Marion Davies had one of the biggest hits of her career is this rousing story of an Irish girl who poses as her dead brother to inherit a fortune in 18th century New York City. Davies is, as always, great fun to watch. A very underrated actress, Davies is very good as the prissy "boy" who plays a harp and sings awful tunes. As in 1922's When Knighthood Was in Flower, this 1923 film is lavish and boasts huge crowd scenes, the usual touches of William Randolph Hearst, and lets Davies play a boy (something Mary Pickford also did in several films) as she had done in her 1922 hit. Davies was a great impersonator and an excellent comic.
Davies has fun fighting with the neighborhood tough boys, being forced to dance with a fat girl at a society dance, dancing a jig at a boxing match, and is especially touching in the daring scene when she is tied to a post and whipped for ringing a false fire alarm.
Little Old New York is set against historical facts (Fulton's steamboat) and uses real-life people--Cornelius Vanderbilt, Washington Irving, John Jacob Astor--to good dramatic effect. But this is a Marion Davies film all the way and she is wonderful. Harrison Ford (as Larry), Montague Love, Spencer Charters, Louis Wolheim, Marie Burke, Elizabeth Murray, Sam Hardy, Norvel Keedwell, and the improbably named Gypsy O'Brien (as snooty Ariana du Puyster) co-star.
