Here is a film equal to the sum of its parts. Like a sturdy and attractive house, Zander The Great was constructed by skilled and competent craftsmen performing at their best.

Marion Davies, who excelled in homey and warm-hearted physical comedy was frequently shoehorned into dramatic roles for which she was ill suited. Her comic brilliance shows in her portrayal of Mamie Smith. In a truly great screen entrance, Mamie is introduced in close-up as she fights her way through an enormous pile of dropped laundry at the orphanage where she toils away with the other girls. Playing the ingenue with more exuberance and success than did the older Mary Pickford, Davies has another hilarious scene, pigtails flying, on an out of control motorized bicycle. She escapes the orphanage and the cruel hand of its matron and is taken in by kindly Mrs. Caldwell, played by Hedda Hopper. Her husband long disappeared into Mexico, Mrs. Caldwell lives with her infant son Alexander, dubbed Zander by Mamie. Time passes, and Mamie becomes a young woman and Zander a little boy. Mrs. Caldwell dies, still longing for the return of her husband, while Mamie swears to find and reunite him with his son. Authorities arrive, threatening to cart Zander off to the very same orphanage from which Mamie had previously escaped. Mamie steals the family car and flees with the child. Pet bunnies multiply in the back seat as Mamie and Zander pass from state to state, arriving at last in Arizona, where they find themselves at the door of a derelict ranch occupied by a band of desperados. A plot twist that could only happen in the movies reveals the leader to be none other than Zander's father. Mamie escapes the gang in a wonderful chase on horseback through the Joshua trees (in Arizona?) only to end up back at the ranch. Her attempts to mother the gang allow for several comic moments. Particularly funny is a scene in which she cuts their hair with a large metal pot for a guide. All is revealed in the end, with Zander's father and Mamie falling in love and riding off with Zander in tow, through an orchard populated with hundreds of happy bunnies.

"Zander The Great" is an example of why MGM was the most successful house of the studio system days. Photographed by the great George Barnes, the credits are a who's who of Hollywood's best journeyman actors and technicians. Harry Myers, one of the desperados, went on to play a drunken millionaire in Chaplin's City Lights.

In a New Jersey orphanage, pigtailed Marion Davies (as Mamie Smith) causes a slapstick ruckus; consequently, she is brutally abused. Then, Ms. Davies' luck changes; and, she is sent to the loving home of motherly Hedda Hopper (as Edith Caldwell). Ms. Hopper's husband is away, on an extended trip to Mexico. So, Davies helps raise Hopper's baby into cute young Jack Huff (as Alexander "Zander" P. Caldwell Jr.). The years are kind to Davies, who grows from freckles and pigtails to beautiful complexion and curls. When Hopper passes away, Davies must fulfill a promise to find Huff's father, but the wicked orphanage from her past declares custody. Davies takes the boy, and sets off to meet adventure, danger, and Harrison Ford.

The odd title "Zander the Great" refers to the Greek leader Alexander the Great; to wit, Davies shortens little Alexander's name to Zander because, "Alexander is such a big name for a weenie baby." Davies spends the much of the picture made-up like Mary Pickford (a road taken by many, to be fair). The comedy and drama don't mix very well; as usual, Davies is better with the former. Finally, the movie becomes a western.

Director George Hill and the MGM team do some nice work; especially, the beginning scenes with Davies, and the ending expiration scenes featuring George Siegmann (as Black Bart).

The sexual prowess of rabbits is a tiresome source of amusement.

This was a big 1923 Broadway success for Alice Brady.

Marion Davies is an orphan, rescued from the meanest orphan matron this side of Miss Hannigan by Hedda Hopper. Mrs. Hopper's husband abandoned her and their son, Alexander -- called 'Zander' by Miss Davies -- to fight in Mexico. Despite letters to him, he hasn't been heard from for years. Now, as Mrs. Hopper lies a-dying, he writes to say he's moving to Arizona, goodbye.

When Mrs. Hopper dies, they want to send Zander to the orphanage, so Miss Davies grabs Jack Huff, the Ford and the boy's pet rabbits and heads off to deliver the boy to the father, along with many, many rabbits by the time they get there to find Harrison Ford -- no, the other one. He proves he's the widower by knowing some facts about his marriage, so Miss Davies and Huff move in, despite his shady dealings with Mexican banditos and scruffy ranch hands Harry Watson Jr. And Harry Myers.

As is usual for Miss Davies' movies, the highlights are the comic sequences, and the best bit is when she's barbering Myers and Watson; the latter's rubber-faced reactions and her dogged persistence are very funny. George Siegmann is the bandito; Hobart Bosworth is the sheriff who can never quite catch Ford doing dirty. It's thoroughly entertaining little movie with a solid score by Ben Model.