Peg o' My Heart (1933) User Reviews

Yearning For The Auld Sod

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 3 August 2009]

Marion Davies was given quite the acting challenge by MGM and her paramour William Randolph Hearst. In doing Peg O' My Heart she was taking on a role that was made immortal on stage and in a silent screen version by Laurette Taylor. But Marion was more than up to the challenge.

In fact the film was the best of possible worlds for Davies. She could be the sweet heroine that Mr. Hearst always saw her as. But the part called for some singing and Irish dancing and Marion's great talents for mimicry. She's got the brogue down perfect, she really does sound like J. Farrell MacDonald's daughter and he came by his brogue naturally.

The play was written for Laurette Taylor by her husband J. Hartley Manners and became Taylor's signature part. Davies did make it her own. The play was considerably expanded from the stage version which only takes place in the drawing room of the Chichester home in Great Britain.

Young Peg O'Connell was the daughter of MacDonald and an English mother who left them because she couldn't stand the life in the fishing village in the west of Ireland. What's great for some is bad for others, the village looks and feels a whole lot like Innisfree where John Wayne couldn't wait to move to in The Quiet Man.

But mom's died and she's left a will that says the Chichester family will be paid an installment to educate young Peg in proper English ways and then Peg's to receive a big inheritance. Looks like mom made out quite fine after she left J. Farrell MacDonald. Anyway she's also to cut off contact from her father completely.

The usual English and Irish stereotypes circa 1912 when Peg O' My Heart opened on Broadway for a 603 performance run abound in the film version. Peg's presence however changes quite a few things in the lives of the Chichesters before she makes up her mind what her destiny is.

Marion is just fine in the part, I certainly would like to know what Laurette Taylor might have thought of her performance.

You should find this a pleasant experience

[weezeralfalfa · 7/10 · 6 January 2019]

Peg 'o My Heart is the name of the fishing boat that Margaret 'Peg' O'Connell, and her father, Pat(J. Farrell McDonald) run out of a small fishing village on Ireland's west coast. The title song was not played. It was composed in 1913, in response to the recent theatrical show of the same name. A silent film version was released in 1922........By way of background for the screenplay, her Irish father and English mother somehow connected, but the mother grew weary of provincial life in the fishing village, and left. She apparently remarried well, and when she died, her will left 2 million pounds to Peg, and nothing to her despised father. But, as the bearer of the news: Sir Jerry Markham confided in her father, this gift comes with certain stipulations, namely: she must spent 3 years in England, living with the upscale Chichester family, being enculturated. Also, she must never again meet her beloved father. Her father told her the first stipulation, which she reluctantly agrees to. However, he doesn't tell her that she cannot see him again. She travels to England with Jerry, who brought the message. Along the way, she seems to have developed a crush on the handsome, unmarried, Jerry, whom she usually addresses as 'Your honor'............Upon arriving at the Chichesters, naturally, they are somewhat suspicious at first. There is a fight over whether her beloved dog, Michael, can come into the house. Their dog is seen in the house. Peg happens to catch the grown daughter, Ethel(not Ethyl!), kissing Captain Brent: a married man whose wife won't give him a divorce. But, Peg discovers that Jerry claims to love Ethel, and her mother encourages Ethel to court him. Peg argues with Ethel against marrying Jerry, claiming that it's Captain Brent whom she really loves. Meanwhile, Mrs. Chichester requests that her foppish son, Alaric, propose to Peg. Hesitantly, eventually, he does. He stipulates that if she agrees, she must give up her dog. She choses her dog, to his relief........Peg's father comes near the house, and tells Jerry that he is going to America, to reduce his temptation to seek out Peg. Meanwhile, Peg tells Jerry that she wants to part from the superficial life she sees in the Chichesters, and rejoin her father, rejecting the large fortune that awaits her..........Peg barges into Ethel's room, and sees her packing in preparation for her marriage to Jerry, demanding that Ethel call off her engagement to Jerry. In a segment that somewhat baffles me, Peg gets in a taxi and goes to Captain Brent's house. Soon others arrive, including Ethel and the Captain's wife. Seeing Peg in the house with the Captain, his wife declares that she will file for divorce. In that case, the Captain will be free to marry Ethel, if that is what she wishes. This will give Peg an opening with Jerry. However, Jerry confesses that he lied to Peg about her father being dead. Actually, he's ready to take a ship to America. Peg is happy that her father is alive, but disappointed that Jerry lied to her. After a birthday party for Peg, her father arranges for her to meet Jerry outside, in the dark. He apologizes for his lie, they make up, he proposes marriage and she accepts..........I'm curious how Peg's father will fit in, if they are married. Will he be OK to live in England, perhaps with the couple. Will he or she be bored there? ........Marion was charming throughout, as a 36y.o. cast as a probable 20y.o. Onslow Stevens was suitably handsome as Jerry, while McDonald was excellent as Peg's father. Veteran actress Irene Brown was good in the thankless role of Mrs. Chichester.

Marion was charming!

[Pat-54 · 5/10 · 14 September 1999]

I recently saw this film on Turner Movie Classics and was surprised how charming the performance of Marion Davies was. This proves that she was indeed a fine performer when given the opportunity. Despite the fact she was in her mid 30's when this film was made, she is quite believable as a teenager.

Marion Davies... with Charm to Spare

[drednm · 18 March 2004]

Marion Davies is wonderful in her best film. She sings ("Sweetheart Darlin'") and dances and is perfect as the Irish country lass who inherits a fortune. She is sent to live with English relatives who take her money and treat her badly. Of course Peg doesn't know they are being paid to "educate" her.

Few star actresses of her day would have played the plain Irish girl who becomes a beautiful woman. A great stage hit for Laurette Taylor (who also starred in a silent version in 1922), the play was already dated when Davies made this film in 1933, but Davies was one of the best comics in Hollywood and creates a funny, charming heroine in Peg. And as in her work in the earlier MARIANNE, Davies proves she was one of the best with accents.

Hearst had pushed for Davies to win an Oscar nomination for this MGM film (there were only three nominee that year), and I think she was worthy. Always underrated and overlooked, Marion Davies was a total delight in every comedy film I've ever seen her in, and this is her best.

Also good is J. Farrell MacDonald as her doting father. Onslow Stevens is surprisingly good here as Gerald and is quite charming. Juliette Compton (as the mean Ethel), Robert Greig, Irene Browne, Alan Mowbray, Tyrrell Davis, Nora Cecil, and Doris Lloyd are all fine too. Michael the dog is fun.

Old fashioned? Sure. But charming and funny and a wonderful film all-round.

Better Than Planktonrules Thinks

[tjj1133 · 7/10 · 9 January 2009]

While i agree with some that this isn't an 8.5/10 movie it's much better than a 3 or a 1. I've only seen Peg O' My Heart once, early last year on TCM, so i need at least one other more recent viewing to write a detailed opinion. What i do remember is that I really enjoyed this film and that Marion Davies was quite good, including her accent. The acting from the cast in general is good, especially from Miss Davies and J. Farrell MacDonald as her father. Miss Davies is a remarkable comedienne and, from what I've read, a kind and generous person who definitely did not deserve her portrayal as Susan Alexander in Citizen Kane. FYI, the play on which this film is based debuted in 1912 which is also the time period in which the film is set, not 1933.

Wonderful Hollywood blarney

[psteier · 7/10 · 19 February 2001]

Marion Davies does surprisingly well as a girl from an Irish fishing village who must abandon her father and become a proper British lady to get a large inheritance. Of course, the accents, music and dance are American stage Irish rather than Irish Irish, but a very clever script and hard work all around pays off. And they forgot to credit 'Mutt' as Marion Davies' dog.

Also made in 1922 by King Vidor.

Marion Davies' Finest Role

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 29 April 2001]

In order to gain a huge inheritance, young Margaret (her father's PEG O' MY HEART) leaves her fishing village in the West of Ireland to live with an impoverished, but insufferable, noble family in England.

This wonderful, heartwarming - although sadly neglected - film boasts a winning performance from the most misunderstood star of Hollywood's Golden Age. Marion Davies is delightfully playful and quite captivating, easily dominating her every scene. A natural mimic, Davies' Irish brogue is natural & lilting, adding a further dimension to her entrancing character. For viewers unfamiliar with her expertise, Davies will come as a welcome surprise.

In the supporting cast, J. Farrell MacDonald takes first honors as Davies' father; he is completely believable as a tenderhearted old fisherman who sorrowfully gives up his daughter for her own good. Onslow Stevens is well cast as the kind baronet who captures Peg's heart. Alan Mowbray, as a local cad, and Robert Greig, as a stuffy butler, both score in their roles. Tyrell Davis is very amusing as a giddy young gynandroid with absolutely no intentions of wooing Davies. Doris Lloyd as Mowbray's no-nonsense wife, and Nora Cecil as an elderly maid, shine in their cameo appearances.

MGM, under the watchful eye of William Randolph Hearst, gave PEG a splendid cinematic treatment, with money lavished most especially on the production values of the fishing village scenes. The movie proved to be a hit with audiences, as was its signature tune 'Sweetheart Darling,' by Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed.

This was Hearst's favorite of all Davies' films. Although he realized it was time, at age 36, for her to no longer play 20-year-olds, he campaigned relentlessly that she be given an Academy Award nomination. (No MGM actresses were nominated that year, as it turns out; Katharine Hepburn over at RKO got the Oscar.)

Time has not dealt kindly with Marion Davies. Almost forgotten today, when remembered at all it is usually as a sort of footnote to history or object of scandal. Her life certainly was colorful, and as chatelaine of America's most amazing private estate she did circulate amidst powerful circles. But to remember her as the bimbo blonde mistress of the country's mightiest media baron is patently unfair.

While much of the blame can go to Orson Welles' spoof of Davies in CITIZEN KANE (which he was to admit he regretted towards the end of his life) it must be stated emphatically that Marion was not a no-talent actress with few friends & even fewer brains, whose career was destroyed by her stammer leaving her to spend lonely years in great, hulking empty castles.

In reality, Davies was a bright, vivacious lady who charmed & captivated such diverse guests as George Bernard Shaw & Winston Churchill throughout her 33-year liaison with Hearst. Adored by her friends, and a fierce cadre of fans, Davies was renowned for her tireless generosity and charitable good works. Her speech impediment never affected her screen acting and her undeniable talent was evident to any who were willing to access her performances honesty and look past the scandal.

Davies had to have been embarrassed by the Hearst empire's relentless pushing of her career. She knew this left her open to ridicule & mockery, doubtless contributing to her scarcely concealed alcoholism. But she eventually relinquished her film pursuits in order to care for the aging Hearst, and after his death in 1951 she showed herself to be an astute businesswoman during the remaining ten years of her life.

It is only now, with the passage of much time & the restoration of her old movies, that it is becoming easier to acknowledge the contributions & cinematic expertise of Marion Davies.

Also done on Lux Radio Theater

[Bonz99 · 6/10 · 10 April 2017]

Although I've never seen the movie (wish Netflix had more from the 30's & 40's!), the movie was scripted for Lux Radio Theater, hosted by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Marion Davies. On the radio show, I thought Davies was outstanding, perhaps because there was no singing (or, duh, dancing). Now I want to see the movie! Pulled it down from a vastly under-known archival website: https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio, which holds tens of thousands of old time radio shows, all freely downloadable. Awesome.

Spirited fun!

[bugsmoran29 · 8/10 · 25 July 2016]

I have never seen this movie before but I have heard of Marion Davies. I decided to give it a watch and I must admit I enjoyed it. I liked the lively Irish singing and dancing. To me the movie really highlighted the differences between the earthy Irish and the snotty English. I thought Marion Davies was pleasant surprise as Peg O'Connell although I did feel see was a wee bit old for the part (36). Michael the dog was pretty cool and J. Farrell McDonald was heartwarming as the old fisherman father. I also enjoyed how the English came across as cold- blooded and hypocritical. Obviously the film studio was relying heavily upon Hollywood stereotypes that would appeal to the Irish-American urban audience that this film was intended for in the first place.

A simple movie with a decent Davies performance

[richard-1787 · 6/10 · 25 January 2023]

Thanks - or because of - *Citizen Kane*, virtually every revue of a Marion Davies movie involves a discussion of whether she could act, and whether she was in fact as terrible as the Susan Alexander character in Wells' movie. It's hard to avoid revisiting at least the first of those two points when reviewing this movie, because it all revolves around Ms. Davies' performance. There isn't much else to it.

The plot is a modified version of Dickens' *Great Expectations*: poor child comes into a great fortune but must desert their birthplace to be *educated* in a fine but cold household. The script here is the real weak point: it's so obvious, and so uninteresting, that the cast gets nothing to work with.

So we have Davies, who is charming when delivering dialog. But this movie also asks her to dance and sing. Her dancing, while certainly not like Ginger Rogers' or Eleanor Powell's, is passable for an actress. But the woman couldn't sing. And that doesn't help things here, because she is given several songs and doesn't do anything with them. (The producers clearly knew this, because they stuck in male singers with fine voices, especially the Irish tenor with the accordion in two of them, who take over for Davies and do a fine job.)

The other actors are all undistinguished, or at least are given nothing distinguished to work with here, so they are all quickly forgotten.

And so, after viewing, is Davies, because while she isn't terrible here, she does nothing in a memorable way.

She evidently didn't enjoy doing these costume pieces, and this was the last of them. I can't recommend it, though it does have a few nice songs.

Way overrated on IMDb--it's just not that good a film.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 6 January 2008]

While this isn't one of Miss Davies' very worst films, it is pretty bad. And it's sad that in a revisionist fashion, recent IMDb raters have deliberately over-inflated the scores on some of her films to make up for her being slighted in the past--or so it seems. For years, conventional wisdom has been that Davies was a terrible actress and only got the roles she got because her beau, William Randolph Hearst, bought her way into Hollywood. This certainly is the image created in Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE. It is true that Hearst did use his considerable wealth and clout to build Davies' career. With all this money, it's not surprising that she made some excellent films and it isn't surprising that people got snippy due to all the extra attention she got. Sleeping with the man who finances your films is bound to get noticed. However, despite this edge, she also made a decent number of bad films and I think we really need balance when it comes to the scores of her movies. After all, no rational person could believe that as of today (1/5/08), PEG O' MY HEART and two other Davies films recently shown on Turner Classic Movies (THE FLORODORA GIRL and MARIANNE) deserved the exceptionally high scores--ranking them higher than such films as HIGH NOON, BEN HUR, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES and ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT!! In fact, MARIANNE would now rank as the fifth best movie ever according to IMDb with a score of 8.8!!! Considering most people out there don't even know who Marion Davies was AND most of her movies were financial disasters, this is a serious problem!! However, she was a much better actress than CITIZEN KANE implied and initially broke into films before she began sleeping with Hearst.

What sets PEG O' MY HEART apart from these two other movies, is that MARIANNE and THE FLORODORA GIRL were pleasant little films--while PEG O' MY HEART is in some ways just terrible. Much of the reason was the terrible miscasting of Marion. While her French accent in MARIANNE was cute, in PEG her Irish accent just sounded bizarre--not particularly Irish. Plus, and perhaps I'm mistaken, but her continual use of the word 'ye' makes her sound like she should be doing Shakespeare, not a film set in 1933 Ireland! Also, there was a bizarre insistence that Marion should be the consummate multi-talented star--so they had her not just act but dance and sing. The singing actually fit the scripts in some of her films, but here it seemed out of place and seriously detracted from the film. It just seemed like you could almost hear Hearst shouting out "see--she IS a great actress---look at her sing and dance". Sadly, Marion just looked uncomfortable and out of place in many of these scenes. But for me, the biggest problem was the idea of having 36 year-old Marion playing such a youthful role. It was obvious that the character she played at the beginning of the film was supposed to be like the ones Mary Pickford played in the teens and twenties--complete with the pig tails and plucky attitude. Miss Pickford COULD carry off these roles even though she, too, wasn't a girl any more. But here, Marion had put on a bit of weight and looked at least 30. No offense--she looked fine for her age--but she DID NOT look like a teen!

Oddly, with the millions that Hearts spent on Marion's career, he never realized that the most important thing he needed to spend his money on was a good script and one that fit Marion's talents. Believe me, I have rated several of her films very high (I especially adore SHOW PEOPLE), but here she just couldn't help but flop--this film was a turkey.

When Irish Upon a Star

[lugonian · 8/10 · 28 August 2016]

PEG O' MY HEART (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1933), directed by Robert Z. Leonard, stars Marion Davies in a comedy-drama adapted from the popular stage play that later developed into a 1922 silent screen adaptation for Metro starring Laurette Taylor. Though Taylor might have been considered reprising her legendary role she originated for the talking screen, it was an event that never happened. Being a tough act to follow for anyone else assuming the part, Davies contributes greatly in what many consider her finest screen performance. Though this MGM talkie edition resembles certain elements that makes this seem like one directed by John Ford over at the Fox Studios starring Janet Gaynor, Davies, however, shows her ability as an good actress from dancing the Irish jig to speaking in Irish brogue to fine credibility.

The story opens on the West Coast of Ireland. Margaret, fondly known to all as "Peg" (Marion Davies), is introduced as a grown daughter of a fisherman father, Patrick Shamus O'Connell (J. Farrell MacDonald). Coming through the crowd in the fishing community is Sir Gerald Markham (Onslow Stevens), an executor of the Kingsnorth estate looking to speak with Mr. O'Connell. Markham informs O'Connell, whose late wife, Heather, being British by birth, that his father-in-law, Lord Brian Kingsnorth, has died and made Peg the sole heir of her mother's fortune of $2 million pounds. The will also specified that the only way Peg is to inherit the money is to spend three years living at the Chichester estate, with the separation between father and daughter to be permanent. At first O'Connell rejects the offer but eventually agrees to the terms following a tragic shipping accident. Promising to join her at a latter date, Peg agrees to leave her native Ireland with her dog, Michael, and Markham on the next train bound for England. Once at the Chichester estate, Peg finds her surroundings aren't as friendly as it is back home. During her stay, she copes with unfriendly servants and snobbish relatives. During the course of time, Peg has fallen in love with Markham, but is stunned to learn his wedding plans, arranged by Mrs. Chichester (Irene Browne), are to be to Ethel Chichester (Juliette Compton) and Peg's marriage to her foppish son, Alaric (Tyrell Davis). Knowing Ethel's unfaithfulness after witnessing her kissing Christian Brent (Alan Mowbray), a married man, Peg, wanting to return home, receives startling news from Markham as to why she can't return home and ever see her father again. Other members of the cast include: Doris Lloyd (Grace Brent); Robert Greig (Jarvis, the Butler); Geoffrey Gill (Terrence); Nora Cecil (Mrs. Smythe); Leyland Hodgson and Billy Bevan (The Detectives).

Unlike the 1922 screen version, which includes a prologue of Peg as a child, PEG O' MY HEART eliminates the early origins of the O'Connells and death of the mother by getting right down to basics, making this 89 minute movie into a full-fledged Marion Davies product. Aside from sentimentality and moments of humor, there's also song interludes to such tunes as: "Sweetheart, Darlin'," "Safe at Home," "Just Remember That We Love You" (beautiful song), "Boots and Saddles,"Hoppity Hop," "Tavern in the Town," and several reprises of "Just Remember That We Love You"; "Sweetheart, Darlin'." Considering reprises of "Sweetheart, Darlin," not only is it Peg's favorite song in the story, but its theme song as well.

Until it's occasional broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies from 1994 onward, PEG O' MY HEART was one of those rarely seen Marion Davies features for MGM of the 1930s in spite of its reputation as being Marion Davies best sound movie with SHOW PEOPLE (1928) as Davies' best silent. Yet, trite title songs as "Sweetheart, Darlin'" come across as mushy, or lack of a better known male co-star names as Robert Montgomery or Franchot Tone over Onslow Stevens may have something to do with its lack of any sort of revivals. With the exception of the familiarity of J. Farrell MacDonald, the lackluster cast shouldn't be the reason to avoid viewing this one either on Turner Classic Movies or acquiring a DVD copy for purchase to consider watching. Quite appropriate for St. Patrick's Day. (***)

This different rags to riches film needed a much better script

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 27 September 2018]

Like most movie buffs, I'm not an expert on the variations of the English tongue. Unless an actor is obviously bad at imitating an Irish brogue or a Scottish accent, most seem to be authentic to me in movies. So it is with Marion Davies as Peg O'Connell in "Peg o' My Heart." Indeed, she seems very adept at impersonating a young girl raised in an Irish fishing village. And, to her credit and that of the MGM makeup folks and the cameramen, the 36-year old Davies really looks like a young woman of 19 or 20. That's a mature 19 or 20 - not a childish teenager.

Davies' character seems just a little overdone at times, but that seems to add to Peg's persona in this film. Some of the others of the cast seem wooden much of the time. That's true of Onslow Stevens as Sir Gerald, of Juliette Compton as Ethel Chichester, and of Irene Browne as Mrs. Chichester.

This is a sort of fairy tale, with a very different twist on the rags to riches theme. The plot is interesting, but the screenplay seems choppy in places and disoriented at times. The film seems to have a feel of incoherence. Yet, this is a fair story about life, family, romance, honesty, deceit, infidelity, conscience, rescue and redemption. None of this is very heavy, however. That's mostly due to the light-hearted and often bubbly persona of Peg.

With an otherwise little known cast except for Alan Mowbray and Robert Greig, this film shows the acting talent of Marion Davies. But, she was not a very good singer, and she was only fair as a hoofer. She wasn't one of the great actresses by any means, but could be very good in some of her roles. About two-thirds of her career was spent in silent films.

A good script would raise this film one or two notches, and a better supporting cast would raise it another notch. A better script alone would give this film more punch and make it memorable. The unusual ending itself would set this film apart in its field.

Here are a couple of my favorite lines.

Peg O'Connell, "Me father says I have a fair voice for dancin'."

Peg O'Connell, "Saints be praised, there are no parlor snakes in Ireland. St. Patrick drawed them out too."

Marion Davies Song and Dance

[nova-63 · 5/10 · 27 March 2010]

What compels me to write a review on a film I have little enthusiasm for. Well, the rating IMDb has given this film for one thing. Another is the star of this film who seems to have a fervent following here. The synopsis has been covered many times so I will simply say it is a vehicle for Marion Davies to do her stuff.

First of all I appreciate Marion's fans are willing to bump the rating up on this film but this is not an 8.1 movie as it is currently rated at IMDb. This was my first exposure to Marion Davies. This film is her show. She sings, she dances, she acts. I was not particularly impressed by her, except for a boundless energy she manages to carry throughout the film. And the fact the film moves along nicely and is never dull. I was wondering if I had missed something and gave the film to my wife to watch. She has a large collection of vintage musicals. Her opinion was more critical than mine. Marion can't sing, she can't dance and her acting is a little over the top.

Now before all the Marion Davies fans tar and feather me, let me say this. This review is aimed more at people who are not familiar with her. Try a Marion Davies film out, maybe you will like her as many people do.

A charming film, due mainly to the charming Marion Davies.

[shelly · 22 September 1998]

Peg O' My Heart is really charming,due mainly to the wonderful Marion Davies. She also sings and dances in a few numbers quite delightfully! I saw this on the Turner Classic Movies cable station. A real boon to classic movie lovers!

Marion Davies Was Outstanding

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 3 January 2008]

Marion Davies, (Peg O'Connell) plays the role of a very young girl who lives with her father Pat O'Connell, (J.Farrell MacDonald) in a simple fishing village where she is a bit of a tom boy gal who is full of energy and fun and well liked. One day Pat & Peg are visited by Sir Gerald Markham, (Onslow Stevens) who tells Peg & Pat they are heirs to the estate of her grandfather, who hated Pat. Peg is told she has to go to England for three years to learn to become a lady and she is never to see her father Pat. Things start to change in Peg's life and she begins to want to live with her father and does her very best to find her dad. Peg has many lovers and falls in love with one man and he decides to marry another woman. There is plenty of drama and comedy in this film and Marion Davies gives an outstanding performance.

Davies? Closer to Citizen Kane's "Susan Alexander"

[Niro · 1/10 · 3 January 2008]

Just watched this today on TCM, where the other reviewers here saw it.

Sorry that I was the only one to find Davies a weak actress, with a truly awful attempt at an Irish (Irish-American or otherwise) accent. As she's the star, it was sort of hard for me to get past that -- especially as the other reviewers have said that this was her finest performance.

Another particularly terrible Davies performance was in "Marianne" (1929), which I also watched today. In this film, given a 9 of 10 rating here, her accent switches from that of a (correct) French woman to an odd combination of Italian and Swiss.

Interestingly, in TCM's one-hour bio of Davies -- "Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies" (2001) -- film historian Jeanine Basinger claims that "one of the things that you note about Marion Davies in her sound work is how good she is at doing accents." Of course this bio also includes commentary by fans (make of that what you will).

Davies was a very attractive young woman, and by all accounts a terrific comedienne in real life.

And because a part of her anatomy added immeasurably to the real-life answer to Joseph Cotten's character's search for the meaning behind Kane's final word in the opening scene of the great "Citizen Kane," she's earned her spot among the great stories if Hollywood's history.

But I think Welles & Mankiewicz got it right for the most part with the "Susan Alexander" facsimile of the real article.

Don't bother voting as to whether you agree or disagree with this post as I really couldn't care less.

Charming vs. Irritating

[kar_mc-07291 · 4/10 · 14 April 2020]

I've only recently begun watching Marion Davies movies, and so far, with each I've had a distinctly mixed reaction. Davies both annoys and charms.

In Peg o' My Heart, certain aspects of her performance strike me as both good and bad. The foremost example being her attempted Irish accent. Near the beginning, my husband said how awful he thought the accent was. I countered that I thought it was pretty good. By the end of the film, we'd switched positions.

As with the fact that she was far too old to be playing a teen, her enthusiastically going for the accent, despite it being somewhat ridiculous, was fairly charming as well as rather irritating.

Tipping the scales more on the irritating than charming side were her unnecessary stabs at singing & dancing.

Some things were just plain irritating. For instance, the way they weren't happy to put her in pigtails but decided to wire them so they stuck out and flipped up ludicrously, Pippi Longstocking style.

Overall, 50/50. Meaning I had to round up or down from 5.5 and I went with down. Hence, 5 out of 10.

Decent Davies Comedy

[Michael_Elliott · 26 September 2009]

Peg o' My Heart (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Based on the J. Hartley Manners play, this film becomes a showcase for star Marion Davies who gives it her all as the spunky Irish girl who moves to England so that she can collect a large inheritance. First she has to become a lady but what she doesn't know is that in order to collect the money she can't see her father (J. Farrell MacDonald) again. This story was previously filmed twice in the silent era but looking at the story one couldn't help but think it would be nice material for the star. The film on the whole looks and smells good but once you bite into it you'll realize that there's really not as much here as you'd think. That's not to say the film isn't worth watching but I'm going to go out on a limb and say only Davies fans will really want to spend their precious time with it. Davies manages to be quite good here, although I don't think anyone could defend her Irish accent, which is all over the place. At times she seems to slip in and out of it so much you can't help but get a little smile on your face. Outside of that Davies is good in the film and gives it her all and this includes some very funny facial gestures including some funny eye winks. The supporting cast is a bit of a letdown with Onslow Stevens looking completely bored throughout and Juliette Compton coming off too stiff. MacDonald has some good moments but he isn't in the film too much. The film isn't ever as funny as one might hope as the fish out of water routine never really gets pushed to its limits, which I think is the fault of the (uncredited) director.

Marion Davies as Peg

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 13 March 2023]

When this picture was produced, Marion Davies was nearing the end of her association at MGM. One reason she and paramour William Randolph Hearst moved over to Warner Brothers in 1934 is because Hearst felt Davies had turned in an Oscar worthy performance as the titular Peg, but MGM execs would not put her on the Best Actress ballot-- probably because the studio's most prestigious actress was Irving Thalberg's wife Norma Shearer.

While watching PEG O' MY HEART, one can't help but agree with biased Mr. Hearst...Davies does turn in a delightful performance that's certainly worth lauding.

It was the studio's second version of the popular play by J. Hartley Manners. The script has been doctored by Davies' pal Frances Marion, with revisions made to the original text. The humble and hardworking background of the character has been played up, as well as her relationship with her father (J. Farrell MacDonald).

The first filmed version was produced in 1922 by Metro, and it starred Laurette Taylor who had a long-running success as Peg, the impressionable Irish lass. Miss Taylor was married to playwright Manners, and together, they turned the simple heartwarming story into a Broadway hit in 1912, which ran for over 600 performances.

Taylor and Manners then took the play to England, where it ran in London during WWI. Afterwards, the duo returned to New York and revived Peg. This time it ran for nearly 700 performances. As a result, Laurette Taylor became very identified with the role, and it was always seen as a much sought after property to adapt to the big screen, since it had a huge built-in audience.

Mary Pickford supposedly coveted the role but Taylor eventually had her feature film debut with Peg in 1922. By then, she was 39. Keep in mind, when she started playing the role in 1912, she wasn't yet 30. The heroine-- a girl from rural Ireland who goes to live with stuffy relatives so that she may be turned into a refined lady like her mother was-- is supposed to be in her late teens or early twenties.

When Hearst and Davies remade it as a sound feature, Miss Davies was 36. Meaning she was a bit younger than Taylor, but still probably a bit too old. Due to innovative lighting techniques, director Robert Z. Leonard and cinematographer George Barnes make her look fairly youthful, if not quite fully adolescent in appearance.

Helping convince the audience she's "younger" is the choice in girlish clothing, especially at the beginning of the film. Also, she clings to a lovable pooch which stresses her immaturity and makes them a forerunner to Dorothy and Toto.

In a way, PEG O' MY HEART is a comedy of manners, but it is also a culture clash tale. Peg is looked down upon by snooty aristocratic relatives, but spiritually, she is superior to them. The general idea is that girls from the impoverished countryside are more wholesome and innocent than their upperclass kin.

The relationship between the two classes is further underscored when Peg is befriended by her relatives' neighbor (Onslow Stevens) not realizing he is privileged nobility. Meanwhile, there are some cute musical interludes, and Davies seems to have chemistry with all her costars. For the most part it's an enjoyable romp.

Stories like this were popular with the public, because they emphasized the virtues of a young woman coming of age. There is also a fish-out-of-water angle, such as the kind we see in POLLYANNA. While battling snobs, she falls for the handsome gent, and this part resembles Jo's love story in LITTLE WOMEN. Yes, the audience had probably seen all this before, but it's a form of comfort storytelling.

This week we will celebrate St. Patrick's Day. And I always make a point of watching PEG O' MY HEART around the 17th of March. For each petal on the shamrock, I send a wish your way: "Good health, good luck, and happiness for today and every day."