Although Marion Davies is best known these days as the presumed prototype of Charles Foster Kane's second wife, she was nothing like the screechy, pathetic, and talentless creature ridiculed by Orson Welles and Herman Mankiewicz. The current Film Forum series (20 of her 46 features) gives ample evidence of her good work. At her best, Davies was an actress of considerable grace. She had a bouncy, elfin personality, she was a natural clown with a great gift for mimicry, and her porcelain prettiness photographed like a dream. Unfortunately, her talent was often buried in costume stories and serious dramas, made at the insistence of her lover, patron, and producer, William... More >>>