King Vidor directed Marion Davies twice in 1928: first in The Patsy, released in April, and then in Show People, released the following November. Show People was a career highlight for the actress—a funny, weird, intelligent comedy, one of the best of the silent era. The Patsy, also a comedy, falls far short of it. It’s not that The Patsy isn’t funny, or that it isn’t weird. It is frequently both. It just isn’t very smart.
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