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Captured on Film - The True Story of Marion Davies |
List Price: $29.99
Your Price: $26.99 |
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Description:
Tennessee Williams once wrote, "Marion Davies makes up for the rest of Hollywood," and this superb documentary demonstrates why the gifted actress was so beloved in high society. Executive produced by Hugh Hefner and narrated by Charlize Theron, Captured on Film corrects the fallacy that obscured Davies's achievements since the release of Citizen Kane in 1941. Orson Welles intended no harm with his masterpiece, but the film's portrayal of a publishing tycoon--loosely based on William Randolph Hearst and his lengthy affair with Davies--painted an unflattering portrait of a talentless, drunken mistress, and Davies was quite the opposite. Among many expert interviewees, film historian Kevin Brownlow observes that Davies was truly the first screwball comedian, and vintage film clips bear him out: watch Davies impersonate such film greats as Lillian Gish and Pola Negri, and you can see her comedic gift in full bloom, undiminished by time. Her 32-year devotion to Hearst (whose wife refused to divorce him) is accurately chronicled as sincere and meaningful, and the 1927 feature Quality Street offers a worthy showcase for Davies's versatile talents. (It was remade in 1937 with Katharine Hepburn; this silent version is arguably superior.) --Jeff Shannon
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