Though a major star in the 1920s, today people think of actor Marion Davies primarily as the alleged inspiration for a character in 1941’s classic Citizen Kane. We’ll touch on that more later as we look at an early Davies “talkie”, 1931’s It’s a Wise Child.

Pretty young Joyce Stanton (Davies) agrees to marry much older bank president GA Appleby (Robert McWade) for purely mercenary reasons. She actually loves handsome Roger Baldwin (Lester Vail), a clerk at Appleby’s financial institution.

When Joyce endeavors to get out of her engagement, rumors spread that she’s pregnant out of wedlock This sets off a firestorm of scandal and speculation in small-town Trivers City while Joyce tries to use the kerfuffle to her own advantage.

As noted, Marion Davies currently exists in a different pop culture spot than she did 100 years, all thanks to Citizen Kane. That film used media mogul William Randolph Hearst as the basis for the fictional Charles Foster Kane.

In the movie, Kane uses his resources to promote his untalented lover Susan Alexander as a major star. In real life, Hearst also did his best to give his mistress Davies the spotlight.

However, Davies earned success and respect due to her talents. Unfortunately, the view that Susan equals Marion now permeates the culture to such a degree that many assume Davies couldn’t act and she enjoyed fame just because of Hearst’s hype.

I believe Child becomes my first experience with a Davies film. Based on this screening, I can agree that Davies doesn’t deserve her Kane-related reputation as a no-talent who owed her career entirely to her partner, but I also can’t claim she displays immense skills as a cinematic presence.

Davies does perfectly fine as Joyce and I can’t find obvious flaws in her performance – well, within the parameters of the broad acting typical of the early “talkie” era. Plenty of performers continued to oversell their roles as they worked to adjust to the new format.

This means Davies gives us work that tends to emphasize her ever-spinning eyes and her constantly bobbing eyebrows. Nonetheless, she shows fairly good comedic timing, even if she can’t quite make the self-centered Joyce likable.

With or without Davies, Child would sputter because it offers a muddled tale. Adapted from a stage play, it always feels stuck in place and does little to use the cinematic format to its advantage.

The story meanders from one character to another so even though Joyce exists as the ostensible focus, Child bobs around so much that it turns into a moderate mess.

We really don’t get a coherent plot. Child exists as a series of comedic scenes and story bears that don’t connect in a compelling manner.

In the end, Child never becomes an unpleasant way to spend 80 minutes. It simply fails to turn into anything more than a minor diversion at best.

It’s a Wise Child appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Another day, another satisfying Warner Archive transfer!

Sharpness worked well, with only mild softness at times. Most of the flick boasted positive accuracy and delineation.

I witnessed no signs of jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. A natural layer of grain implied a lack of digital noise reduction, and print flaws failed to mar the proceedings.

Blacks seemed deep and dark, with contrast that fared well and left the movie with a pleasing silvery appearance. Shadows appeared smooth and clear. I felt happy with this presentation.

While not as good, the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural audio worked fine for its vintage. Speech occasionally felt a bit reedy, but the lines remained intelligible and without obvious edginess.

Both music and effects showed the expected lack of real dynamic range, but they came across with reasonable clarity and brightness. The mix lacked pops, clicks or other background noise. This was a satisfying soundtrack.

Four vintage shorts from the same era as Child appears. We get the live-action Crazy House (13:03) and The Rounder (20:03) along with cartoons Bosko’s Fox Hunt (6:48) and Bosko’s Soda Fountain (6:57).

In House, we get a comedy in which a man tours a facility for mentally unstable people, whereas Rounder portrays a woman who hires a stranger to pretend to be her husband. House mainly focuses on less than effective slapstick, but Rounder gets a boost from a relatively young Jack Benny as the lead.

Bosko existed as an early Warner attempt to copy Mickey Mouse, though it never seems all that clear whether Bosko is human or animal. Bosko was created to be a stereotypical young Black male, but the depiction blurs lines.

In any case, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Bosko short that actually entertained me and that trend didn’t change with Hunt or Fountain. I do find it perversely amusing to see how Warner poked the bear in these shorts, though, as the fox pursued in Hunt looks more than a little like Mickey Mouse.

In addition, a rodent in Fountain looks and sounds exactly like Mickey. If Warner escaped legal action from Disney, it’d shock me.

An early talkie adapted from a stage production, It’s a Wise Child provides a loose narrative without a lot of charm. Though the film throws out a few laughs and never quite bores, it also just doesn’t function as a terribly engaging comedy. The Blu-ray brings very good visuals and appropriate audio along with a few vintage shorts. Child becomes interesting to see as a piece of its era but the movie fails to click.