The Cat's Meow (2001)

Kirsten Dunst            Marion Davies
Cary Elwes               Thomas Ince
Edward Herrmann          William Randolph Hearst
Eddie Izzard             Charlie Chaplin
Joanna Lumley            Elinor Glyn
Victor Slezak            George Thomas
Jennifer Tilly           Louella Parsons
James Laurenson          Doctor Goodman
Ronan Vibert             Joseph Willicombe
Chiara Schoras           Celia
Ingrid Lacey             Mrs Barham
John C. Vennema          Mr Barham

Directed by:             Peter Bogdanovich
Produced by:             Michael Paseornek, Ernie Barbarash, Wieland Schulz-Keil


A behind-the-scenes look at the fateful "fun" excursion aboard William Randolph Hearst's private yacht 
in November of 1924, that brought together high profile personalities and resulted in a still-unsolved, 
hushed-up killing. British novelist Elinor Glyn relates this lurid Hollywood tale: Hearst and his 
lover actress Marion Davies set sail from San Pedro Harbor, hosting a small group that includes the 
brilliant but self-absorbed Charlie Chaplin, film pioneer Thomas Ince, preoccupied with his financial 
setbacks, ambitious gossip columnist Louella Parsons and the eccentric British Victorian novelist 
Elinor Glyn. Amidst the witty repartee and double entendre, deceit and deception are also on the menu. 
Everyone, it seems, has a secret agenda. One conspires to engineer a partnership with Hearst's 
Cosmopolitan Pictures, one plots to wheedle a career promotion, and one schemes to steal away 
Ms. Davies from the world's richest man. All aboard will learn the painfully high price of precarious 
success.

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In November of 1924, a mysterious Hollywood death occurred aboard media mogul William Randolph 
Hearst's yacht. Included among the famous guests that weekend were, Charlie Chaplin, Hearst's mistress, 
starlet Marion Davies, the studio system creator, producer Thomas Ince, and feared gossip columnist, 
Louella Parsons.

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Peter Bogdanovich exhumes a half-forgotten tidbit of Hollywood scandal — involving a death on board 
a yacht belonging to William Randolph Hearst — and fashions it into a spry, touching entertainment. 
Hearst (Edward Herrmann) is the apex of a romantic triangle that includes his mistress, 
Marion Davies (Kirsten Dunst), and Charlie Chaplin (Eddie Izzard). The direction is sometimes plodding: 
the madcap decadence of Jazz Age Hollywood never really comes alive, But the acting is first rate, 
and the picture shows an appealing sympathy for its vain, self-absorbed characters, no matter how 
monstrously or ridiculously they behave.