Stella Maris

Mary Pickford, that gamine of silent movie cinema is showcased in what might have been her best performance. Being nary a fan of her performance, I think this high praise indeed. I believe if there were the Academy Awards in those early days of cinema, she clearly would have worn it. She did win one in 1929 for Coquette which is just terrible, at least from a modern perspective- static camera movements and broadway like staging undermine any goodwill. Like much of today's actresses who win Oscars eg Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman, the make up artist deserves high praise. The dsiparity between Unity and Stella is so convincing that when using technology of the time, they are placed in the same shot together, it is startling to wonder how it was acheived. The story is a classic melodrama about a man with a slightly crazy,evil and alcoholic wife who is bewedded to. There is Stella, a cripple whom the horrors of the world is shielded from and there is Unity, an orphan who has experienced the worst of the world and is almost bitten to death by the crazy wife, sending her to jail and making her husband in a case of pity and symphathy, Unity's guardian. Stella learns to walk after an operation and lives her sheltered enclosure to experience the hubris of life, learning about poverty, murders and other human evils. This shatters her. She and Unity are both in love with the kindly and gentle man. Lest to say for love to survive and conquer all, certain sacrifices are made. This is obviously a first rate production with grand art direction and gorgeous cinematography setting the mood but there are aspects that derail the movie including the inefficient rationalization of Stella's awakening. It is handled rather patly and not psycologically probing. I also found the the man character rather bland and boring as effused. The director's symbolism is rather thick especially the use of the cat and a dog to express the disharmony in the world. All in all, a dynamic performance by Pickford as Unity and a fairly rousing Victorian denouemwnt and resolution make it a see. It might help if you knew it was a huge box office smash surprising studio bosses.

Mary Pickford would likely have won that year. If you didn't know that Stella Maris and Unity Blake were played by the same actress, you probably would not guess that they were. Stella Maris has been paralyzed her entire life. Fortunately, her family is wealthy so they can give her the best of care. However, she is still bedridden. Her relatives feel so sorry for her that they keep all bad news from her, and with her only seeing the beauty of nature visible from the spectacular view of her bedroom window, and with her only encountering the kind souls that enter the world that is her room, she has grown to young womanhood knowing nothing of the ugliness of life.

In contrast, Unity Blake is an orphan at an orphanage and is a very plain girl on top of everything. Louisa Risca, a drunken woman with a drug habit to boot, adopts Unity as a servant girl who won't/can't complain about her habits. It's quite touching when Unity first thinks she's getting a mother and instead realizes that instead she is just a servant, and an indentured one at that. The common thread between Unity's and Stella's very different worlds is John Risca (Conway Tearle), husband of Louisa and frequent visitor of Stella Maris. At the insistence of Stella's aunt and uncle, John has never told Stella that his wife is an addict or that he is even married for that matter.

One day, in a drunken rage, Louise beats Unity to the brink of death over a mistake the girl has made in doing the marketing. Not even John's connections can save Louise from doing three years in prison for this deed. Meanwhile, a prominent European surgeon restores Stella's ability to walk and she is now able to explore the world - the whole world - with all of its ugliness as well as its beauty. John Risca makes Unity his ward to compensate in his own way for what his wife has done. Thus Unity, for the first time, gets to see some of the beauty in life. Thus the worlds of these two girls collide with very interesting and powerful results - I'll let you watch and see what happens.

This is very sophisticated story-telling and acting for a 1918 film. If you are disappointed at all, please remember this film was made just three or so years out from a time when comedy mainly consisted of pants kicking fests and drama of maidens being tied to railroad tracks. Of course the greatness of this film lies not only in Mary Pickford's convincing portrayal of two very different people, but in Frances Marion's adapted screenplay, Ms. Marion being one of the great writers for the screen in the silent and early sound eras.

The early silent film "Stella Maris" provides a double dose of Mary Pickford for her fans as she plays both the title role of Stella Maris and that of another young girl, Unity. Ms. Pickford skillfully differentiates the two characters and is convincing as both young women. Stella Maris is a rich, bedridden young woman who has been shielded from the reality of life by her parents, and Mary Pickford plays her as the quintessential Pickford heroine in lacy frills, long curls, and winsome glances. However, Mary loses herself in the part of Unity, who is an orphan that has been buffeted by events and hardened by life. In this second role, Pickford appears without makeup, with her hair straight and tightly pulled back, and dressed in plain cotton dresses, and she excels in creating a character that is entirely different from her usual screen image. In fact, if the viewer were not told in the inter-titles who was playing the role, she would be nearly unrecognizable. The film cuts between the lives of the two girls until they intersect, and the few shots that show Mary playing a scene with herself are quite effective when the age of the film is considered. Production values throughout are at a high standard for the time as befitting a Mary Pickford vehicle, and the acting for the most part is more naturalistic than many silents of that era, although at least one actress does emote in the grand style. Conway Tearle, however, appears too old and stodgy for modern tastes to be a convincing object of young women's affections, although 90 years ago he may have been a matinée idol since tastes do change over time. "Stella Maris" is a sentimental tale and seems targeted at a young female audience in a simpler, more naive period. However, film history buffs will enjoy what is an excellent Mary Pickford showcase and a fine example of first-class film-making from the post World War I era.

STELLA MARIS has got to be one of the great silent films. Superstar Mary Pickford plays two roles in this seemingly sentimental tale (but it's not). She plays the lovely but crippled Stella Maris, whose family works hard to hide the ugliness of life from. She is shielded from the world because she is crippled. But of course her family doesn't do her any real favors. Eventually Stella is able to walk, and she discovers the horrors of war and crime and poverty by herself.

Pickford also plays Unity Blake, a homely and misshapen orphan who is taken from the orphanage by a cruel and drunken woman (Marcia Manon) who eventually beats her and goes to jail. Sent back to the orphanage, Unity is "hired" by the cruel woman's husband (Conway Tearle), but he is enamored of beautiful Stella Maris.

Pickford is just plain brilliant in playing these two women (and yes they share a few scenes together). Stella is pretty much standard fare for Pickford: golden curls, white frilly dresses, etc. Unity is a marvel of invention with her crooked body, crooked smile, and long dark hair. It's hard to believe this is Mary Pickford.

The film itself uses the iris shot beautifully to show what characters are thinking. The fade outs are well done. The scenes where the two Pickford characters appear together are flawless. Of special note is a gorgeous shot of Unity approaching the camera for a closeup, but in the end only her eyes show up in a deep purple tinted scene.

The ending is haunting. Superb work.

If you are not familiar with silent films, and not likely to see many of them, see this. It is one of the best.

I have the following reasons for putting this film on my top ten silent films: 1. Mary Pickford plays two completely different characters, both excellent performances. 2. Coming out in 1918, at the time of WWI, this film has the poignant subject matter of a girl sheltered from awareness of the cruelty of the world, who later discovers the truth about war and poverty and violence.

In less than an hour and a half, we see the joy of love and the pain of human existence. An existential nutshell... Enjoy....