BLONDIE OF THE FOLLIES
US, 1932, 91 minutes, Black and white.
Marion Davies, Robert Montgomery, Billie Dove, James Gleason, Zasu Pitts, Sydney Toler, Douglass Dumbrille, Jimmy Durante.
Directed by Edmund Goulding.
Blondie of the Follies was directed by Edmund Goulding, the same year that he directed the Oscar-winning Grand Hotel. Goulding was to have a successful career in direction at Warner Brothers as well as directing Tyrone Power in Nightmare Alley and The Razor’s Edge.
However, the film is a star vehicle for Marion Davies, prominent in light comedies and musicals at MGM at the time – and later well-known for her relationship with William Randolph Hearst and his promotion of her, satirised in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.
She is a bright screen personality, sharing the screen with silent star, Billie Dove who did not have a long career in sound films despite her impressive presence. Robert Montgomery is the playboy who befriends the women, promoting Marion Davies to performance in the Follies. There is an interesting supporting cast including James Gleason as the father, Zasu Pitts as the sister, Douglass Dumbrille as a sinister oil magnate – and at the end of the film is a show-stopper with Jimmy Durante and his satiric song about going to see Grand Hotel on Broadway and the effect of John Barrymore.
1. MGM production, 1932? The title and expectations?
2. A star vehicle for Marion Davies, the screen personality, cheerful, comedy, romance, the touch of the tough? Song and dance performances?
3. New York City, uptown and the poorer suburbs, mid-town and the lavish apartments, the theatres? The musical score, songs and dance? Jimmy Durante’s song and dance about John Barrymore?
4. A pre-Code film? Rather more permissive background? The showgirls, the sugar daddies, the kept women, the apartments, clothes and luxury? Sexual relationships? Marriage? Not? Talk about being a good girl? The father and his worries?
5. Blondie and Lottie, friends from school days, Lottie and her relationship with Larry, the luxury apartment, going out? Telling stories to Blondie, Blondie’s aspirations? Lottie’s change of name to Lurlene? Visitt to her mother, bringing cake, making an impression on Blondie’s family?
6. Blondie, visiting Lottie, the apartment, Larry and Murchison, wealth, stock exchange, oil magnate, Murchison liking blondes – and the sinister overtones? Blondie putting the clothes on, meeting Larry, his attraction, her going out with him, on the town, going to the Follies, the Speakeasy, coming home drunk, her parents’ reaction, to Larry, rejecting him? Pop and his coming down on Blondie, the reaction, leaving home, returning to Lottie’s apartment? Lottie’s jealousy, making Blondie promising never to see Larry?
7. The many sequences of Lottie and Blondie arguing about Larry, Lottie’s jealousy, pressure on Blonde, Blondie’s continued promises, Larry’s breakup with Lottie, on the boat, the clash with Blondie, falling overboard, Blondie leaving but in Murchison’s apartment?
8. Blondie’ singing, dancing? The father’s reaction? His coming to apologise, her apologies to him, saying he was old-fashioned, letting her make choices?
9. Blondie’s family, the father, kind, no money, searching for jobs, his collapse, his death? The mother, later going to the apartment and her drinking? The married sister, the baby, her husband, his comments about Blondie and Harry?
10. Blondie, performing, holding on to Lottie, the faster pace, her falling into the orchestra pit, rescue, injuries, her crutches? Calling the final party, Larry’s arrival, Lottie, settling the issue? Her going home? Larry’s visit, bringing the surgeons – and the possibility of her recovery, and her marrying?
