Blondie of the Follies: A bit of a mess, but a fun one

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that feel a bit disjointed, like the scriptwriters were having a fight while they were typing, you’ll probably have a blast with Blondie of the Follies. It is not exactly high art, but it’s got this weird, frantic energy that makes it hard to turn off. If you need your plots to be tight and your characters to act like actual human beings instead of bundles of raw nerves, you might want to look elsewhere.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Blondie of the Follies (1932) through its definitive frames.

Marion Davies is basically the whole show here. She plays Blondie with this frantic, wide-eyed energy that makes you wonder if she’s about to cry or start a fistfight. Sometimes she does both in the same scene. Her chemistry with Billie Dove is… well, it’s complicated. They’re supposed to be best friends from the slums, but the way they look at each other, you’d think they were trying to calculate the resale value of each other’s dresses.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Blondie of the Follies (1932) through its definitive frames.

Oddly specific observations:

• The transition between their life in the tenements and the high-society life feels like being hit with a wet towel. One minute they are eating dust, the next they are wearing feathers the size of a small dog.
• Jimmy Durante shows up and acts exactly like Jimmy Durante, which is a relief because the rest of the plot is busy tying itself into knots.
• There is a sequence in a dressing room that goes on forever. It’s mostly just them looking in mirrors and sighing. I think I counted three different types of powder puffs being used.
• Robert Montgomery is just sort of... there. He’s the guy they are fighting over, but I honestly couldn't tell you why he’s worth the trouble. He mostly just stands around looking like he’s waiting for a train that’s three hours late.

The movie really starts to wobble when it tries to get serious about their professional rivalry. It’s like it wants to be a gritty drama about the cost of fame, but then it remembers it’s a Follies movie and throws in a bunch of dancing girls to distract you. It’s dizzying. It’s not quite as weird as Aelita, the Queen of Mars, but it definitely feels like it’s operating on its own internal, slightly broken logic.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Blondie of the Follies (1932) through its definitive frames.

There’s a moment near the middle where the dialogue just drops off a cliff. Characters start saying things that have absolutely nothing to do with what was happening thirty seconds prior. I think the editor might have just been having a bad day. I kind of loved it, though. It feels honest in its chaos.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Blondie of the Follies (1932) through its definitive frames.

It’s not as polished as Pollyanna, that’s for sure. It feels like a rough draft that somebody accidentally released into theaters. But man, seeing Davies go through the wringer is something else. She has this way of holding her chin up even when the whole world is falling down around her that makes you root for her, even when she’s being a total nightmare.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Blondie of the Follies (1932) through its definitive frames.

Maybe skip this if you’re looking for a coherent story. Stay for the costumes, the frantic pacing, and the fact that it feels like watching a real person struggle to keep a movie together while the set catches fire. It’s a mess, but it’s my kind of mess. 🎭