User reviews

What a treat to see! BlONDIE OF THE FOLLIES is a very entertaining film with terrific performances by Marion Davies and Bille Dove. A great script by Anita Loos and Frances Marion and beautiful Art Deco sets by Cedric Gibbons make this fine film a must see. It is in Turner Classic Movies library, though it hardly ever gets shown. Be on the look out for it though, because it is a real treat. Fast, snappy and skillfully directed by one of the most underrated directors of Hollywood's Golden Age, Edmund Goulding, responsible for such classics as GRAND HOTEL and DARK VICTORY. If you want to read more about BLONDIE OF THE FOLLIES pick up the new Edmund Goulding biography. It's really very good.

A few quick thoughts on "Blondie of the Follies": 1)Any movie with the title, "Follies," should be a musical. Despite a few brief song-dance numbers, this one isn't.2) Marion Davies was a much better actress than anyone (including Orson Welles) gave her credit for. 3)So, too, was Jimmy Gleason. He has a "confessional" scene with Davies that is heart-rending. 4) It's amazing to see Sidney Toler as a lazy young layabout; a lotta' people thought he played only Charlie Chan 5)No surprise, given that the screenplay was written by Anita Loos, to discover that the plot centers on the depression-era challenge of protecting one's virtue vs. the temptations of the wicked stage (as well as the speakeasies just across the street.) 6)Several comments claim that Billie Dove quit the movies because Randolph Hearst had cut her role in this film. But she has plenty of screen time. Taking a close look at Miss Dove, whose voluptuousness shifts from scene to scene, one suspects that she was tired of endless dieting. 7) Jimmy Durante gets co-star billing although he's only in the film for a few minutes -- but it's worth it for his "Grand Hotel" spoof with Davies as Garbo. 8)Did "Follies" chorines really have maids, chauffeurs and penthouse apartments? 9) Finally, it's a pretty enjoyable movie, typically pre-code, provided you weren't expecting a musical.

The hardscrabble tenement streets shriek of Warner Brothers (though the movie moves from them soon enough), and the slanginess and very pre-Code suggestiveness of pretty young things kept in lavish Deco apartments is rather hard-boiled for the Ars Gratia Artis studio, too. And it's a strange brew, halfway between enjoyable, rude comedy and sentimental soap opera, with the likable Davies and the hard-staring Dove slugging it out for the affections of Robert Montgomery in his leading-man-opposite-MGM-leading-lady days. He's a drunk and a playboy, but also, we are led to believe, a decent and sacrificing guy. The friendship between Davies and Dove is convincing and touching (though it takes some unconvincingly abrupt turns), and Anita Loos could write girl-talk dialog with the best of them. There are also a couple of father-daughter scenes between Davies and the always wonderful James Gleason that will just break your heart. But the movie does keep skirting credibility (could the exquisite Davies and Zasu Pitts really spring from the same gene pool?), and Davies' Act Three laugh-clown-laugh, smile-through-tears demeanor is close to self-parody. Most jarring of all is dragging in Jimmy Durante for five minutes of hideously unfunny special material, including a strained sendup of "Grand Hotel" (also directed by Edmund Goulding) that serves mainly to remind one of Davies' limitations. A fun flick all in all, but when it came to hard-boiled dames and backstage melo, MGM wasn't really at the forefront.

One of Marion Davies' best performances in this snappy comedy/drama. Davies plays Blondie, a good girl who becomes a success in the follies despite her best friend's effort. Billie Dove (a big silent star in her best talkie role) is excellent as the friend. Robert Montgomery, Zasu Pitts, Sidney Toler, Douglas Dumbrille, and Jimmy Durante co-star. But this is Davies's film from beginning to end. She is totally wonderful, funny, touching, and gorgeous. Again and again I state that Marion Davies was major talent, a great star, and one of Hollywood's great beauties. She's also one of the finest comic actresses EVER! Watch this film and you'll see that Davies was an A-list star, one who deserves to be rediscovered. Blondie of the Follies may be a minor film, but it's well done, entertaining, and boasts terrific performances by Marion Davies and Billie Dove.

I have to confess some great surprise that William Randolph Hearst had Marion Davies appear in a film so close to the truth of her own life. Because before she was a film star Marion Davies did appear in the Ziegfeld Follies. Not a star to be sure, but was noticed enough by more than William Randolph Hearst.

Blondie McClune comes from the same background as Davies did from the lower middle class Irish and I wouldn't be surprised if Davies had a father in real life like James Gleason. He's a strict dad who takes a dim view of his daughter's new life and the fast crowd she's hanging around with.

Which includes playboy Robert Montgomery and millionaire Douglass Dumbrille whose character is eerily close to Hearst. A friend who was already in the Follies when Marion arrives is Billie Dawn, but that doesn't last long as the women start quarreling about everything including the men they both seem to zero in on.

Dawn and Davies have some scenes with a real vicious bite to them. You can see the anger just build and build in Dawn throughout the film, her's is a performance to watch. Another to watch is Sidney Toler who plays Marion's loafing brother-in-law. Purportedly Davies had a family of dependents who all struck a gold mine when William Randolph Hearst took an interest in her.

Back in the day Ziegfeld's Follies dancers were the tabloid fodder of the day. Their romantic exploits and the rich men they collected around them were big news. That is also shown here.

Blondie Of The Follies also is a great opportunity to see Marion Davies as a dancer. She moves pretty good on the stage, at least as good as Ruby Keeler and Marion could have and should have done more films to show that part of her talent off.

Blondie Of The Follies is a nice backstage story with a good cast with Marion Davies getting to strut her dancing stuff.

Marion Davies was a very, very unusual actress. Many folks haven't taken her seriously because it has been common knowledge that her lover, William Randolph Hearst, basically bought her a film career. Whether or not she would have become a star without him is a great unknown. However, at least the sorts of movies she made would have been very, very different had he not personally bought her way into Hollywood. In comedies, Marion was great--and her film "Show People" is among the greatest silent comedies ever. However, in the 1930s, Hearst insisted in financing her in dramas--the sort of film where Marion simply was out of her element. While "Blondie of the Follies" isn't a terrible film, the weakest element is probably Marion--because it was not the sort of light comedy at which she excelled. And, in the film's serious moments, she really wasn't up to the task.

The film is, believe it or not, sort of like a cleaned up version of "Showgirls"! It begins with Lurleen (Billie Dove) leaving her working class neighborhood to become a burlesque star--a rather shocking sort of career back in the day. However, he friend Blondie (Davies) remains her friend and idolizes Lurleen. Now this is a weak point in the plot, as throughout the film, Lurleen is a nasty piece of work--and you wonder almost from the beginning how much Blondie will take from Lurleen until she realizes her friend is a jerk. This nasty side of Lurleen rears its ugly head when a rich 'friend'* of Lurleen, Larry (Robert Montgomery), becomes infatuated with Blondie. Lurleen makes it clear that Larry is off limits and like a good friend, Blondie avoids him throughout the film. This is THE major theme of the film. And, when Blondie herself becomes a big burlesque star, she is torn because although beloved and successful, she still is without her Larry. There is plenty more--and you should see the film, since it is enjoyable and pleasant.

The general plot isn't bad and through much of the film, Marion actually carries it off well. However, and this is a serious problem, towards the end, her acting is rather bad. She is SUPPOSED to be a woman who is behaving like she is happy when she is dying inside--but she comes off poorly because of her delivery of her lines. She rushes through the scenes and seemed out of her element. To put it bluntly, she just isn't convincing. These serious moments simply didn't work. Perhaps the director should have re-shot the scenes or given her better direction. Or, perhaps Hearst's meddling is responsible and the director actually didn't have control of the production (a common problem in her later films). All I know is that I cringed in the scenes following Blondie's big accident late in the film.

Regardless of its shortcomings, the film is entertaining and worth seeing. It's just sad that she didn't make more comedies--they were exceptional.

*The morality of "Blondie of the Follies" was very much what you'd find in many Pre-Code films. While it's never explicitly stated, it seems pretty obvious that Lurleen was a paid mistress or high-priced prostitute. So, when Blondie's family is upset with her choosing the stage, this might be a lot of the reason for their reaction.

Pleasant precode golddigger comedy with both Marion Davies and Billie Dove becoming kept women as well as Follies dancers to get a taste of the good life.

Includes Marion Davies's parody of Greta Garbo with Jimmy Durante.

Marion Davies stars in this poignant MGM drama, directed by Edmund Goulding, which features excellent performances but is relentlessly downbeat. Writers Frances Marion & Anita Loos, two of the very best, really drag their characters through the Slough of Despond, piling emotional outburst upon painful heartache almost without relief.

The writers also give Miss Davies a most curious scenario: that of a lively, vivacious showgirl, not very good at holding her liquor, who, as the mistress of a wealthy, older tycoon, is settled into a life of luxury. Sound familiar? As the girlfriend of William Randolph Hearst, the nation's most powerful media mogul, and the chatelaine of San Simeon, America's most lavish private estate, Davies must have noted, and been amused by, the script's odd similarities to her own life.

Billie Dove gives a fine performance as Davies' oldest friend and bitterest rival, an insecure woman consumed by jealousy. Suave Robert Montgomery plays the object of both ladies' affections and he is both polished and sophisticated. James Gleason steals a few scenes as Davies' loving, work-weakened father.

The incomparable ZaSu Pitts shines in the small role of Davies' no-nonsense older sister. Sidney Toler (a future Charlie Chan) is her affable, lazy husband. Sinister Douglass Dumbrille plays a lecherous tycoon who likes blondes.

Jimmy Durante appears very late in the film and then only in one scene, essentially playing himself as a guest at a Davies party. His lowbrow humor is a wonderful tension reliever, especially during the few moments he and Davies spoof John Barrymore & Garbo in GRAND HOTEL, which Goulding had directed earlier that same year. It's a shame Durante doesn't get to interact with Miss Pitts, but just having him around for five minutes is a real spirit lifter.

Movie mavens will recognize Charles Williams & Billy Gilbert, both uncredited, as the sleazy producers who entice Miss Dove in the film's opening scene.

The title leads you to expect a breezy showbiz romp, but it actually segues unpredictably back & forth throughout between comedy and drama. The production is lavishly mounted - if in places disjointed - and Marion Davies is backed by a top supporting cast, while throughout proving herself entirely worthy of having such an elaborate edifice constructed around her. Once again we see Marion in drag, Marion the mimic (parodying Garbo in director Edmund Goulding's previous film 'Grand Hotel') and also Marion nimbly nipping about on crutches.

One wonders what those in the know would have then made of Marion's creepy sugar daddy in the film, played by Douglass Dumbrille, forever shrugging his shoulders and remarking "I like blondes", as he unctuously makes his move on her.

Despite its title, this is not a musical and neither is it a comedy. What Blondie of the Follies is, is a well-made melodrama but not a mushy, over-acted, tooth dissolving silo of sentimentality as the term 'melodrama' might suggest. On the contrary, this is a very natural and realistic drama presented in a surprisingly modern way - this does not feel like one of those creaky old early talkies.

The film is about friendship, the close friendship between two young(ish) women who have known each other since childhood and how this friendship is strained when they both decide to change their lives. This film is the crystallization of the expression 'Art mirrors life' because its story is how these two young women decide that the only way to escape the humdrum of living on the breadline is to find a millionaire sugar-daddy who will make them rich and famous by putting them on the stage. That plot was used countless times by Warner Brothers in their musical comedies of the early thirties but this film handles this subject very differently - much more sensitively and, although always retaining a light mood, more seriously.

Art mirrors life indeed because these two friends are Marion Davies and Billie Dove. Dove was the mistress of Howard Hughes and Davies was course was the mistress of billionaire W R Hearst who plucked her from the chorus when she was 21 (and he was 58) and during the 20s he made her the biggest star in Hollywood. He didn't just put her in the movies, he made a whole multi-million dollar movie studio just for her so she would always be the star of the picture!

Because of the perceived very unfair fast-tracking to immediate superstardom (and maybe that her boyfriend build a massive castle for her to live in), her talent and her films are often overlooked. This itself is unfair because, as she so clearly demonstrates in this film, she was a pretty decent actress and better than many of her contemporaries. Also because of the millions Hearst threw at her career, her films are always of the highest quality with the most expensive talent money could afford. This for example boasts a story not just from one of Hollywood's top two female writers of the time but from both of them, a director straight from MGM's biggest hit of that year, Fox's most celebrated and imaginative cinematographer and of course Hearst's massive bankroll so there's nothing that could be improved on.

However it is like when members of old 70s rock bands used to get together to form 'super-bands' in the 80s - the result is pretty good but nothing unique, special or memorable. Nevertheless Blondie of the Follies is still entertaining.....much more entertaining that how The Follies themselves are portrayed in this - did people actually pay money to watch that!

Look, I think Marion Davies is under-rated as a comedienne. Seeing her silent comedies has been a revelation to me. It's sad that her portrayal in Citizen Kane likely relegated her to punchline status in Hollywood history.

On the other hand....

Davies is not a convincing dramatic actress. She's too flighty. She has no dramatic range. And frankly, by the 1930s she's already into her mid-30s and had done enough drinking to look 40+. She's way too high mileage to be the ingenue. So if William Randolph Hearst was pushing her into movies she didn't belong in, then he and she probably deserved to get roasted for it.

Blondie of the Follies is neither funny nor satisfyingly dramatic. It wastes Marion Davies's comedic talents AND those of Zazu Pitts. It buries Robert Montgomery's considerable charm.

It's just another flat, dull, earnest, stiff early-talkie snoozerama. Watch it with one finger on the FFW button. Yer gonna need it.

Blondie of the Follies (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Marion Davies plays slum girl Blondie McClune who finally gets out of her dump thanks in large part to he friend Lottie (Billie Dove) who has made it big on Broadway. The two have a falling out when Larry (Robert Montgomery) falls for Blondie but she has more problems as her high life slowly starts to crumble down. I was really shocked at how good this film was because, to be honest, this story isn't all that original and it's one we had seen countless time in the brief time that talkies had come into play. What really makes this film worth watching are the downright marvelous performances and various pre-code elements. The pre-code elements are pretty straight-forward in their sexual innuendo and the film doesn't shy away from Dove's rather large breasts and she's constantly dressed in skimpy little outfits that allows her to jiggle around if you catch what I mean. Even Davies has a brief scene where she's wet and you can see through her top. Even without these elements the film still works because both women are terrific in their roles. Apparently the story here is very close to that of Davies real life and perhaps that's why she dug into the character so much. She's not playing that Davies persona here but instead she really delivers a full character on all levels. Dove is brilliant as well because her sexuality really jumps off the screen and she makes her character very memorable. It was sad to read she retired from Hollywood after this movie apparently because Hearst cut most of her scenes here fearing she'd take the movie away from Davies. Montgomery makes for a great leading mad her and James Gleason is also very good as the concerned father. Even Zasu Pitts is very good here as the sister. She handles the drama quite well and this is coming from someone who really doesn't care for his comedy side. Then we have the fourth-billed Jimmy Durante who shows up for what's basically a cameo but it turns out to be one of the highlights of the film. He shows up and does a little skit on why men shouldn't take women to see GRAND HOTEL because of John Barrymore's great looks. This sly bit of publicity for MGM is a nice little tough as Durante plays Barrymore with Davies doing an impersonation of Greta Garbo. Again, the story itself isn't all that original but that's the only problem with this gem that should be a lot better known than it actually is.

A pre-code entry that is not quite a Musical, not quite a Comedy, and not quite a Soap. It is none of these things and all of these things. That makes it an interesting if unsatisfying Movie. There is less "skin" in this than most of the early backstage stuff although the subject matter is certainly risqué.

Of interest to Film Buffs for the time frame and the infamous Marion Davies of William Randolph Hearst lore (made forever relevant in Citizen Kane (1940). There is much here to watch as it is presented with verve and that MGM professionalism. The Dialog is salty at times and spunky.

The Musical numbers, what little there are, come off as filler and unremarkable. The worst of it is probably the unfunny, untalented and dated Jimmy Durante. Inserted here for some reason, most likely Business.

There is an abrupt transition from middle to ending that seems like there are scenes missing and it is rather jarring. But overall this is a good "Drama" that may have an identity crisis. It works best as a rags to riches Depression Era story that audiences were using as an escape mechanism. For that it was well handled, but Artistically it suffers a bit from an inability to grab a style and stick with it.

Yhis is a very entertaining film. Billie Dove and Jimmy Durante are given co star billing in this Marion Davies film. Durante appears at the end peforming a musical number, not seemingly involved with the other characters. It is widely known that Davies mentor, Ramdolph Hearst had editorial control over her films and may have cut parts where attention is given to other actors.Billie Dove a huge singing star of her time, decided to quit show business after this film. About an hour into the film, in a "woman to woman" talk between the characters played by Davies and Dove, Davies refers to Doves character name as Lurlene Callabash, Could Dove be Mr. Durante's famous Callabash of " goodnight Mrs. Calabash" ' his famous closing line from stage and TV years later? Historians say it was Durante's first wife.Any role playing between Durante and Dove may have been left on the cutting room floor.They at least worked on the same film together. Interesting,

"You must promise me never to speak to him again, or get out!" "Alright, I'll get out! I'm gonna do what I want, I'm gonna live the way I want!"

Marion Davies is full of life in this film, which is at its best early on, when Blondie, her character, faces tension with her old-fashioned father as well as with her friend (Billie Dove). She's stayed out all night drinking with a rich man (Robert Montgomery) who's taken a liking to her, you see, and it happens to be the man her friend is in love with. The friend has moved up in the world via dancing at the Ziegfeld Follies, and the class comparison between the two during the Depression has a degree of weight, especially after Blondie's sister admonishes the father (You're just an old-fashioned father. The kind you see in the movies. That stuff don't go anymore.") and he has a tender reconciliation scene with her in the friend's luxury apartment.

I liked the liberation in the character even if her options for true independence were somewhat limited, and I thought Davies channeled modern women with her natural acting style. You'll also see her in a cute captain's uniform out on a yacht, as according to Mark A. Vieira in Forbidden Hollywood, per a William Randolph Hearst requirement, "every Marion Davies film had to include a sequence in which she donned men's clothes." It would have been interesting to see the planned scene to check this box, which was the Rocky Twins (identical Norwegian brothers) also dressing up in skirts and performing a number with Davies, but it never materialized.

More importantly, once Blondie has moved up in the world herself, the film doesn't seem to know what to do with itself. The back and forth with the love triangle got rather tiring, and after Blondie has become the kept woman of an oil man whose refrain is "I like blondes," he conveniently disappears from the story. Suddenly we get a Jimmy Durante cameo where he talks about Grand Hotel and does a John Barrymore impersonation, matched by Davies doing one of Garbo, complete with the line "I want to be alone." It was charming and reminded me of Davies' impressions in The Patsy (1928), but seemed oddly wedged in here. Drama then ensues, with her father dying and then a dangerous accident on stage, neither moment of which was as powerful as it could have been. This is watchable for Davies, but 91 minutes was too long for its meandering plot.

I'm sure amongst the few people reading this review that some have heard the sophomoric saying, "Bros before hos." It's crude, I know, but it conveys its meaning fairly well. I wonder though, what's the female equivalent? "Chicks before..." nevermind. Regardless if there's a female counterpart to it, Blondie McClune (Marion Davies) and Lottie Callahan aka Lurline Cavanaugh (Billie Dove) should've adopted it. Blondie did try though.

Blondie and Lottie were friends from childhood and they weren't afraid to physically go at each other if one of them was getting salty. Lottie left her working class uptown home for the stage and Park Avenue. When she came back to the neighborhood months later she came back with a stuffy proper accent and airs. She was a total snob.

She brought Blondie back to her new digs (probably to show off) and that's when Larry (Robert Montgomery) saw Blondie.

Larry Belmont was Lottie's boyfriend/sugar daddy and when he spent just a few minutes with Blondie he was done for. Blondie reciprocated the affection because she was about as sharp as a basketball. She couldn't plainly see that Lottie was into Larry and it took Lottie breaking down into tears for her to make Blondie understand she loved Larry.

By that time it was too late. Larry was head over heels for Blondie and was totally through with Lottie. Blondie agreed not to see Larry anymore, but it was going to take a lot to shake him off.

Naturally, this caused a serious rift between Lottie and Blondie, but Larry or no Larry, Blondie got a taste of the good life and she wanted in. She joined the follies with Lottie and that wasn't all.

I like Marion Davies. She has an effervescence that not many of the other actresses had at that time. She was willing to be silly and unrefined when it seemed like every other woman was playing the dainty, proper, society role. Davies was the only bright spot in this movie. The rest of it and the actors were pretty stale. Robert Montgomery played the typical handsome, charming suit who stars opposite the female romantic interest. No matter how hard she resists him, if at all, he wins her over in the end even if he has to tell her that they'll be together forever (another common theme was men telling--not asking--the women they're going to marry them and she would demurely consent). And just about every movie back then included some sort of romantic quagmire involving three or more people.

TLDR; Marion, I like you, but I'll take a pass on this movie.

Blondie McClune (Marion Davies) and Lottie (Billie Dove) are best friends in the crowded upper east side New York City. Lottie joins the Follies to escape her life. She gains some success being kept by the rich Larry Belmont (Robert Montgomery). She gets Blondie into the Follies who gets into a fight with her father. Blondie leaves home. Jimmy (Jimmy Durante) is a comedian friend.

It is a pre-Code comedy. At least, that's what everybody says this is. I'm not really laughing. I'm probably not getting most of the jokes. This is much more a melodrama for me. Of all the relationships, Blondie and her father is the most compelling. I never got that invested in the girls' friendship or the romantic entanglements. It's a lot of functional melodrama and that's fine.

Billie Dove gets a job in the Follies chorus. She also gets one for her best friend, Marion Davies. But they begin to quarrel when playboy Robert Montgomery switches his attentions from Miss Dove to Miss Davies.

It's a complicated character for Miss Davies. She wise about the ways of the world, but not through experience. She's loyal to her friends, and to failing father James Gleason, and so remains a good girl, despite her attraction to Montgomery. Meanwhile, Montgomery grows glummer as he realizes he loves Davies, and his fortune fades with the stock market. It's a surprisingly moral and complicated pre-code movie, with no villains, just people who have made bad decisions and find no way to retrieve their mistakes. With Jimmy Durante, Zasu Pitts, and Sidney Toler.