Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies is a new documentary (It previously aired on Turner Classic Movies in 2002) about the Hollywood legend whose acting career was overshadowed by her much-criticized love affair with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Narrated by actress Charlize Theron (
The Legend of Bagger Vance,
Cider House Rules and
Men of Honor), the documentary is now available on VHS and DVD from Image Entertainment, the distributor for the Milestone Collection.
Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies features the final on-camera interview with Davies's biographer Fred Guiles and includes interviews with film historians Kevin Brownlow, Jeanine Basinger, and Cari Beauchamp; former film critic Charles Champlin; and actress Virginia Madsen, who researched Davies for her portrayal of the star in the made-for-TV movie
The Hearst and Davies Affair (1985). First-hand accounts of events in Davies's life are shared by Carl Roup, a studio newspaper boy who was chosen by Davies to appear as an extra in
The Red Mill (1927); Davies's friends, including actress Constance Moore and King Vidor's daughter, Belinda Vidor Holiday; and Life magazine correspondent Stanley Flink, who taped interviews with Davies in 1951, exerpts from which will be heard as part of TCM's documentary.
While the press and the film
Citizen Kane (1941) served to paint Davies as a hard-drinking golddigger with no talent,
Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies will reflect her true nature - a talented, hard-working actress and shrewd businesswoman. The documentary chronicles Davies's career and her relationship with Hearst, from their meeting in New York to his death in 1951, and contains rare clips from some of Davies's earliest films, recently rescued from nitrate decomposition, including
The Cardboard Lover (1928),
The Patsy (1928),
When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922) and
Quality Street (1927), as well as rare, never-before-seen home movies from the Hearst castle and from the couple's European travels.
Remembrances and observations help to correct the incorrect perceptions of Davies's career and love affair, including Madsen admitting that she felt Davies has never been portrayed correctly on-screen; Flink recounting his observation of Hearst's body being removed from Davies's home to create the illusion that the two were not involved; Roup's stories of Davies's generosity that include her paying for his education; and actual audio recordings of Davies herself, which were thought lost for years.
Davies began her career as a chorus girl in New York and made her screen debut in 1917 in
Runaway Romany. Around that time she met Hearst, who took an immediate personal interest in her career, even going so far as to form a company, Cosmopolitan Pictures, for the sole purpose of producing her films. Their relationship lasted 35 years, and Davies entertained lavishly at the several homes they shared. They never married, as Hearst's wife, Millicent, would never grant him a divorce. Later in their relationship, Davies raised $1 million dollars, almost in a day, to bail Hearst out of financial disaster.
The DVD edition of
Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies also includes a Marion Davies stills gallery and a bonus film,
Quality Street, a 1927 comedy of matters based on the James M. Barrie play that features one of Davies' finest performances.
For more information about
Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies, visit
Milestone Films. To purchase a copy of
Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies, visit
TCM's Online Store..
by Jeff Stafford
