Monday 30 May 2011

The Cardboard Lover, 1928 (silent)

I haven't yet seen this film but I would love to.


From IMDb: A ditzy American girl visiting Monte Carlo (Marion Davies) is hired by a tennis champ (Nils Asther) to be his "cardboard lover"-- to pretend to be in love with him so he can teach his two-timing fiancĂ© (Jetta Goudal) a lesson and win her back. What he doesn't realize is that the girl isn't pretending--she actually is in love with him, and she sets out to win him for herself.


Review: "...worthy of much praise is Nils Asther as Davies' leading man. In some of his others silent films I've seen, Asther strikes me as rather dull--exotic, to be sure, but oddly lacking in much charisma. Here, though, he absolutely comes to life in a role that calls for much physical comedy (the scene with the chest plaster is a truly hilarious bit), but also leaves him with his dignity intact as a romantic lead. He and Davies make an excellent screen couple and they look like they were greatly enjoying their scenes together."


Nils Asther, Marion Davies




Marion Davies, Nils Asther, Jetta Goudal


Nils Asther, Jetta Goudal





Director Robert Z Leonard sends Marion Davies off set after she nearly runs over

Nils Asther and cameraman John Arnold during the filming 

Jetta Goudal, Marion Davies




Update: Just after I did this I noticed that jackpickfordisaluteyou has posted a wonderful entry about this film with about a hundred screencaps. Hooray! The film looks even more fun than I imagined.