Cast: Mary Pickford, Eugene O’Brien, Antonio Maiori, Ernest Torti, Edwin Mordant, Jack Pickford, Edith Shayne, Cesare Gravina
48 min
Poor Little Peppina is a 1916 American silent film directed by Sidney Olcott. The film was in 1916 Mary Pickford‘s longest film to be made. It was soon surpassed by her later films.[1]
Robert Torrens (Edwin Mordant) is a wealthy American, residing in Italy with his wife (Edith Shayne) and only daughter, Lois (Eileen Stewart).[2] Franzoli Soldo (Antonio Maiori) is a mafia chief who pretends to be a butler and is in Torrens’ employ. One day, he drinks too freely of his masters’ wine. Fellow employee Pietro (Ernest Torti) informs Mr. Torrens, who next discharges Soldo.
Soldo wants revenge and kills Pietro. He is caught, however, and is being put on trial for the murder. He is found guilty and sentenced to a life in jail. One month later, a mafia member helps him escape. He is determined to take revenge on the Torrens family and kidnaps Lois. When the parents find out, they call the police. Soldo is soon thought of to be the kidnapper, but he ordered some of Torrens’ staff member to convince the parents Lois drowned in an accident.
Meanwhile, Soldo flees to his relatives, including his wife Bianca (Mrs. A. Maiori) – who is ordered to raise Lois as her own – and his son Beppo (Jack Pickford). Lois grows up to be Peppina (Mary Pickford), Beppo’s sister. Soldo decided to meanwhile take refuge in America. Fifteen years later. The Duchess, an American heiress, takes an interest in Peppina and teaches her English.
A man named Bernando wants to marry Peppina and convinces her parents to let him take her hand. Peppina, however, has no desire to be with him and asks the Duchess what to do. She helps her escape overseas and promises her a friend of hers will provide her a home in America. Peppina runs away from home in disguise and dresses up as a boy so nobody will recognize her.
Hugh Carroll (Eugene O’Brien) is on the boat as well and meets Amy, a socialite from New York. Peppina takes refuge in his cabin, but is soon caught by him. He provides her comfort and food and offers her to stay at his cabin for the night. However, he doesn’t know Peppina is actually a girl.
In New York, Soldo finds out the Torrens family will move to New York as well. He thinks he will be rewarded if he brings their daughter back to him and is determined to make some money. He sends his relatives in Italy a letter they should bring Peppina to him. Bianca responds she doesn’t know where Peppina is. Meanwhile, Peppina spots Hugh together with Amy and decides to leave him. In New York, she applies for a job in Soldo’s cafĂŠ.
After a bad experience with Soldo, Peppina becomes a messenger “boy”. When she is taken under arrest, she confesses she is actually a girl. Hugh happens to be a chief at the police station and releases Peppina and orders for Soldo to be taken under arrest. After Soldo arrives at the police station, Peppina realizes he was the one who abducted her as a child. Peppina is now recognized as the Torrens’ kid. Mr. and Mrs. Torrens are soon informed and reunited with their child.
Three years have passed. Peppina, now living in wealth, and Hugh are in love with each other.
Cast: Mary Pickford, Wharton James, Katherine Griffith, Helen Jerome Eddy, George Berrell, Howard Ralston, William CourtleighÂ
58 min
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Pollyanna is a 1920 American silent melodrama/comedy film starring Mary Pickford, directed by Paul Powell, and based upon Eleanor H. Porter‘s 1913 novel of the same name. It was Pickford’s first motion picture for United Artists. It became a major success and would be regarded as one of Pickford’s most defining pictures. The film grossed $1.1 million (approximately $13,151,000 today).[2]
The film opens in the Ozarks where a distraught Pollyanna (Mary Pickford) is comforting her father the Reverend John Whittier (Wharton James) as he dies. After his death Pollyanna is sent to live on a New Englandplantation with her Victorian Aunt Polly (Katherine Griffith).
Aunt Polly is cold and uncaring to Pollyanna: not picking her up at the station, giving her a sparse room in the attic, and scolding at her every chance she gets. As the days pass Pollyanna’s antics amuse the servants, but not Aunt Polly.
One day while playing on the plantation, Pollyanna gets in trouble with a servant woman and runs to hide in a haystack. There she meets Jimmy Bean (Howard Ralston), an orphan her age. Taking pity on him, Pollyanna is certain eventually Aunt Polly will let him live with them. So she hides him in the cellar. One day Aunt Polly insists in going in the cellar despite Pollyanna’s pleas for fear Jimmy will be discovered. Jimmy is asleep and Pollyanna believes they’re in the clear; until Jimmy starts shouting in his sleep, having a bad dream about turnips chasing and trying to eat him. Pollyanna is amused but Aunt Polly is not. After some pleading, Aunt Polly relents and tells Pollyanna to bring some good quilts for Jimmy.
One day, as Jimmy and Pollyanna play with the other children, they decide to try and steal some apples from a tree belonging to John Pendleton (William Cortleigh). John catches Pollyanna in the act, but forgives her, realizing she is the exact image of her mother, a woman he once loved deeply, but who left him to marry the man who eventually became Pollyanna’s father. He tells Pollyanna this as he shows her a painting of her mother. Meanwhile Jimmy fights his way in, fearing that Pollyanna is in danger. He tries to defend her but finds that everything is normal.
As Pollyanna settles in she seems to bring optimism to those she meets. She is insistent on playing a game her father taught her called ‘The Glad Game’, where one counts the things they are glad for. She visits an old shut-in who is supposedly grateful for nothing. Pollyanna brings along an old blind and deaf friend who plays the accordion. Upon discovering the woman is blind and deaf, the shut-in proclaims her gratitude for still having her sight and hearing.
One day after a fight with Jimmy in which he ‘wishes she would die’, Pollyanna heads into town. She notices a little girl playing in the middle of the road, oblivious to a car coming. Pollyanna leaps in front of the car, throwing the girl to safety, but in the process is hit herself. Jimmy and John both take her back to her Aunt’s place. Aunt Polly becomes frantic and places her in her own lavish bedroom. Realizing the error of her ways, Aunt Polly declares how attached to Pollyanna she is; even giving her a kiss on the forehead, much to Pollyanna’s delight.
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Realizing they could have lost the little girl forever, many succumb to her wishes for them to be happy. John promises to adopt Jimmy the next day. Aunt Polly refuses to call Dr. Tom, (Herbert Prior), who broke her heart years before. Pollyanna pleads to send for him but she refuses, bringing in another doctor. After several days, they discover Pollyanna is paralyzed from the waist down. Pollyanna becomes distraught; however Jimmy comforts her, insisting she play the Glad Game.
Months pass and Pollyanna begins to use a wheelchair. One evening with Aunt Polly, she pleads one last time for her to send for Dr. Tom and Aunt Polly finally relents. With the help of Dr. Tom, Pollyanna is eventually able to walk again.
With the success of her walking comes the realization of her wishes. Aunt Polly reunites romantically with Dr. Tom; and Jimmy is happily living with John. One day she asks for Jimmy and he comes to wheel her around the garden. He gives Pollyanna a ring and promptly runs off out of fear, not realizing Pollyanna is able to walk. She is excited at the ring and happily runs after him.
Pollyanna was shot in and has a copyright year of 1919 but was first released in 1920. It had a budget of $300,000 and grossed $1,1 million worldwide on its first theatrical run.[3][4] It was extremely popular, becoming the role that defined Pickford’s ‘little girl’ movies.[5] Pickford was 27 years old at the time of filming and portrayed a 12-year-old.[6]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
A complete print of Pollyanna is preserved at the Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education (The Pickford Corporation also owns the copyright).[8]
Home media
Pollyanna was initially released on VHS in 1996. In 2007, it was released on DVD as part of a silent films collection titled The Golden Age of Silent Films, and later as part of the Mary Pickford Signature Collection in 2008. In 2010, Nostalgia Family Video also released the film on DVD.[9]
Jump up^Balio, Tino (2009). United Artists, Volume 1, 1919â1950: The Company Built by the Stars. 1. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 39. ISBN 0-299-23003-1.
Jump up^Fischer, Lucy, ed. (2009). American Cinema of the 1920s: Themes and Variations. Rutgers University Press. p. 38. ISBN 0-813-54485-8.
Jump up^Forster, Merna (2004). 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces. Dundurn Press. p. 206. ISBN 1-459-71431-8.
Jump up^Kroon, Richard W. (2014). A/V A to Z: An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Media, Entertainment and Other Audiovisual Terms. McFarland. p. 500. ISBN 0-786-45740-6.
Cinderella is a kind young woman who lives with her wicked stepmother and ugly stepsisters plus her evil father. They abuse her and use her as the house maid. Cinderella thinks she’s all alone in the world, but doesn’t know a fairy godmother is constantly helping her. One day, she is collecting wood from the forest and meets Prince Charming. They immediately fall in love with each other, but lose contact. Soon, a ball is arranged by the prince to look for his future wife. The stepsisters think they make a great chance in being chosen by the prince. Cinderella wants to go as well, but isn’t allowed to by her cruel family.
The sisters go to a fortune teller, who announces a member of the family will be chosen by the prince. The sisters are delighted and think it will be one of the two of them. When they leave for the ball, Cinderella is left behind. The fairy godmother appears and asks if she wants to go to the ball as well. When Cinderella responds positively, the fairy godmother orders her to bring her the biggest pumpkin she can find. Cinderella does so and the fairy godmother changes it into a luxurious stage coach. She next asks for the smallest mice she can find. Cinderella brings her some mice from the house and the fairy godmother changes them into horses.
The fairy godmother next orders her to bring her the biggest rats there are. After Cinderella collected them, the fairy godmother changes them into servants. She finally changes Cinderella’s poor maiden costume into a dress fit for a princess, and glass slippers, of course. She reminds Cinderella she will have to be back at home before the clock strikes midnight. Otherwise, her fine dress will turn into rags and the coach and servants will become what they were before.
As Cinderella arrives at the party, Prince Charming is already busy looking for his future wife. It is soon announced an unknown lady has arrived in a coach. Prince Charming immediately chooses her and they go to a private place where they learn to know each other. As they flirt, Cinderella notices it is almost twelve o’clock and storms out. She loses her glass slipper, before she turns into her old poor self again.
The next day, the royal heralds announce the Prince’s wish to marry the woman whose foot fits the lost glass slipper. The sisters go to the palace to try fit their feet into the slippers, while Cinderella is yet again forced to stay home. It becomes clear the royal heralds every woman of the town has tried but failed to wear the slippers, except for Cinderella. Prince Charming immediately goes to visit her and is shocked when he finds out she is a poor maid. He doesn’t turn his back against her, though, and he invites her to try on the slipper. When she does, she is announced as the future princess. The royal heralds give her the opportunity to behead her sisters, but she refuses to.
In the final scene, the fairy godmother appears and blesses her. Cinderella and Prince Charming live happily ever after.
Leading actress Pickford’s previous film Little Lord Fauntleroy flopped critically. Pickford realized she had to make a movie the audience loved to see her in.[1] She wanted to play the role again, because she loved the character and stated the crew had more abilities with a bigger budget and better technology.[2]
17-year-old Tess Skinner is the daughter of a squatter, and wealthy man Elias Graves, who owns the land, is trying to get rid of them and the other squatter families. Tess is just as determined to make sure they all stay. Elias, however, grows more stubborn with failure. His determination to disperse the squatters has become an obsession. He is determined to kick them out of his land, not caring they don’t have another place to go to. Graves’ son, Frederick, is on her side and doesn’t think about squatters the way his father does. Frederick’s sister Teola fears her father, who thinks obedience is more important than love. She has fallen in love with law student Dan Jordan, but he hasn’t been able to impress Elias.
Dan tries to win over Teola’s father’s trust in him by suggesting he can throw the squatters off his land, because they are catching fish illegally. Frederick, meanwhile, is charmed by Tess and admits he could really fall for her if she would get cleaned up. When men come to the Skinner residence to find proof they’re netting, Tess hides the evidence her father is a fisherman. Later, they become hungry and Tess’ father decides to start fishing again. He is caught and when Dan Jordan is shot to death, Tess’ dad is blamed for it and taken under arrest. Tess is crushed and takes it out on Elias when he announces he will do anything for her dad to pay the penalty. When the trial starts, Tess is crushed she isn’t allowed to visit her father. The evil Ben Letts forces himself up to her as her future husband, despite the fact Tess is unwilling to marry him. She chases him away, but Ben vows vengeance.
Now that Tess is all alone, Frederick keeps her company and they fall in love. Elias finds out and tells Fred he doesn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore. Frederick announces he is planning on marrying Tess as soon as he finishes college. Meanwhile, Teola finds out she is pregnant and already started planning to marry Dan, but now that he’s dead, the child will be born out of wedlock. She plans on killing herself, but doesn’t have the nerve to. Tess protects her by claiming the child as her own. After the baby is born, Teola keeps on supporting her financially. One night, Teola isn’t allowed to leave the house, so Tess breaks in to get milk for the baby. She is caught by Elias, who is outraged. Meanwhile, Fred has just returned from college. Ben’s mate threatens him to tell the truth about Ben having killed Dan Jordan. Ben becomes mad and strangles him. He next hides the body.
Fred pays Tess a visit and finds his sister there as well. When he notices the baby, Tess tells him she found it. Fred doesn’t believe her and thinks the baby is hers. He is shocked and ashamed and leaves immediately. Meanwhile, Ben fears of getting caught and plans on leaving town. He is determined to take Tess with him. He sneaks into her cottage and notices the baby. When Tess comes in, he forces her to marry him. She refuses to, but Fred comes in to rescue her. They together hit Ben unconscious, but Fred leaves bitterly as he is still shocked about Tess having a baby. Ben’s strangled mate meanwhile survived and announces Ben Letts is responsible for the killing of Dan.
Tess is ostracized and the dying infant is refused baptism, so Tess sneaks into the church and does her own ritual. Teola and Elias are both in presence. Elias demands for her to be thrown out of church, but Teola becomes too emotional and admits the baby is hers. Elias is shocked but forgives her, but Teola soon dies. Fred realizes he has made an awful mistake, but Tess isn’t able to forgive his horrible treatment towards her. She goes back home and reunites with her father, who has just been released from jail. Elias and Fred later stop by to apologize. Both Elias and Fred are forgiven and the film ends with Tess and Fred kissing.
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