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The Cat’s Meow (2001) FM
Peter Bogdanovich returned joyously and inevitably to the realm of real-life Hollywood history with his delightful 2001 comedy-drama The Cat’s Meow. Bogdanovich and screenwriter Steven Peros, who adapted his own play of the same name, derived inspiration from a notorious true Hollywood scandal involving silent movie pioneer Thomas H. Ince’s mysterious, suspicious death shortly after spending time on William Randolph Hearst’s yacht alongside other movie world players for a birthday celebration.
Did Ince die of heart failure after a frightful bout with indigestion, as the official record states, or was he killed as a result of mistaken identity? Being a movie about movies, The Cat’s Meow understandably chooses the more dramatic and cinematic possibility.
In a radiant lead performances that captures the actress’ magnetic presence, gamine charm and underlying sadness Kirsten Dunst plays Marion Davies, a movie star in love with William Randolph Hearst (Edward Herrman), a newspaper titan and master of the universe.
Hearst possesses God-like power and influence but he’s nevertheless an old man terrified of losing his soulmate to the much younger Charlie Chaplin (Eddie Izzard), a notorious womanizer who makes no effort to hide his lust for Davies.
Bogdanovich’s sophisticated historical comedy-drama for grown-ups follows the action onboard Hearst’s yacht as a bevy of opportunists drink, gossip, get high and jockey madly for position and advantage. They’re a calculating, pragmatic gaggle of beautiful, privileged people entangled in a complicated web of inter-dependence. Jennifer Tilly steals the film with her hilarious take on infamous gossip columnist Louella Parsons as a smiling viper whose ditzy exterior masks iron will and ruthless ambition.
Bogdanovich was a quintessential actor’s director. The performances here are universally excellent. Dunst and Herrman find the warmth, tenderness and vulnerability at the heart of Davies and Hearst’s unusual but powerful bond. The Cat’s Meow is a juicy tale of murder, suspicion and intrigue as well as a poignant love story that’s bittersweet and thoroughly engaging.
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This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.