Show People (1928)

One of my all time favorites.

Excellent but underrated film

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

SHOW PEOPLE convinced me that Marion Davies was better suited to silent films than the talkies--because she gives a very fetching performance as the Georgian girl whose father, Col. Pepper, takes her to Hollywood where he intends to put her into pictures.Along the way, she's romanced by WILLIAM HAINES, a comic actor who does a great job as the clownish guy who gets her into doing slapstick comedies--and then suffers when she is taken over by the High Art studio for "great dramatic roles." Funniest bit in the film has her trying to cry on cue to please a very demanding director--who tries everything he can think of (even onions) to get her to shed a tear for the camera. His hapless assistant has tears streaming down his face when "Hearts and Flowers" is played on the set, but not Davies. It's hilarious.It's also a fun way of viewing old Hollywood, before sound came in to stay. We get a sight-seeing tour of various parts of Los Angeles and the studios, technicians, crew, cameramen, script girls, and various glimpses of how films were being shot.Naturally, the ending comes in somewhat predictable fashion when the Count she's about to marry is revealed as a fake--and she winds up with her true love, the comedian.Haines shows what a talented man he truly was with a personality made for the cameras and as a vehicle for Davies, this is one of her best.Final verdict: She should have stayed in silents. As you can see, I'm not a big fan of her "talkies."

This is a Hollywoord film about a young woman who comes to Hollywood to become an actress. She sees Marion Davis and wants to become like her. She is, of course, played by Marion Davis. She is a genuine character who becomes a success on screen because of that genuine character. Then she begins to play an aristocrat in "real" life, at which point her genuine appeal is lost and she is nearly fired.Now, appreciate the layers: Marion Davis the actress plays someone who is not an actress who is successful be cause she is not playing, but then who plays a role in non-character life (and who we see sometimes as Marion Davis poking fun at herself) and becomes not an actress by acting.Along the way, many real actors are featured as themselves, and the director of this plays the director of the movie within.The amazing thing of course is that we readily understand these layers. Viewers nearly a hundred years ago did. Its called folded narrative.The title of course is a pun. Its about showing people in show business.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Show People (1928) *** (out of 4) Silent comedy has Marion Davies playing a girl from Georgia who travels to Hollywood to become a star. When she first arrives she gets in the door by a slapstick actor (Williams Haines) but soon Davis wishes to do more serious roles. This is a pretty good comedy that manages to get several laughs with its witty screenplay but there's also some nice cameos that makes this worth watching. Davies is very good in her role and manages to be quite funny and charming. Her early scenes with her father are all very good as is her more dramatic moments. Haines is also in fine form here and comes off very well with the slapstick stuff, which was certainly meant to be a throwback to the Keystone era comedy. The screenplay is full of talk about current Hollywood stars and this here adds a lot of charm. The film becomes rather predictable and that's really its only weakness. There are plenty of Hollywood stars on hand and that includes Vidor in a cameo at the end. John Gilbert, Lew Cody, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart and various others also make cameos. Charles Chaplin gets the best moment in the film when he shows up but Davies doesn't recognize him outside of his Tramp outfit.

Sunday July 16, 8:00pm The Castro, San Francisco"As a Southern colonel your make-up is very Indiana"The yammering gossips of Hollywood have managed to sling more than a little mud in Marion Davies direction over the years. That she had fame handed to her and was undeserving, is often speculated. Considering the mawkish dramas she was so often pushed into, this criticism would seem to have some validity. As a comedienne however, her star shone very brightly. Left to pursue a career in light comedy and slapstick she might have rivaled Mabel Normand. One of her better outings was King Vidor's Show People (1928), which survives and is so well known largely because MGM filled it with star cameos. This happy coincidence inadvertently saved what is surely among the best work of its two stars, Davies and that notorious Joe College wise-cracker, William Haines. Rumor has it Show People was loosely based on the life of Gloria Swanson, who began in Sennett comedies and rose to grand drama (And don't think she didn't spend the rest of her life reminding everyone!) with von Stroheim, Walsh and DeMille. Coincidentally, the comedy studios used in this film are the original digs Keystone had abandoned the year before (Think of who worked there!).Colonel Marmaduke Oldfish Pepper (Dell Henderson) drives his daughter Peggy (Davies) from Georgia to Hollywood to star in the movies. These two country hicks are unsuspecting fodder for incorrigible Billy Boone (Haines), " – a custard pie artist …" who descends on their cafeteria table in an outrageously funny entrance (watch for the bit with the noodle), and then helps Peggy land a part in his next picture. What she thinks is high drama turns out to be screwball, but a job is a job and Billy convinces her " . . all the stars have to take it on the chin – ". At the preview, Billy and Peggy bump into ….. Charlie Chaplin, who asks for her autograph! She pushes the little fellow aside and a horrified Billy grabs the book and makes her sign. Chaplin climbs in his car and Billy tells Peggy who shes just snubbed, so naturally, she faints. It's so very funny, considering Davies character isn't supposed to recognize this guy! Peggy soon moves on to work at the High Art Studios, changes her name to 'Patricia Pepoire' and leaves poor Billy behind. Davies does a wonderful send-up of a serious actress, with all the prerequisite fluttering eyelashes and quivering lips. Vidor throws in a parade of stars eating lunch in a long tracking shot (and they're all sitting shoulder to shoulder, facing the camera!) that includes Polly Moran (Who's also sensationally funny playing Davies' maid), Louella Parsons (one of the friendly vampires), Estelle Taylor, Claire Windsor Aileen Pringle, the comedy duo of Karl Dane (with his arm in a sling) and George K. Arthur (pretending he's stealing the silverware), Leatrice Joy (amused by Arthur's antics), Renee Adoree, Rod (eating and smoking) La Rocque, Mae Murray, John (in a robe) Gilbert (who also appears driving through the MGM gates early in the picture), Norma (eeeww!) Talmadge (looking bitchy and aloof as usual) and Patricia dressed like Marie Antoinette, sandwiched between Douglas Fairbanks (as he does an amusing trick) and William S. Hart (protecting her from Doug). Billy runs into the High Art crew on location when the comedy troupe disrupts their filming, with predictably nutty results. Vidor even works himself into the final scene as the director of Peggy's current production. Also worth noting are Harry Gribbon as the comedy director doing a great caricature of Eddie Sedgwick, Sidney Bracy as the dramatic director who can't get Peggy to cry for her screen test and then can't stop her once she does, and Paul Ralli as Andre, her dramatic love interest and a hilarious phony. When her character tries to 'act' its as though Davies is poking fun at all the awful dramas she'd been forced into and she's brilliant doing it.While it's true Show People is a hokey satire of the 'good ole days' ten years hence, it remains a highly entertaining example of quality work from MGM, Irving Thalberg, and their tremendous wealth of assembled talent. What a shame so much has been lost. There are also far too many examples of great films like The Patsy (1928), Vidor and Davies' hugely successful comedy from earlier that same year, languishing in vaults when they could be seen and enjoyed.