One of Hollywood's persistent myths is that Marion Davies was a dismal actress who received starring roles only because her longtime lover was Charles Randolph Hearst. Page Miss Glory disproves that notion. She was an adroit comedienne -- and here, she breathes life into a screwball plot that would have been pretty lame without her. She's a naive newcomer to New York working as a chambermaid at a hotel where con artists Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh haven't paid the tab for a month. How they turn her into the mythical temptress, Dawn Glory, and her romance with flier Dick Powell -- who's just as delightfully dopey as she is -- take up most of the film. You can probably chalk up the negative comments about Miss Davies to Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" in which Dorothy Commingore played Kane's mistress, a Davies-like actress known for her wooden performances. But catch "Page Miss Glory" -- or any one of several other movies she made before she quit the screen to look after Hearst -- and you'll discover just how much fun she was.
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MikeMagi9 June 2015
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lugonian21 May 2017PAGE MISS GLORY (Warner Brothers, 1935), a Cosmopolitan production directed by Mervyn LeRoy, stars Marion Davies, formerly of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, making her Warner Brothers debut. PAGE MISS GLORY may not be the greatest comedy ever made, but much better than the four feature films that were to follow in general. What makes PAGE MISS GLORY succeed is its presence of the studio's own huge assortment of stock players, especially the third-billed crooner by the name of Dick Powel, having a very busy year for himself with six movie releases for 1935 alone.
Plot summary: Loretta (Marion Davies) is a country girl from Red Hook arriving in New York City's busy Grand Central train terminal where, after given some guidance from Mr. Kimball (Harry Beresford), a traveler's aide, and only $27 to her name, comes to the Park Regis Hotel where she interviews herself to Mr. Yates (Berton Churchill), the assistant hotel manager, for a job. Loretta becomes the hotel's chambermaid and teams with Betty (Patsy Kelly) cleaning rooms and assisting guests. Her first good deed goes to Chick Wiley (Pat O'Brien), a promoter, and Ed Olsen (Frank McHugh), his assistant, of Room 1762, down on their luck and four weeks behind their bill. Believing they are hungry, Loretta offers them a rejected meal from one of the other guests which turns out to be dog food. Gladys (Mary Astor), a hard-working secretary and Ed's love interest, tries her best to assist in their lack of creativity to get themselves back into business. Upon reading a full page ad in a magazine for the submission of a photograph for the most beautiful girl in the world, Ed schemes up a publicity stunt by sending a composite photo of a fictional girl he names "Dawn Glory" in hope of winning the $2500 grand prize. Much to everyone's surprise, Chick wins, but is unable to produce the girl he's promoting to Slattery Hawkshaw (Lyle Talbot), a reporter for the Express insisting on an interview with Chick's Wonder Girl. It is only when Loretta, after beautifying herself at the beauty parlor, puts on the Miss Glory Silhouette Dress does the homely chambermaid become the new American Beauty. As fate would have it, Loretta, known to all as Miss Glory, is proposed marriage by Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell) over the radio only after having seen her photograph but never met her personally (except earlier at the hotel as a chambermaid). Though Loretta is madly in love with Bingo, her life gets a turnaround when she's abducted by hired thugs, Petey (Allen Jenkins) and Blackie (Barton MacLane), out for some ransom money.
Also in the large assortment of Warners stock players are Joseph Cawthorn and Al Shean playing a couple of heavily accented rival businessmen; Lionel Stander (Nick, a Russian accented wrestler employed in the hotel baggage room); Hobart Cavanaugh (Kimball); and in smaller roles, Helen Lowell, E.E. Clive, Gavin Gordon, Irving Bacon and Jonathan Hale. Very much a straightforward comedy, the title song of "Page Miss Glory" (by Al Dubin and Harry Warren) is first heard briefly by an uncredited vocalist at a night club before Miss Glory has her daydreaming fantasy moment staring directly into the picture frame of Bingo (Powell) to come to life and sing the song directly to her.
Though PAGE MISS GLORY gets off to a great start, it grows tiresome by the time it reaches its 93 minute conclusion. As usual, the cast does its best in what they do, namely Pat O'Brien as a scheming promoter; Dick Powell appearing in pilot's uniform throughout the story; the serious-minded Mary Astor, among the many others in this all-star cast. In conclusion, PAGE MISS GLORY very much belongs to Marion Davies alone. She's has some very fine moments, especially during the first half of the story during her amusingly fish-out-of-water hillbilly type in the big city to unexpectedly become an American Beauty.
Never distributed to home video, PAGE MISS GLORY had its moments of glory when first broadcast on Turner Network Television (1989) before becoming a more permanent fixture on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (***) -
bkoganbing3 January 2007After William Randolph Hearst took his Cosmopolitan Pictures off the MGM lot and onto Warner Brothers, Marion Davies for her first film was given the title role in Page Miss Glory. The film is based on a Broadway play that ran only 63 performances during the 1934-1935 season.
Press Agents Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh concoct a phony beauty by taking facial features from several known movie stars to create the perfect American beauty. When asked to produce her, our intrepid duo is stuck, but when hotel chambermaid Marion Davies comes in to make up the room, it seems like a prayer has been answered.
O'Brien and McHugh are playing roles that they've both done dozens of times alone and together at Warner Brothers in the Thirties. I think Pat O'Brien pulled more cinematic cons than any other player on record. Davies has some very funny moments and I know she wished she could have done more films like this one.
Dick Powell plays a Charles Lindbergh like aviator with a nice tenor voice who sings the song Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote for the film Page Miss Glory. It's done during a dream sequence when Davies still thinking like a chambermaid, imagines herself being swept up romantically by Powell.
Page Miss Glory is one of Marion Davies better sound features and still worth seeing today. -
drednm25 July 2004Marion Davies shines in this spoof of celebrity as a country girl who comes to the big city and gets involved in a phony beauty contest. Screwball plot and great cast make this fun from beginning to end and proves YET AGAIN what a terrific comedienne Davies was. Dick Powell, Pat O'Brien, Mary Astor, Patsy Kelly, Frank McHugh, Allen Jenkins, Berton Churchill, and Helen Lowell (as the mother) are all wonderful. The bickering yeast kings (Joseph Cawthorn and Al Shean) are boring, but everything else in this comedy zings along. This one of Davies' last pictures and she was pushing 40 but she is brave enough to play half the film as the dowdy country girl. Davies was a star for 20 years and made the switch to talkies. Now she is finally being rediscovered and getting her due as a terrific comic actress. About time!
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atlasmb30 August 2017Pat O'Brien once said, "I don't just want to be a fast-talking Charlie all my life." That's exactly what he is in "Page Miss Glory"--a flimflam man who is always looking for an angle. As Click Wiley, he pairs up with Eddie Olson (Frank McHugh), a photographer whose lens is in hock. They are about to be ejected from the hotel where they have been squatting when a new scheme falls into their laps.
Marion Davies plays a naive rube (Loretta) who comes to New York City. Her search for the perfect guy mostly centers around celebrity crushes, like the daring self-promoting stunt pilot, Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell). Davies' performance is the highlight of the film, but it is worth seeing the film just for the bevy of talented supporting actors.
This light-weight comedy clocks in at 93 minutes, and it feels like an adaptation of a play (which it is), but its screwball story serves up plenty of fun and feels like a cultural artifact from the mid- thirties. -
SimonJack26 June 2016This movie is a good caper comedy that stars Marion Davies, Pat O'Brien and Dick Powell, with a fine supporting cast. The premise is a good one, and novel for the time. A small town girl arrives in the Big Apple by train. She doesn't have a job and she has nowhere to stay. But she has brains, so she heads for the top hotel to get a job as a chambermaid. One wonders if the writers for the 2002 movie, "Maid in Manhattan," didn't get their ideas for their plot from this 1935 film.
Davies plays Loretta (aka, Dawn Glory later). O'Brien is Click Wiley, a half of a promoter team that more often than not comes up with a con game of some sort to strike it rich. The other half of the team is Ed Olson, played by Frank McHugh. His fiancé is Gladys, played by Mary Astor. And the idol of Loretta is that dashing, if dangerously daring pilot, Bingo Nelson, played by Dick Powell. Some other actors add character to the story, which otherwise would be very thin.
This isn't a laugh-a-minute film, based on a script of witty dialog. It has some of that, but mostly it's a comedy of situations that are most funny with errors on the part of Click and Ed.
"Page Miss Glory" is one of the last movies Marion Davies made. After 49 films dating to 1917, she retired at age 40 in 1937. Apparently, her star was dimming although her later co-stars were among the top leading men of Hollywood. Since 1930, she appeared in films with Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper, Leslie Howard, Robert Montgomery, and O'Brien and Powell.
I've enjoyed all of her several films that I've seen, but I note that her performance varies in those from good to excellent. She was at her best in comedy, for which she was best known. In those films especially, it's hard not to like this actress, or to appreciate her talent. The ebullient Davies is a delight. She always seems to have something to be cheerful about. And, she had a winning smile and sparkling eyes that just endear her that much more.
Her fading from stardom at such an early age was probably due to several circumstances. Her long-running affair with the married William Randolph Hearst probably figured in somewhere. Hearst had promoted Davies aggressively in his magazines, when she was popular. His own Cosmopolitan Productions company starred Davies in more than one- third of its films over its 20-year life – which just happened to coincide with Davies' film career. But Hearst's empire was crumbling during the Great Depression. Davies was drinking heavily during this time, but the couple stayed together another 14 years until his death in 1951. After Hearst's death, Davies married actor Horace Brown, and they stayed together until her death from cancer at age 64 in 1961.
Davies wrote the script of the first movie she made, and then in 1918-19 her next four films were produced by her own company. She was not wealthy on her own, so the financing for the kick-start of her career came from somewhere else – most likely Hearst. Davies wasn't among the great actresses of the silver screen in her short career. But she was very good and entertaining in most of her pictures. One can't help but ask the familiar questions that always seems to surface in discussions and writings about Davies. What might she have become? How might her career have developed if she had not met and taken up with the married mega-millionaire Hearst at the start? -
theowinthrop3 January 2007PAGE 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. -
tobornot2wew82c3 January 2005"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. -
bbales11 May 1999While my first impression of the movie was that it was corny, I soon saw the excessive exaggeration made for a fun movie. The country girl was the ultimate hick, the hero was the absolute best flier in the world, and Barton MacLane was at his evil best.
Enjoyed it. -
TheLittleSongbird27 September 2018With a great cast and nice idea, 'Page Miss Glory' sparked my interest straight away. It was further interesting seeing silent film star Marion Davies, whose films took a while to be re-discovered and even in her day her personal life and relationships tended to overshadow her career (or at least thought to be), in a talkie role that was one of her last.
'Page Miss Glory' was a decent film if not a great one. It is not one that will appeal to everybody, and hasn't done, very understandably. The same, as in not appealing to everybody, can be said for Davies herself, not hard to see why again. Won't consider myself a fan of her but she has her charms. There are however a fair amount of good things while with elements that are easy to criticise.
Davies does carry the film very well, showing herself to be a charmer, a good comedienne and the ability to command the screen. The cast in fact are the reason to see the film. Dashing Dick Powell, razor sharp Pat O'Brien (very funny too) and equally funny Allen Jenkins are the standouts in support. Patsy Kelly and Barton MacLane are also good.
Further good things are a snappy script that has its fair share of hugely enjoyable moments and a lively pace. The film is never dull, is competently directed and has some decent production values. The title song is a lovely one.
Less good is the rather thin story, in terms of the basics, that does try to do too much at points, some of it and the characters don't serve much point.
Was also disappointed that Mary Astor had too little to do and Joseph Cawthorn and Al Shean are on the annoying side.
Overall, decent but not quite enough glory. 7/10 Bethany Cox -
lshelhamer9 January 2013Frenetic 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" -
ksf-217 December 2018Such a bucket of HUGE names.... Marion Davies, Lyle Talbot, and the awesome Patsy Kelly! Allen Jenkins and Lionel Stander. They are all quite young in this one. Davies and Kelly are hotel maids, who have adventures and escapades with the registered but non-paying guests, played by Pat O'Brien, Mary Astor, Frank McHugh. Dick Powell is the famous pilot, bringing medicine to sick babies. When he publicly proposes, it's up to the gang to produce the bride! It's mostly good... Davies really hams it up, as if she still needs to over-do it for the silent camera, but i'm sure some of that was by design. A caper! Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, who directed some biggies. It's good fun, and moves right along.
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...so if you are expecting a typical Marion Davies vehicle in which she is the center of attention most of the time you're going to be disappointed. However, if you're just looking for a fun fast moving comedy in the tradition of 1930's Warner Brothers this will hit the spot.
There are two con-men (Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh) inventing the concept of Photoshop over 50 years before it is a practical reality by entering a composite photograph in a beauty contest and winning, Marion Davies being brave enough to parade around before the camera for almost a full hour as an overweight plain chamber maid, and Dick Powell as a Dudley DoRight type of ace pilot with a chest full of medals who proposes to the beauty contest winner, who is, of course, a girl he's never even met since she doesn't exist. Marion's chamber maid character returns the sentiment having fallen in love with the pilot's picture. Mary Astor plays the mismatched and possessive fiancée of Frank McHugh's character.
In short this movie is intentionally ridiculous fun. It pokes fun at publicity campaigns and what makes people famous and interesting to the press and has plenty of that rapid fire dialogue for which Warners was famous in the 30's. Just take off your thinking cap and enjoy. -
In no way can I be persuaded to think that MARION DAVIES was a brilliant comedienne. She delivers her lines in flat fashion, making everyone aware that she is acting--as if that in itself is supposed to be funny. Truth is, she was better in silents where we were not subjected to her strident speaking voice and the affected mannerisms on display in her later films.
I go with the N.Y. Times reviewer who said: "Some of it is funny, some of it isn't, and a lot of it is speed and noise." For sheer speed and noise you can have PAT O'BRIEN, spouting all his dialog like a machine gun spitting out lines faster than the speed of sound. You can have ALLEN JENKINS being his lovable but dumb self, saddled with some of the film's sillier moments but at least drawing a chuckle. Or you can sympathize with MARY ASTOR who is supposed to be daffy about FRANK McHUGH--and that too is good for a laugh. And then we have poor DICK POWELL, trying to make something out of a thankless supporting role as Marion's true love.
It's all done in the furious fashion typical of these screwball comedies from the '30s--only this one hasn't got enough wit in the script to please any discriminating viewer.
For Davies fans only. Before it's over, you get the feeling you've seen it all before. -
Michael_Elliott26 September 2009Page Miss Glory (1935)
*** (out of 4)
When William Randolph Hearst took his girlfriend Marion Davies and production company Cosmopolitan from MGM to Warner, he bought the best talent on the lot and ended up delivering one of the better films of his career. In the film, wannabe money makers (Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh) decide to get some quick cash by forging a picture to win a contest for the best looking woman in America. They end up winning but to their horror the press starts to eat up the story of "Dawn Glory". When a reporter (Lyle Talbot) begins to get close to their scheme, they discover that the motel chambermaid (Davies) actually looks like the girl in the photo. This mistaken identity farce begins to lose a lot of steam during the final half hour but with this amazing cast there's really no going wrong here. This certainly isn't a classic movie or one that needs to be studied in film schools but if you're a fan of Davies or the wonderful supporting cast then you're in for a treat. Not only do we get Davies, O'Brien, McHugh and Talbot but we also have Dick Powell, Mary Astor, Allen Jenkins and Patsy Kelly. Kelly and Jenkins are pretty much underwritten characters but the rest get to do all their tricks and end up turning over plenty of laughs for the viewer. The most shocking thing is that Davies doesn't have the most to do in the film as she remains a supporting player throughout. This is just fine because when she is on the screen she really tears it up and she's the best as the dimwitted chambermaid who never really catches on to what's going on. O'Brien is his usual fast paced self and he works wonderfully well with McHugh, which shouldn't be too shocking since both men played perfectly well as the sidekicks to James Cagney in various Warner films. Astor nearly steals the film with another strong performance and Talbot delivers the good as well. People are always going to debate on whether Davies was a talented actress or just the mistress to the most powerful man in America but I think this film proves she could be good if given the right material and support around here. Again, this isn't a masterpiece but there's enough here for film buffs to really eat up. -
SnoopyStyle4 April 2023Small town girl Loretta Dalrymple (Marion Davies) arrives in the big city and becomes a hotel chambermaid. She befriends penniless guests, photographer Ed Olson (Frank McHugh) and promoter Dan Riley (Pat O'Brien). The boys enter an advertising contest. Ed sends in a composite photo called Dawn Glory and the image wins. Radio celebrity Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell) is rumored to be engaged to Dawn Glory and it becomes a media circus. The boys need a real girl and their cohort Gladys Russell (Mary Astor) does a makeover on Loretta to look exactly like the advertisement.
It's a fun screwball premise, but I can improve upon it. Ed should take a fleeting image of Loretta without realizing it. That would be Dawn Glory and he spends most of the movie searching for the girl who is literally under his nose. As for this film, there are lots of fun actors doing fun characters. It's light screwball fun. -
mbrindell23 November 2019This film tries to do too many things at once and never quite succeeds at accomplishing any one thing. It falls somewhere between farce and screwball comedy, much like some pre-Code Paramount comedies.
Marion Davies does not have the comedy acumen to be this film's locus, and her age works against her; Carole Lombard might have been a better fit. I've always thought Davies' best years were her silent years. I generally like Davies; however, I do believe that her nebulous association with Welles' classic film "Kane" and its character Susan Alexander provide Davies with some importantance that she is not warranted.
It's a curious Warner Bros. entry. I recommend it, but only for its oddity factor, not as excellent entertainment. -
Maleejandra11 January 2007Page Miss Glory is a Cinderella story, a breezy romp that makes you smile but doesn't make you think. It starts with a group of downtrodden friends (Frank McHugh, Pat O'Brien, Mary Astor) who always get swept up in get-rich-quick schemes. Their latest one is to make a composite photograph of the best female features and send it into a radio beauty contest. They call her Dawn Glory, but Miss Glory does not exist. They win the contest, but it causes a fervor with the public and a high demand for interviews. Aviator Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell) even falls in love with her and asks her hand in marriage. What to do? Con the hotel maid (Marion Davies) into posing as Miss Glory, that's what! Of course, Powell has his obligatory song which provides the film's title. Davies is quite beautiful though she is no spring chicken. She utilizes a slight accent, but does not really get a chance to show her comic potential. Still, the film is great entertainment.
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blanche-21 June 2015Marion Davies, Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh, Dick Powell, Mary Astor, Lyle Talbot, and Allen Jenkins star in "Page Miss Glory," from 1935.
Davies is plain-Jane Loretta Dalrymple, who comes to New York, asks to see the manager of a swanky hotel, and says she wants a job as a chambermaid.
In the hotel is the broke photographer Click Wiley (O'Brien), and Ed Olson (McHugh). They're something like three weeks in arrears at the hotel, and have to be out by Tuesday.
They see an ad from a yeast manufacturer offering a reward for a photo of "America's Prettiest Girl." Ed gets to work and makes a composite up of all the beautiful movie stars and names the woman Dawn Glory.
Dawn wins, and everybody wants a piece of her. Even the famous aviator Bingo Russell (Powell) is crazy over her photo and proposes mid-flight.
When a gown shows up for Dawn, Loretta tries it on, and after a little work, she becomes the photo of Dawn Glory. In those days, platinum blond hair went a long way.
Loretta has everything a girl could want - new clothes, shoes, makeup, living in a gorgeous suite, but she's a bird in a cage. Click is determined to keep her away from the press, particularly a reporter (Talbot), and he doesn't want her running off with Bingo. She's miserable.
Good movie, with Davies again showing her comic abilities as the chambermaid turned beauty, and she's surrounded by wonderful actors. Mary Astor's role is never really explained - she seems to be a friend of Click's and company - she shows her comic flare without having much to do.
O'Brien and McHugh are at it again, and they're a great team as always. Patsy Kelly as a maid and friend of Loretta's always played to the back of the house. Powell sings like a dream. An amazing man, and sadly all but forgotten today. I'm so glad TCM shows his films. Imagine going from singing and playing juveniles to giving Aaron Spelling and Sam Peckinpah their starts in show business.
A real send-up of celebrity, and quite funny, though in those days it wasn't as easy as it is today. Back then, you actually had to do something in order to become a celebrity, even if it was winning a contest. -
strangetildeath24 October 2010This was an interesting movie. Had a pretty good cast, and a well written storyline. But I can't say it's my favorite Marion Davies movie. I liked it, I thought it was funny, but there was something off about it. I think it might have been that it was hard for her to top some of the silent movies of hers I've seen. But it's still a pretty good film. I personally liked Marion Davies, & Patsy Kelly's characters the most. They have this certain charm about them. Although this might not be her best film, it's still funny, & worth watching. A borderline classic. I thought they could've done better with the ending though. Give it a shot, & check out her older movies if you haven't seen them.
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planktonrules26 January 2011A few years back, IMDb pages for Marion Davies movies were flooded by a wave of scores of 10 for all of her movies. I have no idea who or why this was done, but as a result all of her movies have incredibly high scores--even her terrible ones (and, unfortunately, many of her sound films are pretty bad). So although this film currently has a very respectable score, understand it is because of some sort of effort to artificially inflate every Davies film...all of them. For example, this film (which by any sane standard is only mediocre) has scores of 10 for 51% of its votes, whereas "Gone With the Wind" only has 37%! And, if you were to check, this 51% is a higher percentage of 10s than the vast majority of the Top 100 films on IMDb!! Something screwy is afoot with the voting!
The style of "Paging Miss Glory" is very similar to several other Pat O'Brien films--"Boy Meets Girl" and "The Front Page". That's because in each of these O'Brien plays a schemer who delivers lines like a machine gun! He's 100% energy--like a guy on crack! And, if the material is very good (like in "The Front Page"), it works wonderfully. Unfortunately, this film's only asset is this energy, as underneath all the hysteria and frenetic action, the movie just isn't that good--much of it because the story makes little sense--especially the hysteria that results from a publicity stunt.
The film begins with O'Brien and his partner, Frank McHugh, broke and running up a huge hotel bill (like "Room Service"). But O'Brien is a promoter--and he knows he'll come up with some idea that will dig them out of their situation. Out of the blue he gets an inspiration--McHugh will make a composite photo made up of all the best parts of the great beauties and enter it in a photo contest (sort of like a primitive version of PhotoShop!). Well, without knowing it, they have created a picture that just coincidentally looks like the chambermaid (Davies). So, when they win they need to be able to present this fictional lady to the press--especially since O'Brien plans on milking it for all it's worth. In the process, the plan picks up a goofball aviator (Dick Powell), a crusading reporter (Lyle Talbot), and a group of mobsters (including Barton MacLane and Allan Jenkins). In addition, Mary Astor is along for the ride--making the film have a very strong cast of familiar faces.
The problem is that none of the film makes any sense even if it is occasionally entertaining. Plus, in all deference to the Davies ballot-stuffers, she is the worst actor in this movie. Mostly, Marion just stands around and gawks at the camera. In addition, and I know this will sound mean, but by now she is 39 and frankly not THAT attractive to be playing such a glamorous part. As a result of this film and other turkeys during the mid to late 1930s (such as "Cain and Mabel"), Miss Davies retired soon after "Paging Miss Glory". -
jpickerel7 January 2007Considering the talent invested in this movie, and the fast paced, well developed story, this should have been a near classic. The story of two glib con men, who first invent a contest winner by photographic trickery, then find a maid who fits the description, is done well enough that you can buy the premise. Here are two problems: Pat O'Brien, who plays one of the con men, does what he always does in this type of role - talks with a machine gun like speed, making it all but impossible to understand him. Secondly, Marion Davies, the maid who is talked into portraying "Miss Dawn Glory", the contest winner, simply can't act. Granted, she was extremely attractive, bright, and possessed a presence all but impossible to ignore. But I have never seen any evidence that she had much talent for acting. The rest of the cast were close to being perfect for their roles, most notably Patsy Kelly and Dick Powell.
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jayms17 November 2003Like "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.
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ArtVandelayImporterExporter30 January 2021It's hard for me to describe in words how much I loathe screwball comedies in general but occasionally one airs that's bearable.
Unfortunately, Paging Miss Glory is not one of those rare treats. It's just another pointlessly fast-paced, noisily spoken spazz-fest where volume substitutes for witty dailogue
I barely made it through the setup before I was exhausted by Pat O'Brien's patter. I bet he was a smash on radio where his shtick probably sounded clever and funny. He just irritates the living shytt out of me in movies.
As for Marion Davies, she's literally and figuratively an old maid in this movie. When she tells the insurance man at the train depot how she's just a girl in the big city I burst out laughing. Frankly, Mary Astor would have been better in the lead role.
And poor Dick Powell. He's wearing silent-movie face paint and acting like he's on a coke bender. I was embarrassed for him.
Overall a tiresome, dull, miscast movie. -
GManfred28 January 2013In fact, the cast is about the only thing "Page Miss Glory" has in its favor. It is a 1930's comedy which has Marion Davies playing a slow-witted rube (think Gomer Pyle) who comes to the Big City to find a job. She catches on as a housemaid in a hotel, where Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh are staying. They are con men who hear about a beauty contest on the radio and cook up a scheme to win the prize money.
It's not worth going into detail from there, because what follows is a dull story with a lousy script and jokes that fall flat, many of which have 'so's your old man'-type punch lines (I told you it was a 30's comedy). The camera lingers too long on some jokes and situations, taking some of the starch out of the humor, and Miss Davies overplays her part and flattens other spots which could have been funnier.
O'Brien and Mc Hugh do their best, with O'Brien relying on his loud, rapid-fire delivery to gin up excitement. Mary Astor is on hand with little to do and is given some stale dialogue, and the same for Allen Jenkins, Barton MacLane and Patsy Kelly. The title song is fair at best. All in all, a forgettable effort directed by, of all people, Mervyn LeRoy, who should have known better.