The Cat's Meow
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Cary Elwes, Eddie Izzard, Edward Herrmann, Joanna Lumley, Kirsten Dunst Director: Peter Bogdanovich Brand: Lions Gate Producer: Carol Lewis Producer: Dieter Meyer Producer: Ernie Barbarash Producer: Fenia Cossovitsa Producer: Iraklis Mavroidis Producer: Jason Newmark Writer: Steven Peros DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language) Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.85:1 Running Time: 114 minutes DVD Release Date: 2002-08-20 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: Lions Gate |
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Movie Reviews of The Cat's Meow
Movie Review: The Dog's Bow-Wow
Summary: 1 Stars
In one or the other of David Niven's autobiographies ("The Moon's a Balloon" or "Bring on the Empty Horses"), he included a brief item about the strange hold Louella Parsons seemed to have over her employer, William Randolph Hearst. Niven hinted that Louella had witnessed a murder years before on Hearst's yacht, and that the payoff was a job for life. I remembered that anecdote when I saw the coming attractions for "The Cat's Meow", Peter Bogdanovich's treatment of that very same story. Well, after having seen the movie the other day, I can tell you that the difference between Niven's story and Bogdanovich's is that Niven was a good storyteller and they who are responsible for this movie are not.
I felt that Edward Herrmann's Hearst was all alone in this movie, since nobody else was a good actor. No one appeared really to BE the person we were told they were: Charlie Chaplin was extremely un-funny, Louella Parsons was some sort of hideous drag queen depiction, and Marion Davies was totally unconvincing. I didn't believe she was in an affair for the past seven years with Hearst; I didn't believe she had witnessed a murder; I didn't believe she was familiar with anyone else in the movie, lover or otherwise. Bad casting, bad directing because none of the actors were being made to relate to the other in an appropriate fashion.
Although the picture might look good on the surface, I even take exception to a VERY small detail. There's a scene when Marion is opening the door to her cabin very slowly, so slowly that I had time to contemplate the detailing on the door. What I plainly saw was the joint where two pieces of wood had been stuck together. What that demonstrates to me is shoddy workmanship, the kind of shoddy workmanship that frankly would NEVER have been tolerated in the rarefied environment of a passionate art collector/lover like Hearst. He never would have okayed such a thing. But the fact that the director and everyone else didn't have the sensibility to understand that minor detail is very telling. They don't understand Hearst et alia AT ALL, and that's why this movie falls flat.
No, this movie isn't the cat's meow or even the cat's pajamas. Want to see a movie about the immoral rich? Catch "Gosford Park" instead.