This film is about a poor Irish girl who, dressed as a boy, goes to America to claim the inheritance of her deceased brother.
It should be a romantic comedy, but, although there are some funny moments in it, I do not really think it's a comedy. But that does not matter because I think it is a very amusing film. This is mainly due to Marion Davies playing Pat O'Day. I already knew Davies from the funny comedy 'The Patsy' from 1928 and she does not disappoint in this film either.
Larry Delevan, played by Harrison Ford, his stepfather has died and has put in his will that most of his fortune goes to Patrick O'Day, the son of his brother. If he is not found within a year, then the entire legacy will go to Larry. Since the story takes place at the beginning of the 19th century and not everyone was as easy to find as nowadays, it takes a long time before the O'Day family is found.
Larry imagines himself already rich and he promises to invest in the steamship of Robert Fulton (Courtenay Foote) and Cornelius Vanderbilt (Sam Hardy). But at the eleventh hour Pat, dressed as her brother, and her father are standing on his doorstep. Bad luck, Larry.
Of course Pat falls in love with Larry, but Larry has no interest in the difficult lad. The disinterest is so great that he does not even see that Pat lacks the necessary parts that make a man a man. Something that you can hardly miss noticing with those tight trousers that were in fashion back then. And Pat doesn't behave like a boy as well, Larry did notice that. If he says something about it, Pat responds; "I may behave like a girl, but I am a good businessman."
I do not mind that Pat is so obviously not a boy. Marion Davies gets away with it through humor and is most charming. Davies knows how to combine humor and drama with each other like no other. It also does not surprise me that when she makes her first appearance she is announced with a title card 'Miss Marion Davies as Patricia O'Day'. After all, she is the main attraction for whom everyone flocks to the cinema. That media tycoon and lover of Davies, William Randolph Hearst who financed the film could also have had something to do with it.
The rest of the cast is extensively introduced at the beginning of the film. Do not ask me why because most of them are only a minute or two in the film. I think that director Sidney Olcott wanted to make it clear that the people from the 19th-century nouveau riches in the film actually had existed in real life. Furthermore, I must say that all other actors performances do not match the level of Davies and have made little impression on me. Harrison Ford, who plays Larry, is reasonably good and Harry Watson, who plays Bully Boy Brewster, is funny, but that's all the positive things I can say about it. The studio apparently found Davies and Ford a suitable duo because they made three films together. Ford went back to the stage in 1932, after making only one sound film. Watson was already an established name in the slapstick scene before he took part in this film. He made another film with Marion Davies and a few more sound films before he died in 1930.
Little old New York was originally a play by, the in her time successful writer, Rida Johnson Young. The play was received moderately and a reviewer wrote; "As in every play of this genre, the couleur locale is replaced for the plot." We do indeed see beautiful costumes, decors and props that have to cover up the weakness of the story. It is indeed a simple story, but I do not object to that at all. But I do think that the makers of this film had some contempt for their audience. At one point there is an end to the story, but they felt it necessary to explain with flashbacks, for the people who dozed off, why Pat dressed up as boy and claimed a legacy that was not hers.
In 1940 a remake was made, but in it the whole core of the story, the crossdressing of our leading lady, was left out. Yes, of course, crossdressing could not be allowed during the Hays Code. In this version it is more about the investment in the steamship. Toys for boys. I think I’ll skip this so-called remake.
Motion Picture Magazine wrote in the November issue of 1923 that Little Old New York was “nothing profound or epoch-making but pleasant entertainment which has been well staged and well acted.” I can agree with that.
Little Old New York on the IMDb
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