PodBill Just what I expected

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

lshelhamer Frenetic story about two fast talkers with a get-rich-quick scheme to turn a plain hotel maid into a beauty contest winner. In addition to the basic Pygmalion story, there is the love angle with the daredevil pilot, the maid's friend, a couple of dialect comedian-CEOs, a nosy newspaperman, two kidnapping plots, bribery, etc.The problem is that most of these sub-plots are not well integrated into the screenplay and serve mostly as annoying distractions. After all, what is Mary Astor actually supposed to be doing in this film?Nevertheless, the leads are more than adequate, though it is hard to picture Marion Davies as "The Most Beautiful Girl America"

theowinthrop PAGE MISS GLORY is a first rate comedy, and possibly (if all the other films of Marion Davies vanished) would establish her as she would have hoped - as the leading female comedienne of her day. She apparently enjoyed having a good sense of humor, and in films like this and the silent film SHOW PEOPLE she demonstrated what she should have been doing in her film career. Ah, if only the man she loved (who equally loved her - it did not become a "Kane" relationship) could have let well enough alone Davies reputation in film would be so much higher than it became.The story has been mentioned in other reviews here. Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh have created the fictitious "Miss Glory" as the winner of a spurious Hollywood talent contest, making a picture of her based on parts of all the other great Hollywood leading ladies of 1935. Of course, in this film, the resulting montage picture looks like Davies. But their con may be collapsing - they have to produce Miss Glory and they can't. Then the see their hotel room cleaning lady, a young woman wearing drab clothes and glasses, and who is remarkably clumsy. Without her eyeglasses - why it's none other than Davies. Quickly O'Brien, McHugh, Mary Astor, and Patsy Kelly convince Davies to play Miss Glory. She dumb, but now she is dumbstruck! But the idea actually catches her fancy. Soon she is ready to be the putty in their hands.It was an early view of publicity and notoriety. The way the public chews up the fashionable, beautiful Miss Glory, without seeing a bit of evidence she can do anything at all is astounding - and was not really recaptured for another twenty years until George Cukor turned Judy Holliday into "Gladys Glover", the overnight celebrity on a huge Manhattan billboard, in IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU. Only one guy really doubts the ballyhoo - Lyle Talbot, a cynical newspaper reporter who does not trust O'Brien with his checkered past. But in the main the public love her, and when (in a radio interview) she mentions her admiration for a dumb aviator - hero played by Dick Powell, Powell hearing it on his radio decides she must be the girl of his dreams too!O'Brien is not happy about this relationship, and tries to stop it - it is possibly putting a halt to his making a killing in getting Davies' endorsements for advertising various goods. He orders McHugh to take her into the country so that Powell can't get into contact with her. This keeps McHugh from dating his girlfriend, Kelly, who is getting jealous. In one of the most touching moments of the film, McHugh and Davies kiss each other in the front seat of his car, each pretending the other is Powell and Kelly. But after a moment they both realize it just won't work!There are funny little moments of other performers in the film. Joseph Cawthorne and Al Shean play rival yeast manufacturers who are always arguing. Both want Miss Glory to advertise their particular yeast. O'Brien dislikes both men (they forced their way into the hotel room), and as the two "Dutch" dialog actors argue out loud, O'Brien (in total anger) yells to McHugh, "Get Weber and Fields out of here!". If only she had made more films like this - but W.R. wanted her in historical films and dramas. Sad for her career and her reputation.

tobornot2wew82c "PAGE MISS GLORY" A pleasant surprise viewing, we stumbled over this movie this morning on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Our Satellite Service (DISH) provided its very brief introduction; noting that Marion Davies was in the Cast, we stayed on and viewed the entire show.I was raised in a family that did not admire Marion Davies nor, for that matter, W.R. (William Randolph Hearst). In fact, our family took its orders from the Legion of Decency listings; watching a condemned film could book you a ticket to H*E*L*L. Thus, I was amply supplied with bias and prejudice against the STAR of this movie. SURPRISE! Hey, I think she is acting! Just this week, I had read about the Production Code that governed what we the public could see - for example, the principals in a bedroom scene needed to keep at least one foot on the floor at all times. The article discussed the effect of the code upon how women were to be portrayed - before 1934, when the Code went into effect, women could be "sultry", "naughty", or whatever. After, however, the woman had to be relegated to unimportant and uninspiring roles; a rule, per the article, that led to popular male roles and the rise of male stars.MARION DAVIES was relatively unknown to me for the aforesaid reasons - for once, my "Videohound" was mute on the movie but did show that she had two other movies released on Video.So, we watched. We were seeing a CODE movie. A Cinderella story, she played an overly dumb blonde hotel room maid who (unwittingly)influenced a couple of promoters' efforts to create a pinup of the "the perfect" candidate for a beauty contest. The pinup is a composite of attractive parts of attractive women. Guess who looked like the imaginary pinup? We enjoyed the movie from start to finish and got a lot of good laughs - you would enjoy it. The only problem I had was the role played by Mary Astor - perhaps her sympathetic support lent stature to the movie but Astor's female role acted depressed and confused - not too dangerous to the men's silly schemes.I was sure that W.R. had meddled with the whole thing until I looked up "Page Miss Glory" in IMDb. From there, came most of the facts quoted above. It turns out that Davies' accomplishments included Movie Scripts and she produced a dozen movies. In all she acted in 48 movies from 1917 to 1937. Since "Page Miss Glory" was her 45th, it is a mature effort.

jayms Like "Front Page Woman," this is a comedy I'd never heard of and only discovered because of TCM. Fast paced dialogue played with relentless Looney Tunes energy make this a sharp spoof of media manipulation and public gullibility that holds up well nearly 70 years later. Marion Davies inhabits her slow witted small town girl thrust into the limelight. Dick Powell parodies himself as the Hero of the Air who falls in love with her picture and proposes before they've ever met. Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh share a wonderful rapport as the con artists behind it all. Only Mary Astor seems wasted as she has little to do though she does it with elan. Treads similar territory to `Nothing Sacred' or more recent offerings like `Simone' and `Wag the Dog.' Highly recommended.