLORY (Warner Brothers, 1935), a Cosmopolitan production directed by Mervyn LeRoy, stars Marion Davies, formerly of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, making her Warner Brothers debut. PAGE MISS GLORY may not be the greatest comedy ever made, but much better than the four feature films that were to follow in general. What makes PAGE MISS GLORY succeed is its presence of the studio's own huge assortment of stock players, especially the third-billed crooner by the name of Dick Powel, having a very busy year for himself with six movie releases for 1935 alone.

Plot summary: Loretta (Marion Davies) is a country girl from Red Hook arriving in New York City's busy Grand Central train terminal where, after given some guidance from Mr. Kimball (Harry Beresford), a traveler's aide, and only $27 to her name, comes to the Park Regis Hotel where she interviews herself to Mr. Yates (Berton Churchill), the assistant hotel manager, for a job. Loretta becomes the hotel's chambermaid and teams with Betty (Patsy Kelly) cleaning rooms and assisting guests. Her first good deed goes to Chick Wiley (Pat O'Brien), a promoter, and Ed Olsen (Frank McHugh), his assistant, of Room 1762, down on their luck and four weeks behind their bill. Believing they are hungry, Loretta offers them a rejected meal from one of the other guests which turns out to be dog food. Gladys (Mary Astor), a hard-working secretary and Ed's love interest, tries her best to assist in their lack of creativity to get themselves back into business. Upon reading a full page ad in a magazine for the submission of a photograph for the most beautiful girl in the world, Ed schemes up a publicity stunt by sending a composite photo of a fictional girl he names "Dawn Glory" in hope of winning the $2500 grand prize. Much to everyone's surprise, Chick wins, but is unable to produce the girl he's promoting to Slattery Hawkshaw (Lyle Talbot), a reporter for the Express insisting on an interview with Chick's Wonder Girl. It is only when Loretta, after beautifying herself at the beauty parlor, puts on the Miss Glory Silhouette Dress does the homely chambermaid become the new American Beauty. As fate would have it, Loretta, known to all as Miss Glory, is proposed marriage by Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell) over the radio only after having seen her photograph but never met her personally (except earlier at the hotel as a chambermaid). Though Loretta is madly in love with Bingo, her life gets a turnaround when she's abducted by hired thugs, Petey (Allen Jenkins) and Blackie (Barton MacLane), out for some ransom money.

Also in the large assortment of Warners stock players are Joseph Cawthorn and Al Shean playing a couple of heavily accented rival businessmen; Lionel Stander (Nick, a Russian accented wrestler employed in the hotel baggage room); Hobart Cavanaugh (Kimball); and in smaller roles, Helen Lowell, E.E. Clive, Gavin Gordon, Irving Bacon and Jonathan Hale. Very much a straightforward comedy, the title song of "Page Miss Glory" (by Al Dubin and Harry Warren) is first heard briefly by an uncredited vocalist at a night club before Miss Glory has her daydreaming fantasy moment staring directly into the picture frame of Bingo (Powell) to come to life and sing the song directly to her.

Though PAGE MISS GLORY gets off to a great start, it grows tiresome by the time it reaches its 93 minute conclusion. As usual, the cast does its best in what they do, namely Pat O'Brien as a scheming promoter; Dick Powell appearing in pilot's uniform throughout the story; the serious-minded Mary Astor, among the many others in this all-star cast. In conclusion, PAGE MISS GLORY very much belongs to Marion Davies alone. She's has some very fine moments, especially during the first half of the story during her amusingly fish-out-of-water hillbilly type in the big city to unexpectedly become an American Beauty.

Never distributed to home video, PAGE MISS GLORY had its moments of glory when first broadcast on Turner Network Television (1989) before becoming a more permanent fixture on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (***)