The Hearst and Davies Affair was one of Virginia Madsen’s earliest screen roles, a CBS made for TV movie dramatising the high-profile relationship between newspaper titan William Randolph Hearst and silent screen actress Marion Davies.
Virginia Madsen played the young Marion Davies who was just 19 when she became involved with the 53 year old William Randolph Hearst. The portrayal was earnest, but also tainted and coloured by the tabloid narrative that had long surrounded the couple.
The film, like many Hollywood dramatisations, takes liberties with the facts. It’s long been acknowledged, even by those involved, that it’s not exactly a historically accurate retelling.
Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies, is a TCM produced Documentary that attempts to set the record straight. Narrated by Charlize Theron and directed by Hugh Munro Neely, the documentary takes another look at the Marion Davies legacy through archival footage, interviews, and the personal accounts and recollections of those who knew her.
The documentary opens with a bold premise: much of what we thought we knew about Marion Davies is wrong, with much of that blame falling squarely on Orson Welles’s 1941 masterpiece, Citizen Kane.
Despite Orson Welles’ insistence that the character of Susan Alexander Kane was not based on Davies, the public drew clear parallels.
And so did Randolph Hearst himself; he’d attempt to prevent the film’s release by threatening exhibitors and pulling advertising from media outlets associated with RKO Pictures who were responsible for bringing the film to screen.
That reaction, and the media storm it provoked, unfortunately stuck.
Marion Davies was dismissed for decades as a vapid chorus girl turned mistress, with little artistic value beyond her proximity to power. But this Documentary aims to restore her reputation back to where it belongs.
One of the documentary’s more poignant touches comes from Virginia Madsen herself, who appears on camera to reflect on her 1985 portrayal. She openly admits to playing Davies as “a brainless bimbo,” unaware at the time of how wrong that characterisation was.
Her candor is disarming, and her admiration for Davies is clear, not only as a performer but as a woman misunderstood by history. She clearly has strong feelings about the whole thing and there is a noticeable touch of regret in her voice.
The Documentary also features interviews with film historian Jeanine Basinger, author Fred Lawrence Guiles (whose 1972 biography Marion Davies remains a key text), director George Sidney, and longtime friend Belinda Victor Holiday.
These voices give a more balanced account of Davies’ life and through personal stories shine a light on her many talents, her comedic timing, her philanthropy, and her resilience.
What I did like about the Documentary was that it also doesn’t shy away from her flaws: her alleged affairs, her dependency on alcohol in later years, and her complex relationship with Randolph Hearst are all examined. She certainly isn’t put on a pedestal in any of it. It’s not about that. All of these negative aspects are contextualized and grounded in what it must have been like for the human being we never got to see, and has now been mostly lost to time.
Personally, I found the whole thing way more interesting than I thought I would. I went in knowing only what I’d picked up from The Hearst and Davies Affair and what I’d read around that, and came out with a very different perspective. I’d seen / read Virginia Madsen express her regrets before about her part in the film but perhaps not realised, or appreciated, how deep that misportrayal went.
If even half of what the documentary argues is true, Marion Davies was shortchanged by almost everyone. Critics, Gossip Columnists and even Film Historians.
For decades.
The real tragedy may be that Marion Davies’ talents were overshadowed by a media obsessed with scandal. She was one of the most gifted comedic actresses of her time, praised by contemporaries like William Haines and King Vidor, yet most remember her as Hearst’s kept woman.
Like many Hollywood women then, and sadly even now, Marion Davies didn’t always get to control the narrative.
That’s a legacy this documentary helps to challenge and put the story straight
If you’re interested in old Hollywood, media history, it’s well worth tracking down, even if it’s just a jumping on point for you.
Availability:
It’s on DVD, and it comes with one of Marion Davies films on it from 1927, “Quality Street” as a bonus.
If you can find it. I had to order it a few times before a copy actually turned up.
Trailer:
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