Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Staci Frederick
Blistering performances.
tedg
Here's the thing.If you love film, you'll love the experiments in cinematic narrative of "Citizen Kane," but at the same time wonder why he chose Hearst and Davis to pick on. You would think that the choice in subject would be every bit as nuanced, especially as the choice is popularly credited with destroying him in Hollywood.And that might lead you to some of Marion Davis' films, especially this one directed by a similarly blacklisted Fatty Arbuckle. This is such a gem. Actually, its quite ordinary, but she is so special in it, it will glow forever. It seems that she would have been better off without Hearst's interest in her. She had the stuff.The climax of this has something of a different flavor than the rest of it, which pretty much follows the formula of the day. It has a pacing that was unusual for the time. Hard to notice today when such things seem like the way the world breathes. But Fatty knew his stuff, and so did Marion. And so did Orson but he actually relied on them. Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
svaihingen
Great silent movie shown in a beautifully restored version on TCM.Plot summary: Dutch servant girl falls for an Irish Prince during his vacation in Holland - circumstances prevent their coming together.Later, the Irish Price is back in Holland to be married off to the local rich Burgomaster's daughter. The Burgomaster's daughter, however, is in love with a peasant. The servant girl helps the Burgomaster's daughter dress as a peasant to woo the peasant - meanwhile she dresses as the Burgomaster's daughter.The Prince mistakes the servant girl for the Burgomaster's daughter, falls in love - and madcap hilarity ensues.Will the rich guy get his Maid in Old Amsterdam??? Will the rich Burgomaster's daughter get her peasant??? The story plays out in too many mistaken identity plot devices to count - but the story is fun, clever, charming and actually pretty funny. Recommended viewing.
Neil Doyle
The good news is that even the title cards have a wit and humor that is carried over beautifully onto film under Fatty Arbuckle's direction for THE RED MILL, based loosely on a Victor Herbert operetta.Quaint is a good word to describe the costumes and settings of the Dutch tale, which opens with a charming ice skating sequence that is played for laughs and largely succeeds because of the clever acting of MARION DAVIES and OWEN MOORE. The tale that follows is a case of mistaken identity, with Moore confusing Davies with the burgonmaster's daughter LOUISE FAZENDA, who is engaged in a comical relationship with someone else.Davies has never been better at establishing herself as a comedienne from the start, given lots of bits of business (on and off the ice), including the stay in a haunted mill that occupies that last fifteen minutes of the story and is a good mixture of laughter and fright.Technically, the film looks great with TCM's restoration and a bouncy score that accompanies rather than distracts (as some of the new scores do). Very worthwhile Marion Davies vehicle shows that she did indeed have promise as more than Hearst's favorite protégé.Trivia note: The sets and costumes cry out for early Technicolor but only the night scenes are shaded a blue tint.
overseer-3
Despite watching this film in a less than ideal print, with a canned soundtrack (as of this writing, I hope TCM eventually airs this film with a good soundtrack based on the public domain music of Victor Herbert for this operetta -- I know they have it in their library, what are they waiting for???), I really enjoyed this romantic comedy. Although still essentially a period piece (Hearst loved those and kept putting Marion in them), Marion Davies' screwball comedy skills brighten up the whole picture, which otherwise would have been just a quaint little programmer, soon forgotten.Marion is ably supported by handsome Owen Moore (Mary Pickford's first husband), and additional comic relief is provided by wonderful Karl Dane (who looks almost handsome here!), and perky Louise Fazenda, who actually was quite pretty when young, so it was brave of her to agree to look ugly for this film. Not to mention our own little favorite funny man, Snitz Edwards, who is always a barrel of laughs in every film he's in, simply by hamming it up for the camera.The plot doesn't have much to do with the Victor Herbert operetta; that was more of a serious story, and sometimes the pace of this film seemed a bit fragmented, but overall it really is a crowd-pleaser and needs to be more widely available; just one more example of Marion Davies' astounding comedic abilities. She was so much more than just Hearst's paramour! She was the first screwball comedienne! (Also a woman with a big heart, since apparently she was instrumental in getting Roscoe Arbuckle this directorial job and I'm sure his influence added to the comedy). 8 out of 10.Update: TCM is airing this film in April 2007 for the first time.
