Film Review: The Cat's Meow

  "The Cat's Meow"

 *** 1\2 (out of ****)

Hooray for Hollywood? 

It's possible to watch Peter Bogdanovich's  "The Cat's Meow" (2002) and only notice what is on the surface - a tale of old Hollywood and a murder mystery. But "The Cat's Meow" may be the most political and hard hitting film Bogdanovich had ever made.

Peter Bogdanovich was one of the last purveyor's of Golden Age Hollywood lure. What other filmmaker tossed out names like Orson Welles, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Leo McCarey and Alfred Hitchcock? Sometimes Bogdanovich was criticized for his name dropping but what other filmmaker respected and honored old Hollywood? That might lead some to believe "The Cat's Meow" is nothing more than a lovely valentine to a bygone era. One more tribute to the Hollywood Bogdanovich spent a career preserving and admiring.

But Bogdanovich and screenwriter Steven Peros - adapting his own stage play - have a lot to say about Hollywood and its mythology, morality, mass media, values and the public's consumption of it all!

It is November 1924 and media mogul William Randolph Hearst (Edward Herrmann) has invited a small group of celebrities and journalists aboard his yacht to celebrate the birthday of filmmaker Thomas Ince (Cary Elwes). Ince, once credited as the "Father of the Western", has fallen on hard times. At his peak he was making as many as 40 movies a year. Now he is lucky to make one. Ince hopes to use this occasion to fulfill his ulterior motive, which is to propose joining forces with Hearst. He suggests serving as a supervisor on all of actress Marion Davies' (Kirsten Dunst) film projects. Davies was Hearst's not-so-secret mistress and has been in the gossip columns lately. Her name is being linked to Charlie Chaplin (Eddie Izzard) creating whispers the two are sleeping together. To complicate matters Chaplin will also be aboard the yacht. In an attempt to try and capitalize on Hearst's jealousy, Ince repeatedly plants seeds of doubt in Hearst's head regarding Davies faithfulness and suggests he could keep an eye on her behavior as well.

Bogdanovich, much like his one-time mentor, Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane" (1941), creates an unsympathetic caricature of Hearst as a man that demanded obedience and used his position and power to silence critics. It lead me to wonder, who created "Hollywood" as we know it and celebrate it today? Was it the early pioneering filmmakers like Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith as presented in Bogdanovich's own romanticized version of events in "Nickelodeon" (1976)? Or was it men like Hearst, who through their control of media, could manipulate the public's view of celebrities?

Throughout much of "The Cat's Meow" we hear about scandals and fear of the public's reaction to them. About controlling your reputation in the public. Hearst for example doesn't want Davies to appear in comedies so the public can laugh at her. Great movies, and great art in general, must be dramatic. And so, Davies acts in stuffy period pieces. It's all about controlling the perception. Chaplin on the other hand is coming off the box-office failure of "A Woman of Paris" (1923) and is worried about a potential scandal breaking out concerning himself and Lita Grey, a 15 year old carrying his baby. How could the lovable "Little Tramp" do such a thing? How will this hurt his reputation in the eyes of the public? 

And what on earth will the public say when they find out Thomas Ince has died on Hearst's yacht? And how did he die? The latter question is the one "The Cat's Meow" is most interested in. Based on "the whisper told most often" concerning the events of the day. "The whisper" was a rumor that had been spoken about in Hollywood for years. Film critic Roger Ebert said Bogdanovich himself told him the story in 1998. Bogdanovich heard the story from Welles, who had alluded to the incident in Bogdanovich's book, This Is Orson Welles. Welles thought about filming a sequence based on the incident for "Citizen Kane".

According to the whisper, Hearst, overcome with jealousy, shot Ince in the back of the head, mistaking him for Charlie Chaplin. Hearst made arrangements for Ince to be returned to his Los Angeles home via a private ambulance. The rest of the guests aboard the yacht were never given a straight answer about what had occurred. The Hearst newspapers didn't cover the story and none of the guests, except for a doctor, were ever questioned by police. To this day no one can accurately describe what happened.

Through these events Bogdanovich is not romanticizing the past and this Golden Age. He is indicting the press and the men that control it. Those "movers and shakers" that get to decide what the public should and shouldn't know. Our perception of the world, even Hollywood, is based upon how they want us to view things. In "The Cat's Meow" we see an adoring crowd and paparazzi call out to celebrities for autographs and photos. These individuals are beloved but what does the public really know about them? A public loves Chaplin but would they continue to love him once his private life is revealed? Hollywood wants to be considered a bastion of good values but what about all the seediness that goes on behind the scenes? On Hearst's yacht alone we see people drinking alcohol - which was against the law at the time - taking drugs, committing adultery and engaging in premarital sex. Are these the real values they espouse?

Was Bogdanovich trying to draw a comparison between Hollywood of the 1920s and the early 2000s? Between society of the 1920s and its relationship with mass media and that of the early 2000s? Things have only gotten worse in the proceeding years with the public's distrust of the media, in particular mainstream media. What role does social media, which wasn't quite as powerful in 2002 as it is now, play in all of this? How much power and influence do the media moguls of today have in being able to control information?

"The Cat's Meow" even has scenes where Hearst is seen spying on his guests, staring through peepholes and listening in on conversations. Ironically it was in the same year this movie takes place that J. Edgar Hoover - a man notoriously known for abusing his power by spying on U.S. citizens - became head of the FBI.

Two of the more interesting characters in the film are novelist Elinor Glyn (Joanna Lumley) and movie columnist - for one of Hearst's newspapers - Louella Parsons (Jennifer Tilly). While both represent the flip side of each other, to me they are the heart of the film. Elinor, as the expression goes, says the quiet part out loud. She's the narrator of the film and seems to be the one character with enough self-consciousness to recognize the absurdity of Hollywood and the celebrity lifestyle. In one devastating scene, which leads to great awkwardness, Elinor speaks of a "disease" that infects those in Hollywood. It ultimately leads one to "forget whatever principles they once held dear". It nearly brings down the room.

Meanwhile Louella is a social climber. She is the outsider, like the audience, seeking acceptance into this club. She doesn't seem to recognize the flawed nature of the individuals. She only sees the chance to find success. By the end of the film I feel she has grown the most. Not in a good way but she is the one character that goes through an arc from naïve young woman to a more harden person. She learns the "Hollywood game".

If there are flaws with "The Cat's  Meow" it is that I wish it had a bit more bite and really skewer these characters and Hollywood in such a way that it drew a stronger comparison to modern day culture. The movie was also made on a modest budget. This is evident in the ways Bogdanovich has to keep his characters confined to single locations. Also notice the lack of exterior shots because of the budgetary issues. In a certain way the film doesn't quite shake off a theatrical staginess. 

Bogdanovich, as already mentioned, was a filmmaker that had great respect for the Golden Age of Hollywood. During the 1970s he was one of the premier voices of "new Hollywood". After a string of early hits his career took a slide. "The Cat's Meow" was being regarded by some as a "comeback" film. A lot was hanging on the box-office success of the film. Despite some critical acclaim the public stood away. Bogdanovich wasn't given another shot at a "comeback". That was unfortunate.

"The Cat's Meow" in one way fits into the cannon of Bogdanovich's films with its look at the past but in some ways it is a darker film than Bogdanovich may be usually associated with. This may be his most cynical look at the Hollywood he loved. Certainly from his own life he knew of the corrupt, vicious nature of the Hollywood system. Perhaps that's what attracted him to this story.

p.s. - I haven't come across a single review that mentioned this but one error Bogdanovich makes, that really irked me, was playing Al Jolson recordings from the 1940s over the beginning and end credits. Couldn't Bogdanovich or someone from his staff find the original 1920s recordings of these songs? It is chronologically out of place!