The Patsy (1928)

Name: The Patsy
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Released: 1928-04-22
Duration: 78 min
Rating: 6.7
Cast: Marion Davies, Orville Caldwell, Marie Dressler, Lawrence Gray, Dell Henderson

The Patsy (1928), directed by King Vidor, starring Marion Davies and Orville Caldwell.

04/22/1928 BR Comedy, Drama and Romance 1h 18m

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Quiz about this movie

If you were the little "Patsy" of the family, with your good looking sister getting all the breaks, what would you do about it?

Synopsis

An awkward teenager hopelessly in love with her older sister's boyfriend tries to make him notice her.

John F. SeitzCinematography
King VidorDirector, Producer
Hugh WynnEditing
Marion DaviesProducer

About the film

The Patsy is a 1928 American silent comedy-drama film directed by King Vidor, co-produced by and starring Marion Davies for Cosmopolitan Productions, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was based on a play of the same name by Barry Conners, and served as Marie Dressler's comeback film after a long slump in her film career. Davies played the dowdy and downtrodden Patricia, the younger daughter in a household ruled by an imperious mother (Dressler) and selfish sister (Jane Winton).

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Plot

Cast

Marion Davies as Patricia Harrington

Orville Caldwell as Tony Anderson

Marie Dressler as Ma Harrington

Lawrence Gray as Billy Caldwell

Dell Henderson as Pa Harrington

Jane Winton as Grace Harrington

Production

The Patsy saw Marion Davies starring in her 27th film. This was Davies' first film of three with director King Vidor and the only time she appeared with Marie Dressler.

Release and legacy

The film received good reviews, and was a box office success. Hearst and MGM subsequently assigned Vidor to begin working on another vehicle for Davies. The Patsy also served as a comeback vehicle for Dressler.

In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.

As of 2024, the film is in the public domain. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 20 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Highlighted by Marion Davies' lively and skillful performance, The Patsy plays as an engagingly light and handsomely directed domestic comedy."

References

External links

The Patsy at IMDb

The Patsy is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive

The Patsy at the TCM Movie Database (archived)

The Patsy at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

The Patsy in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Gladysz, Thomas. "The Patsy (2013 presentation)". San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Retrieved April 3, 2018.

Kiehn, David. "The Patsy (2008 presentation)". San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Retrieved April 3, 2018.

Text from The Patsy (1928 film) on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Patsy_(1928_film)

Trivia

The production budget was US$ 272.000.
It premiered on April 22, 1928, a Sunday.
It runs 1h18 — short for a feature film.
This film's quiz has 10 questions — enough to play more than once without repeats.