Berlin

By Alex Deleon

The King Vidor retrospective is so rich in new discoveries that it is practically  a festival within the festival on its own.

Since Vidor's career spanned the entire last decade of the silent era then continued on up to the end of the fifties this collection of vintage films  provides an Interesting overview and sampling of genres over forty years of basic Hollywood history. Vidor spent most of his career at MGM  but he was well enough respected to be able to recruit leading actors from other studios  as well, as his career progressed. The likes of Gable and Lamarr, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, et alia.  For myself, however, it is the discovery of excellent actors I did not know that abound in his silent films, for instance John Gilbert in The Big Parade and Marion Davies here.

Today's big discovery was the most charming actress Marion Davies in the hilarious silent comedy The Patsy, 1928.  Known mainly as the long term mistress of tycoon Wm. Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies  wasa fantastic comedienne in her own right and a major silent star in some 27 films.

This is basically the story of a family  of four. The imperious mother (Marie Dressler) runs the roost. She favors an older daughter over Patricia, the "Patsy" of the title. The henpecked husband, however, favors the younger sister (Davies, the Patsy). Complication:  Davies has a crush on older sister's fiancee which will lead to a series of highly risible situations.  Above all the long sequence in which Davies does fantastic imitations of other silen  stars, Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson and Pola Negri. That alone is not to be missed! The father who will finally become the worm who turns when he blows up at his overbearing wife, is played endearingly by Del Henderson.  Marie Dressler is also fantastic as the tyrannical wife with every facial grimace in the book. She too was a big star of the silent era.

Davies & Dressler were simply a Dynamite Duo in this  timeless evergreen comedy.

Dell Henderson plays Davies' lovable, but thoroughly henpecked, father. Glamorous Jane Winton has the role of her spoiled older sister. Orville Caldwell is the earnest fellow Davies adores. Lawrence Gray is hilarious as the lively playboy who gets a late-night visit from Davies he'll never forget.

The perky slangy inter titles geatly enhanced the enjoyment of the film as did the outstanding piano  accompaniment by Dutch expert in this area, Maud Nelissen.

Being a late silent film on the  threshold of the arrival of sound this picture with its snappy dialogues was crying our for freedom of screen speech and the intertitles by Ralph Spence were an object lesson in this already fading art.

  Super keyboard accompanist Maud Nelissen after the PATSY screening at the top