Blu Ray Review: Lights of Old Broadway (1925)

I have always taken umbrage at those who dismiss actress Marion Davies as a semi-skilled wannabe thrust into the spotlight by her wealthy, much older lover William Randolph Hearst. While Hearst did spend millions promoting her, Davies had real talent and it is exhibited in many roles from silent to talkies.

Lights of Old Broadway is the story of two babies separated at birth – Anne grows up with wealth and privilege, Fely lives in poverty. Fely’s natural, innate talent for entertaining results in her catching a break and becoming a star in show business. And the narrative is filled with conflicts and complications, such as Anne’s family owning the slums where Fely’s family lives, and Anne’s half brother falling for her twin sister. The twins have different color hair, and their manner is such that neither really resembles the other.

Marion Davies has a fairly significant acting challenge. She plays both Anne and Fely, and gives each the necessary nuance to make it unique from the other. Anne carries herself with grace, dignity, poise, and refinement. Fely is boisterous, tumultuous, recalcitrant, and tough. Marion Davies must play both characters and make them unlike each other to the point where it’d be possible for a man who knows both to fall for one without recognizing any resemblance. She does an exceptional job. Conrad Nagel, who would co-star with Davies in two more films, registers strongly as the half brother to Anne who falls for the earthy Fely.

An adaption of the play The Merry Wives of Gotham, this film is one of the early two-strip Technicolor productions of the silent era whose color footage has survived. It is restored here in the Kino blu ray, allowing us to see the film in pretty much the same way that period audeinces did. The print source Kino used is from the Library of Congress, who had Davies’ own print.

Lights of Old Broadway was a huge box office hit at the time of its release, and its success resulted in Davies being signed to an MGM contract.

Kino-Lorber’s blu ray includes an optional commentary track by film historian and archivist Anthony Slide, who always provides interesting and enlightening detals.

The film is available here: Lights of Old Broadway