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Show People

Es tut sich was in Hollywood
Retrospective 2020
Source: Deutsche Kinemathek, © 1928 Turner Entertainment Co. All Rights Reserved.
Ambitious Peggy Pepper has her father drive her from Georgia to Hollywood, where she snags a role in a slapstick two-reeler. She is such a big hit with the preview audience that she leaves low comedy behind and from then on, only appears in serious dramas – very much to the dismay of slapstick artist Billy Boone, who has supported her, and fallen in love with her. Peggy becomes “Patricia Pepoire” and working alongside her also frenchified partner becomes a box-office star. Intoxicated with fame, she even plans to marry the (counterfeit) count … Suggested by Gloria Swanson’s career, King Vidor’s last silent film provides a unique glimpse into the early film industry. Show People is an homage to the Hollywood of paste-on moustaches and cream pies in the face – nostalgic, but also authentic. The film included cameo appearances by some former Keystone Cops, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks, Norma Talmadge, and Charlie Chaplin, who asks Peggy for an autograph. King Vidor also makes an appearance, as the director of a war picture à la The Big Parade, with the plot of the film, and the film within a film, dovetailing nicely.
by King Vidor
with Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderson, Paul Ralli, Tenen Holtz, Harry Gribbon, Sidney Bracy, Polly Moran, Albert Conti, Rolfe Sedan, John Gilbert, Charles Chaplin, King Vidor, Elinor Glyn, Douglas Fairbanks, Aileen Pringle, Karl Dane, George K. Arthur, Norma Talmadge, Renée Adorée, Rod La Rocque USA 1928 English intertitles 79’ Black/White

With

  • Marion Davies
  • William Haines
  • Dell Henderson
  • Paul Ralli
  • Tenen Holtz
  • Harry Gribbon
  • Sidney Bracy
  • Polly Moran
  • Albert Conti
  • Rolfe Sedan
  • John Gilbert
  • Charles Chaplin
  • King Vidor
  • Elinor Glyn
  • Douglas Fairbanks
  • Aileen Pringle
  • Karl Dane
  • George K. Arthur
  • Norma Talmadge
  • Renée Adorée
  • Rod La Rocque

Crew

Director King Vidor
Screenplay Wanda Tuchock
Story Agnes Christine Johnston, Laurence Stallings
Cinematography John Arnold
Editing Hugh Wynn
Ralph Spence
Art Director Cedric Gibbons
Costumes Henrietta Frazer

Produced by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. (Loew’s, Inc.) (A King Vidor Production. A Marion Davies Production)

Additional information

Print: Warner Bros. Pictures Germany, Hamburg

King Vidor

Filmography (selection)

1919 The Turn in the Road; Lost film 1925 The Big Parade (Die große Parade) 1928 The Crowd (Ein Mensch der Masse) 1929 Hallelujah 1934 Our Daily Bread (Der letzte Alarm) 1938 The Citadel 1940 Northwest Passage (Nordwest-Passage) 1947 Duel in the Sun (Duell in der Sonne) 1949 The Fountainhead (Ein Mann wie Sprengstoff) 1956 War and Peace (Krieg und Frieden) 1959 Solomon and Sheba (Salomon und die Königin von Saba)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020