Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies (2022)

 

It hasn't been until fairly recently that Marion Davies has been truly appreciated for how great of an actress she actually is. She has been too often dismissed as simply someone who succeeded because she was William Randolph Hearst's mistress and some have compared her to Susan Alexander in Citizen Kane (1941), an assumption that Orson Welles himself dismissed. Yet a look at her filmography one can see that she was incredibly talented and brought a warmth and charm to all her roles. For anyone who is not yet convinced of this I recommend that you read Lara Gabrielle's biography of her. 

This is one of the best movie star biographies of recent years. It is written from a place of love and there is no doubt that Gabrielle is completely enamored with her subject. While she does not paint Marion as perfect, its portrait of her is loving and deeply sympathetic. After reading this book, it is hard not to care about Marion as a person. This book perfectly shows us Marion's big heart, her loyalty, generosity, love of life and love of animals (including becoming very involved in pushing towards animal rights). We see a warm and loving person that we would all love to have as a friend. This book also illustrates how Marion truly loved Hearst and that he meant much more to her than his money and power. While Hearst was an extremely flawed human being (many of the flaws being glaringly obvious as you read the book), it is also obvious that he loved her back and was not just simply cavorting around with a younger woman. 

As well as giving us great insight into the person, this book also gives us a great look at her movies. Garbrielle truly did her research her and even massive film buffs might learn a thing or two about her movies here. The book goes into great depth about each of her major films. While there is little critical insight into many of the movies as a whole, the author does a great job of examining Marion's performances in the film and what made these performances special. The book also gives much information about Marion's work with some truly talented directors (including the great King Vidor) and how she adapted to the change from silents to talkies (not always easy as she had a stuttering problem). 

This is a must read for any fan of Marion Davies, classic Hollywood or well-written books in general. Once I started reading it, I hated whenever I had to put it down.