Nils Asther has just found lover Jetta Goudal with a singer, and is trying to decompress from her when American tourist Marion Davies asks him for his autograph. He hires her to make Miss Goudal jealous, and to keep him from returning to her. It's a task which Miss Davies enthusiastically accepts.
Although the copy I just looked at had no soundtrack and was not very good -- it looks like it was drawn from a VHS print recorded too fast -- it was watchable. The results are sterling for a Marion Davies comedy. Far too many performers in a comedy are afraid to look foolish. Not Miss Davies! She takes spills, looks silly in walking in heels, and sticks her rear end in the camera's eye as she tries to crank an automobile. Miss Goudal looks like a parody of director Robert Leonard's ex-wife, Mae Murray, and Asther, while he doesn't show much in comedy chops, does make some funny faces as his valet pulls a chest plaster away from his skin.
MGM was rarely the home of great comics, even if they were about to hire Keaton and eventually ruin him. It must have been nice to have Miss Davies releasing through them, especially with Hearst footing the bill when the budgets ran over.
Although the copy I just looked at had no soundtrack and was not very good -- it looks like it was drawn from a VHS print recorded too fast -- it was watchable. The results are sterling for a Marion Davies comedy. Far too many performers in a comedy are afraid to look foolish. Not Miss Davies! She takes spills, looks silly in walking in heels, and sticks her rear end in the camera's eye as she tries to crank an automobile. Miss Goudal looks like a parody of director Robert Leonard's ex-wife, Mae Murray, and Asther, while he doesn't show much in comedy chops, does make some funny faces as his valet pulls a chest plaster away from his skin.
MGM was rarely the home of great comics, even if they were about to hire Keaton and eventually ruin him. It must have been nice to have Miss Davies releasing through them, especially with Hearst footing the bill when the budgets ran over.