In Marion Davies We Trust: Reviewing Warner Archive’s ‘It’s A Wise Child’

Warner Archive provided me with a free copy of the Blu-Ray I reviewed in this article. The opinions I share are my own.

In real life, reckless driving is inexcusable. In Robert Z. Leonard‘s pre-code masterpiece It’s A Wise Child, get ready to be a hypocrite when Joyce (Marion Davies) behaves recklessly while test driving a car because somehow there’s no one more charming (and that’s despite of, not because of, that scene but still — any actress that can drive a person to shrug off speeding is a forced to be reckoned with).

It’s A Wise Child is a film that’s hard to find out much about online. That hopefully will change with the release of this Blu-ray but there are very few reviews on Letterboxd and no clips on YouTube. For most it will be a blind buy, and that’s a tough sell in any economy, let alone this one.

My interest in Davies began after watching Peter Bogdanovich‘s film The Cat’s Meow (which looked at her relationship with William Randolph Heart). It then continued with Lara Gabrielle‘s excellent biography, Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies. In that book, Gabrielle named Davies as a forerunner to female screen comedians like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett and that argument is very much supported by this movie.

While Joyce is engaged to the wealthy and much older Appleby (Robert McWade), she’s secretly in love with his employee, Roger (Lester Vail). Then there’s her lawyer, Steve (Sidney Blackmer), who’s presented as the guy she should be with but Joyce doesn’t think of him that way (anymore).

What makes this film stand out from other comedies is Joyce isn’t avoiding the question. If anything gives her pause it’s that her beloved but shiftless brother, Bill (Ben Alexander), works for Appleby but otherwise she’s very much decided to break things off with him, and follow her heart instead of the money. When a misunderstanding leads the town to suspect Joyce is pregnant, though (and the word “pregnant” is never used, only implied), Joyce starts to see her paramours in a new light and it’s not always pretty.

In a cast of scene stealers (Polly Moran and Marie Prevost are particularly good as the maids), there’s never any doubt who’s the star. The camera loves Davies, whether it’s her physical comedy (pulling her pants up like she’s wearing a skirt to climb the stairs) or her comedic timing (as in a scene at the piano where she gets to punctuate her scene partner’s lines with music), there’s no denying Davies’ “It” factor. It helps that the material’s already strong. Laurence E. Johnson‘s screenplay is full of great lines and character driven choices.

While it could be argued that there are one too many characters to keep track of, it’s hard to wish any of them eliminated. Technically Joyce could’ve done without another sibling and their bickering spouse (Hilda Vaughn and Johnny Arthur), but that doesn’t mean they aren’t funny – just superfluous.

Warner Archive’s Blu-ray comes with two Bosko cartoons, a live action short starring Jack Benny, and another live action short set at a sanitarium that’s most memorable for including a dance number by Earl ‘Snake Hips’ Tucker.

It’s A Wise Child is on sale now from Warner Archive and to purchase from Movie Zyng. As gambles go, they don’t come safer. This movie’s excellent.