User Reviews

In her seventh movie, Marion Davies is an author who reads her latest novel to her publisher. In it, she is a woman who discovers a plot by J. Herbert Frank to steal a huge diamond. She takes the place of Madeline Marshall, who is carrying it to its new owner in South Africa. Along the way, she is succored by Conway Tearle, and tailed by Spencer Charters, a cigar-chomping, derby-wearing detective hired by Miss Marshall's father.

It's a delightful tale directed by Robert Z. Leonard. Miss Davies is photographed beautifully, and she gets to show some vivacity and a bit of business in her role. Mr. Charters' role seems to have largely ended up on the cutting room floor. Mr. Tearle is handsome and stalwart, typically so in a career in which he served as romantic interest for various starlets.

The copy I looked at was the DVD produced by Ed Lorusso, with a fine score by Ben Model. Although it was originally a five-reel movie, the Library of Congress preservation copy it was made from lacks the first reel; the contents of the first reel have been summarized by opening titles. The DVD contains a black-and-white version and tinted one; and the case cover has a lovely painting of Miss Davies from a lobby card.

It's a treat for fans of Miss Davies, and another nail in the coffin of the legend that she was a poor actress, her career sustained by the fortune of William Randolph Hearst.

More a light adventure film than a romantic drama, Marion Davies stars as a woman who masquerades as another woman in order to fend off a famous jewel thief and deliver a famous diamond to its rightful owner.

Story opens with Davies reading her new story to her publisher and editor. The scene then switches to a masquerade party where Davies, as April Poole, meets an attractive man (Conway Tearle) and recognizes a famous thief (J. Herbert Frank). When the thief drops a piece of paper, April grabs it and learns of his plan to steal the Mannister Diamond. Next day, April then tracks down Lady Diana Mannister and convinces her to allow a switch. April will travel to Cape Town as Lady Diana and deliver the diamond.

All this happens in reel 1, which is missing from the Library of Congress copy. Reel 2 starts with the women disembarking from a train and Diana meeting the man she is going to marry. Scene then shifts to the ocean liner where April plots to meet the thief but also meets Tearle again. (Tearle and Frank play the publisher and editor in the opening scene.) But flirting with the men draws the ire of an old biddy passenger.

April poses with the diamond in front of her stateroom window, seeming to invite the thief to action. When he does show up, followed by Tearle, the old biddy complains to the captain and there's a scuffle when the thief is thrown out of her room. The next morning, Lady Diana is missing but Tearle has a cryptic note from her asking him to make sure her trunk gets delivered to a certain address.

As Tearle delivers the trunk to a woman dressed as a man and named Clive, we see that the thief has followed and breaks into the trunk to grab the diamond. He gets more than he bargained for.

Back in the publisher's office, Davies finishes reading the manuscript to the unenthusiastic men, and Tearle tells her how he thinks it should have ended.

Taken as a light adventure film with a female protagonist, APRIL FOLLY is a delightful trifle. If the viewer is expecting high drama or a crime thriller, he will be disappointed. Davies has a wonderful light touch even in this 1920 film, years before she showed her all-out comic skills. Tearle is rather dull, Frank is appropriately oily. Rest of the cast includes Hattie Delaro as the old biddy, Amelia Summerville as Clive, and Spencer Charters as a bumbling detective. Others listed in the credits appear in the missing first reel.

Film was made a few years before Joseph Urban began designing films for Marion Davies at Cosmopolitan, and this one has a very ordinary and almost flat look to it. However, the moonlight bathed finale is quite nice and there are some great close-ups of Marion Davies.