The Poor Little Rich Girl. 1917. Directed by Maurice Tourneur.

(10/30/99)

Fantastic movie. This was one of Mary Pickford's most successful vehicles and it hold up just fine after 87 years. She was superb, she was lovely.

It has some really nice special effects. I was really touched by the scene where the father is thinking about shooting himself (shown through superimposition) and his daughter comes into the study. The last part of the film is dominated by an elaborate hallucination that the drugged daughter is having. The film cuts back and forth between reality and her delirium. I had trouble following it for a whil;e--which could just have been that my eyes hurt and I didn't feel well--but it comes to a fantastic climax in which she has to choose between life and death. It's a great moment.

The nasty servants were sharp caricatures and the film had nicely illustrated intertitles. Some people might think it was corny, but I found its message valid and well-put.

That hallucination in which Pickford finally has to choose between life and death reminded me very much of A Matter of Life and Death and, to a lesser extent, The Blood of Jesus.