At the dawn of the twenties of the twentieth century of the last millennium, the silent films were simply all that existed in the cinematic firmament, the sound was something as yet unreal, the stars shone for their interpretive virtues without speaking. The quintessential female star Mary Pickford then was adored by the public, the highest paid actress of the moment and founder, along with other stars, of the United Artists; it was therefore the most shining star, she starred her films without any problem. But even for such outstanding figure, what would happen in this film was remarkable. The film, which is an adaptation of the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, presents the story of a boy, apparent bastard, who lives with his mother in an American neighborhood; one day, with no more, he learns he has good lineage, and that is heir for title and fortune of an English earl, so his life takes an incredible turnaround, but also makes him face difficulties and unexpected tests. Is given the fact that the legendary Pickford would be chosen protagonist, but double-entry, and we will thus see her incarnating the infant heir to nobility, and her mother as well, both roles would fall in the female, whose brother is one of the two directors of the film by the way, certainly not the most important, though. Typical American film of the era, whose greatest attraction is therefore to feature, doubly, the great Mary.
In a neighborhood and time non specified in New York, we see some children fight, one of them is Cedric Errol, who lives with his mother (both the Pickford). The quarrelsome boy and his mother, "Dearest", live quietly, the child's friends are Mr. Hobbs (James A. Marcus), Mrs. McGinty (Kate Price) and Dick (Fred Malatesta), members of the community. Meanwhile, in England, lives the Count of Dorincourt (Claude Gillingwater), whose eldest son has just died in a horseback riding accident, and to whom his butler Havisham (Joseph J. Dowling), tells his new heir, is a unrecognized son who lives in America. It is none other than Cedric, Havisham informs the mother and child the novelties, both doubt at the beginning with such a revelation, but end up travel to England, Cedric says goodbye to his friends. Cedric, the new little Lord Fauntleroy, stays at Earl's huge castle, but Dearest, despised by the old nobleman, is relegated to a castle lodge. Little Lord knows his grandfather, they get along easily, even is officially presented as his grandson and legal heir of title and fortune, although Dearest remains relegated. Things get complicated when a woman appears claiming and ensuring that is the true-heir mother, Cedric's fate is in jeopardy, but he and his old friends will fight for his future and happiness.
The scenes of the two characters together are certainly something that stands out in the film, considering the year in which this technical resource was achieved, we could consider a feat, because we actually see them virtually
interact as they were two different people. It will not be an extraordinary nor immortal or undying result achieved in that paragraph, sequences in which both characters interact, but again, for the year of production, results obtained with this skill are digestible and appreciable. It will not lack any voice that stokes or questions about the real need or obligation to use that technique, that almost forced recourse simply to Mary Pickford embody both roles, at that point would have been preferable to use a real child, or leave only maternal role for her; views on such a singular fact will be many. But the true is that Canadian actress embodies both roles, and also makes it quite acceptably, although indeed I do not consider this her most brilliant performance, definitely she does not shy away from a challenge so unique. At then 29 years, Mary performs what I understand is her first adult role, and even secondary, the female star proves to live up to his legend, founder of United Artists, she worked with the biggest stars of American silent cinema. As we would see one year later in
Tess of the storm country (1922) by John S. Robertson, the film becomes a full brilliance of its absolute protagonist, the Pickford; in any other case it would have been unthinkable for a woman to receive such a burden and acting responsibility so repeatedly, but in the case of Mary, it was just natural. Is as fun as remarkable that the minuteness of her size is positive, the petite actress perhaps inadvertently benefits from her small stature, and can be seen almost true, in terms of size, a child rather than a woman who reaches almost three decades of life; even delirious sequence is believed, without making it look absurd, the little Lord, the Pickford, fighting with another child.
His character child is soon delineated, an infant who has no minor problem braiding to fight, a simple child, but not lacking in courage. On the other hand, remains on the retina the image of the proud and aged patriarch, the Earl, who in the first meeting he has with his new heir, incredibly, snorts, we see him snorting what can not be anything else than cocaine, for unlikely as this may sound; even when the Little Lord wants to imitate his grandfather, we see him doing the same activity, and just as implausibly, we see the infant sneeze. Surely details quite curious, to put it in a way, that add an extravagant touch, and very funny, in the film. But definitely the story does not feel as a formidable and extraordinary story, at times, in the most critical moments of drama, feel these events somewhat forced, as a string of incredible events, improbable revelations, but those flow one after another, feeling rather light. So, in an instant the good Cedric goes from being humble, to a wealthy heir to an Earl; the other loses knighthood to another infant, to finally regain their lineage and heritage. Perhaps somewhat forced you feel the string of almost epiphanic events, certainly has not much dramatic force the way the facts are presented, the film suffers from something facile, like watching the chubby husband of the woman who claims to be mother of the true heir, we see him appearing at the same living room of the Earl, and telling his wife he has been looking for her, unmasking his lie completely. Also, compared to other roles of the great Pickford, it is no maximum dramatic requirement from child leading role, but considering the context and the time when these stories were treated, must have been received willingly. Those days, American films were often produced in large quantities, almost en masse, but quantity is not synonymous with quality, and without being a mediocre picture, certain austerity is shown on its narrative, lack of variety in its visual narrative resources, in the form of an almost always static camera.
Absence of travellings, or even a hint of dynamism in the camera, practically all the film we see static shots, still shots, quite economized narrative, which results in a technically not so attractive film, except for the resource that gets Pickford's duplicate participations united. That was the American cinema then, little art, genuine art, films industrializing, it was a source of entertainment, decent entertainment, but not an art itself; apparently the formula of adapting literary novels which pleased the audience was quite a spread custom in Hollywood, like this film. All these would land in involution and decadence of the current Yankee cinema, but at the time, pictures were a worthy entertainment and not inconsiderable, though distase lots of true-art films that were produced, for example, in Germany, with expressionism, among other countries. The film, reflecting the original book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, slides as well a sample of rivalry of Yankee feud with England, the suspicion that existed at one time, and to some point still exists between the two countries, but that conciliatory ending, so simple, according to the feature, is addressed to sublimate it. The film, incidentally, has in its credits two directors, in order of relevance, we have Alfred E. Green, one of the most prolific Yankees filmmakers of then, who began his artistic career as an actor, but ended up shooting over a hundred movies, a real prolific talent, although not considered among the titans; on the other hand, Mary's brother, Jack Pickford, a man whose greatest merit in the cinema was being brother to his sister, who tirelessly sought help for him in Hollywood, but most likely his contribution in this film, one of the two who allegedly directed, was little more than testimonial. The film is not close at any time to the great masterpieces of silent films, contemporaries to it, but, involving by twice the mythical Mary Pickford, an appreciable film is set, and definitely a must for fans of one of the great silent cinema muses.
At the dawn of the twenties of the twentieth century of the last millennium, the silent films were simply all that existed in the cinematic firmament, the sound was something as yet unreal, the stars shone for their interpretive virtues without speaking. The quintessential female star Mary Pickford then was adored by the public, the highest paid actress of the moment and founder, along with other stars, of the United Artists; it was therefore the most shining star, she starred her films without any problem. But even for such outstanding figure, what would happen in this film was remarkable. The film, which is an adaptation of the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, presents the story of a boy, apparent bastard, who lives with his mother in an American neighborhood; one day, with no more, he learns he has good lineage, and that is heir for title and fortune of an English earl, so his life takes an incredible turnaround, but also makes him face difficulties and unexpected tests. Is given the fact that the legendary Pickford would be chosen protagonist, but double-entry, and we will thus see her incarnating the infant heir to nobility, and her mother as well, both roles would fall in the female, whose brother is one of the two directors of the film by the way, certainly not the most important, though. Typical American film of the era, whose greatest attraction is therefore to feature, doubly, the great Mary.
In a neighborhood and time non specified in New York, we see some children fight, one of them is Cedric Errol, who lives with his mother (both the Pickford). The quarrelsome boy and his mother, "Dearest", live quietly, the child's friends are Mr. Hobbs (James A. Marcus), Mrs. McGinty (Kate Price) and Dick (Fred Malatesta), members of the community. Meanwhile, in England, lives the Count of Dorincourt (Claude Gillingwater), whose eldest son has just died in a horseback riding accident, and to whom his butler Havisham (Joseph J. Dowling), tells his new heir, is a unrecognized son who lives in America. It is none other than Cedric, Havisham informs the mother and child the novelties, both doubt at the beginning with such a revelation, but end up travel to England, Cedric says goodbye to his friends. Cedric, the new little Lord Fauntleroy, stays at Earl's huge castle, but Dearest, despised by the old nobleman, is relegated to a castle lodge. Little Lord knows his grandfather, they get along easily, even is officially presented as his grandson and legal heir of title and fortune, although Dearest remains relegated. Things get complicated when a woman appears claiming and ensuring that is the true-heir mother, Cedric's fate is in jeopardy, but he and his old friends will fight for his future and happiness.
The scenes of the two characters together are certainly something that stands out in the film, considering the year in which this technical resource was achieved, we could consider a feat, because we actually see them virtually interact as they were two different people. It will not be an extraordinary nor immortal or undying result achieved in that paragraph, sequences in which both characters interact, but again, for the year of production, results obtained with this skill are digestible and appreciable. It will not lack any voice that stokes or questions about the real need or obligation to use that technique, that almost forced recourse simply to Mary Pickford embody both roles, at that point would have been preferable to use a real child, or leave only maternal role for her; views on such a singular fact will be many. But the true is that Canadian actress embodies both roles, and also makes it quite acceptably, although indeed I do not consider this her most brilliant performance, definitely she does not shy away from a challenge so unique. At then 29 years, Mary performs what I understand is her first adult role, and even secondary, the female star proves to live up to his legend, founder of United Artists, she worked with the biggest stars of American silent cinema. As we would see one year later in Tess of the storm country (1922) by John S. Robertson, the film becomes a full brilliance of its absolute protagonist, the Pickford; in any other case it would have been unthinkable for a woman to receive such a burden and acting responsibility so repeatedly, but in the case of Mary, it was just natural. Is as fun as remarkable that the minuteness of her size is positive, the petite actress perhaps inadvertently benefits from her small stature, and can be seen almost true, in terms of size, a child rather than a woman who reaches almost three decades of life; even delirious sequence is believed, without making it look absurd, the little Lord, the Pickford, fighting with another child.
His character child is soon delineated, an infant who has no minor problem braiding to fight, a simple child, but not lacking in courage. On the other hand, remains on the retina the image of the proud and aged patriarch, the Earl, who in the first meeting he has with his new heir, incredibly, snorts, we see him snorting what can not be anything else than cocaine, for unlikely as this may sound; even when the Little Lord wants to imitate his grandfather, we see him doing the same activity, and just as implausibly, we see the infant sneeze. Surely details quite curious, to put it in a way, that add an extravagant touch, and very funny, in the film. But definitely the story does not feel as a formidable and extraordinary story, at times, in the most critical moments of drama, feel these events somewhat forced, as a string of incredible events, improbable revelations, but those flow one after another, feeling rather light. So, in an instant the good Cedric goes from being humble, to a wealthy heir to an Earl; the other loses knighthood to another infant, to finally regain their lineage and heritage. Perhaps somewhat forced you feel the string of almost epiphanic events, certainly has not much dramatic force the way the facts are presented, the film suffers from something facile, like watching the chubby husband of the woman who claims to be mother of the true heir, we see him appearing at the same living room of the Earl, and telling his wife he has been looking for her, unmasking his lie completely. Also, compared to other roles of the great Pickford, it is no maximum dramatic requirement from child leading role, but considering the context and the time when these stories were treated, must have been received willingly. Those days, American films were often produced in large quantities, almost en masse, but quantity is not synonymous with quality, and without being a mediocre picture, certain austerity is shown on its narrative, lack of variety in its visual narrative resources, in the form of an almost always static camera.
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