The Cardboard Lover

Marion Davies Fans Unite! 

Casual fans of silent classics may only know of one picture starring the fabulous Ms. Davies, as the Turner Classic Movies cable channel periodically shows her hilarious comedy Show People, about a hopeful actress coming to Hollywood. But there’s much more of Marion to discover.

There has never been a better time to be a Marion Davies fan than now. Two books and over a dozen films on DVD/Blu ray in the past 10 years, most of these improvements on the quality of what has been available, makes for happy silent film fans. All have shed light on an artist who spent more time remembered for her personal life than her professional one. And while William Randolph Hearst does loom large in her professional life, these latest disc releases plus Lara Gabrielle’s tremendous biography  Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies (2022) Marion is a shining light on her own worth. On my silent film wish list of people I wish I could meet, Marion would be at the top of the list. So whether you’re a longtime fan or just discovered her, there is now a new film to enjoy thanks to Undercrank Productions. The film is  The Cardboard Lover from 1928, the second of three films released that year by Marion.

Undercrank Productions is the brainchild of silent film accompanist, historian and author Ben Model. He released his first DVD Accidentally Preserved Vol. 1 in 2013. CineSavant reviewed Ben’s  Accidentally Preserved Vol. 5 release in ’24.   Working with the Library of Congress and private collectors, most of his projects are funded through Kickstarter and I can tell you being one of the funders on some of his projects made me feel great pride knowing I helped out in my meager way. Just released this month, The Cardboard Lover is the seventh of Marion’s silent films produced for digital release by Undercrank Productions. The full selection can be seen at the  Undercrank Productions page.

In The Cardboard Lover Marion plays Sally, one of a whole busload of American gals just arrived at a swank hotel on the French Riviera. Sally is an autograph hound and zeros in on André, a handsome man she discovers is a famous tennis star (Nils Asther). She’s disappointed to find he has a beautiful girlfriend (Jetta Goudal) but pursues the tennis star anyway for an autograph all the way to a casino—and a fateful vow she makes to help him get over said girlfriend, which includes pretending to be his fiancée. Thus Sally becomes André’s ‘cardboard lover.’

Playing a similar character to the one she played in The Patsy, Marion Davies is just fun to watch as she very determinedly works to get her man. The big difference between the two movies is the surroundings; in The Patsy we’re in small-town America but in The Cardboard Lover we’re in Monte Carlo and the surroundings are very different indeed. This is where being part of a big studio like MGM pays off—the sets! The costumes! The credits list ‘Settings’ by Cedric Gibbons, which doesn’t do his magnificent set design justice. If for some reason you’re not into the story stick around for Jetta Goudal’s costumes alone, all thanks to Howard Greer. And as in The Patsy Marion does one of her famous impressions—this time in full costume—as her co-star Miss Goudal herself. I’ve read some fans didn’t believe it was Marion at all, that’s how good it is.

Marion works with a great cast and is matched well with Nils Asther, who makes a surprisingly good turn at comedy as Andre the tennis star. Given the moniker ‘the male Greta Garbo’ for being Swedish as well as quite handsome, Nils came to Hollywood in 1927 and actually transitioned to sound films well. His later career was  all romantic drama, however, so seeing him here going through several facial expressions when a mustard plaster is removed was pretty darn funny. I had never seen a film with  Jetta Goudal before — I’ve read about her but never witnessed the magnetism. What a fascinating personality; I imagine she realized she was playing up to her reputation in Hollywood as a diva.