The love affair between Marion Davies and William Randolph Heart was difficult for some to fathom. Apart from his wealth, what else could cause a beautiful young actress to be attracted to a media mogul 34 years her senior? This made for television biopic goes some way to answering that question, helped immeasurably by the casting of Robert Mitchum as Hearst.

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Opening at a time when Hearst’s finances were in a perilous state, the film flashes back twenty years earlier to a happier time when Davies was a featured player in Ziegfeld Follies and Hearst was one of many ardent admirers. Through persistence, gentlemanly manners and an unwavering belief in her talent, WR successfully woos Davies who, in spite of her ill-informed reputation as a gold-digger, remains with the old guy through thick and thin… except when he is running for public office or visiting his wife and children.

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There is a commonly-held belief that Hearst’s promotion of Davies as a dramatic actress stymied her natural abilities as a light-comedienne. Though this is often expressed throughout this biopic, Madsen’s portrayal is given little opportunity to suggest that Davies had a talent for either. Mitchum, who is provided with some of the film’s best lines, fares better. Appropriately stiff in his manner, the veteran actor humanises Hearst in a sympathetic depiction that comes with a stamp of authority and a twinkle in his eye.

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This lavish production is set before the making of Citizen Kane (1941) and only briefly deals with the events depicted in The Cat's Meow (2001). Much like Mitchum's portrayal of Hearst, this biopic leaves it to others to give voice to the mogul's more odious traits.