Page Miss Glory

Pat O'Brien once said, "I don't just want to be a fast-talking Charlie all my life." That's exactly what he is in "Page Miss Glory"--a flimflam man who is always looking for an angle. As Click Wiley, he pairs up with Eddie Olson (Frank McHugh), a photographer whose lens is in hock. They are about to be ejected from the hotel where they have been squatting when a new scheme falls into their laps.

Marion Davies plays a naive rube (Loretta) who comes to New York City. Her search for the perfect guy mostly centers around celebrity crushes, like the daring self-promoting stunt pilot, Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell). Davies' performance is the highlight of the film, but it is worth seeing the film just for the bevy of talented supporting actors.

This light-weight comedy clocks in at 93 minutes, and it feels like an adaptation of a play (which it is), but its screwball story serves up plenty of fun and feels like a cultural artifact from the mid- thirties.

While my first impression of the movie was that it was corny, I soon saw the excessive exaggeration made for a fun movie. The country girl was the ultimate hick, the hero was the absolute best flier in the world, and Barton MacLane was at his evil best.

Enjoyed it.

"PAGE MISS GLORY" A pleasant surprise viewing, we stumbled over this movie this morning on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Our Satellite Service (DISH) provided its very brief introduction; noting that Marion Davies was in the Cast, we stayed on and viewed the entire show.

I was raised in a family that did not admire Marion Davies nor, for that matter, W.R. (William Randolph Hearst). In fact, our family took its orders from the Legion of Decency listings; watching a condemned film could book you a ticket to H*E*L*L. Thus, I was amply supplied with bias and prejudice against the STAR of this movie. SURPRISE! Hey, I think she is acting! Just this week, I had read about the Production Code that governed what we the public could see - for example, the principals in a bedroom scene needed to keep at least one foot on the floor at all times. The article discussed the effect of the code upon how women were to be portrayed - before 1934, when the Code went into effect, women could be "sultry", "naughty", or whatever. After, however, the woman had to be relegated to unimportant and uninspiring roles; a rule, per the article, that led to popular male roles and the rise of male stars.

MARION DAVIES was relatively unknown to me for the aforesaid reasons - for once, my "Videohound" was mute on the movie but did show that she had two other movies released on Video.

So, we watched. We were seeing a CODE movie. A Cinderella story, she played an overly dumb blonde hotel room maid who (unwittingly)influenced a couple of promoters' efforts to create a pinup of the "the perfect" candidate for a beauty contest. The pinup is a composite of attractive parts of attractive women. Guess who looked like the imaginary pinup? We enjoyed the movie from start to finish and got a lot of good laughs - you would enjoy it. The only problem I had was the role played by Mary Astor - perhaps her sympathetic support lent stature to the movie but Astor's female role acted depressed and confused - not too dangerous to the men's silly schemes.

I was sure that W.R. had meddled with the whole thing until I looked up "Page Miss Glory" in IMDb. From there, came most of the facts quoted above. It turns out that Davies' accomplishments included Movie Scripts and she produced a dozen movies. In all she acted in 48 movies from 1917 to 1937. Since "Page Miss Glory" was her 45th, it is a mature effort.

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.

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.