About two weeks ago, I saw Suds at the Redford. That was the weirdest movie, I must say. Out of all of Mary's movies, I don't know why they chose that one to show. I mean, it was cool to be able to see more of her work, but the film was just odd. I mean, Mary's character was just goofy. She wasn't as lowly as her character, Unity in Stella Maris, but she was homely. And she wasn't dumb, but she was, and it was just hard to get a grasp on her character. It seemed more like a really elongated short.
The funniest part of the movie for me was the horses, and that is kinda sad. But, like I said, it is worth checking out to see more of Mary's work. We have to appreciate every available silent film that is out there.
Why was the film weird? What happened in it? I remember a documentary i saw about mary and it said once she caused some controversy because she wanted to make a film where there was a scene of a baby being killed. Now that is kind of disturbing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe "weird" isn't the best word to use. Maybe disjointed? I don't know, it just didn't flow like you would expect a movie to flow. It went from you feeling sorry for Amanda, then laughing at her, then admiring her in her daydreams of being a love lorn princess. Just, very odd. I think there is a film where she brings a dead or dying baby into a church to be prayed for, but I can't remember the name of the film off the top of my head.
ReplyDeleteI saw pieces of that film in a documentary but i cant remember the name either. I read that that film were the baby is killed was cancelled because marys mother overheard someone talking about that horrible scene. Mary pickford wanted to get out of her little girl persona but i dont believe tat was the right way. Another thing is that even though mary was a fantastic actress i dont think maybe because so many of her roles were little girls that she was the most versatile actress. I would say that from what ive seen florence la badie was the most versatiles actress of the early silent era because she could play so many diferent roles, all in a diferent way.
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree. Once those movie fans saw you in a certain role over and over again, they didn't want you to stray from it. Poor Mary, man oh man.
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