Marion Davies may not have the highest comedic talent in this film, but she does have a certain girl-next-door appeal, and 'Red Mill' was reasonably entertaining. She plays a Dutch servant who is used cruelly by her boss, a tavern owner played by George Siegmann with appropriate snarl and meanness. In one scene, he's dragging her near-frozen body along the ice back to work; in another, he's literally whipping her. She keeps a little ray of sunshine in a pet mouse who lives in a large hole in one of her clogs, and then soon sees and falls for a young man played by Owen Moore. It's not so straightforward, however, in that her identity is confused with another woman (Louise Fazenda), who has her own troubles, being betrothed to an old man but wanting another (Karl Dane). It gets a bit silly and some of the intertitles are oddly worded, but there are some nice scenes at the end in the "haunted" old mill, especially as the chase moves outside to the windmill blades themselves. There is also a brief scene of riches in the imagination of the young lovers which then returns to the present, a touching reminder of what the important thing is in life – true love.

This silent takes place in Holland (for some reason). Tina (Marion Davies) is a maid at the Red Mill. Her boss treats her like dirt, she's lonely and has no friends. One day she meets hunky Dennis Wheat (Owen Moore) and falls in love. Naturally he barely knows she exists. It all comes to a head a few months later.This movie is, to put it mildly, way too plot heavy. The main plot goes all over the place and brings in some wildly improbable turns. There's tons of unfunny slapstick (the part where Davies struggles to put up an ironing board was especially painful to watch) and the movie wavers uncomfortably between romance, comedy and drama. It's well-done and well-directed and the acting helps--Davies is beautiful and full of life and Moore is unbelievably handsome and hunky. But, all in all, I was bored and couldn't wait for it to end. I give this a 4.

Red Mill, The (1927) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst produced this MGM film, which was directed by Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, which is news itself but more on that later. In the film Marion Davies plays a poor bar cleaner who falls head over hills with a rich man (Owen Moore) but she fears he won't have her. Then she swaps identities with a rich princess and goes after the man, which leads to all sorts of trouble. I was surprised to see how much I enjoyed most of this film but it does fall apart in the final act with some over the top situations, which aren't that funny. Arbuckle does a pretty good job directing the early part of the film and he does very well with the romantic flirting between the two people. There's a scene where she gets her first kiss where Arbuckle just shows her body motions and not the actual kiss, which is an incredibly beautiful shot. This is the first film I've seen with Davies and I was very impressed with what I saw. She's got a natural charm and beauty, which just leaps off the screen and she's also very funny. Moore is also good in his role and Snitz Edwards adds plenty of laughs as well. The interesting thing about the production is that Arbuckle was forced to use his made up name William Goodrich due to his rape/murder trial, which was just a handful years earlier. The rather strange thing is that his career was really ruined by the newspapers owned by Hearst because Hearst saw money to be made by turning the Arbuckle story into tabloid material. It's said that Hearst felt so guilty about it that he hired Arbuckle to direct this film but half way through production the tycoon got nervous and had King Vidor come on set to supervise but Arbuckle made it through the shoot.

Great silent movie shown in a beautifully restored version on TCM.Plot summary: Dutch servant girl falls for an Irish Prince during his vacation in Holland - circumstances prevent their coming together.Later, the Irish Price is back in Holland to be married off to the local rich Burgomaster's daughter. The Burgomaster's daughter, however, is in love with a peasant. The servant girl helps the Burgomaster's daughter dress as a peasant to woo the peasant - meanwhile she dresses as the Burgomaster's daughter.The Prince mistakes the servant girl for the Burgomaster's daughter, falls in love - and madcap hilarity ensues.Will the rich guy get his Maid in Old Amsterdam??? Will the rich Burgomaster's daughter get her peasant??? The story plays out in too many mistaken identity plot devices to count - but the story is fun, clever, charming and actually pretty funny. Recommended viewing.