Polly of the Circus

Mae Marsh stars as Polly, a traveling circus performer raised by Toby the Clown (Harry La Pearl) after her mother Nanette (Lilian Ward) takes a dive off the high wire. Polly is injured (in the same town)and taken into the home of the handsome minister (Vernon Steele) to recuperate, against the wishes of narrow-minded old deacon (Charles Riegel) and his jealous daughter (Lucille Southerwaite).

The townspeople can't stand the idea of a circus girl in the minister's house, where's she tended by servants (Lucille La Verne and Richard Lee in blackface). But the minister is stalwart and Polly gets revenge by winning the big $500 dollar horse race on her white horse Bingo.

Marsh is very charming and nicely photographed at the height of her stardom. Steele is quite good as the minister. La Pearl is interesting (and only 33 years old) as the old clown. Also good is Wellington Playter as the circus boss.

Standout scenes include the big horse race (at a race track bigger than the muddy little town) and a funny scene in which the singing church ladies try to drown out the circus jazz band.

As noted, there is a Mark Twain kind of nostalgia thing about boys running away to join the circus and even in 1917, a nostalgia about traveling circuses.

Lilian Ward as Nanette (Polly's mother) is oddly missing from the credits on IMDb and on the DVD packaging.

The first goldwyn picture pulls out all the stops - the racing scenes are as good as it gets - circus scenes brilliant - acting is great

This was the first production of Goldwyn Pictures and the story is quite different (and better!) than the 1932 remake starring Marion Davies. Mae Marsh as Polly is literally born into the circus and orphaned as a child when her aerialist mother falls from the wires. Young Polly is raised by Toby, a circus clown, and becomes a trick bareback rider. She is badly injured in the ring and is taken to the nearby home of a minister (played by Vernon Steele) to recover. Polly thrives during her stay of several months, and the pair fall in love. Naturally, the town gossips are agog. After learning that Toby has fallen ill and needs money for a doctor, she enters a horse race with her circus mount Bingo and wins. But it's too late, Toby has died. After a few more downward turns, it all works out in the end. Mae was sweet, the horse race exciting and well-shot and the circus scenes (featuring a real circus) are authentic.

This early Goldwyn picture is an ambitious piece that intended to nurture not only the corporation, but its star, Mae Marsh, recently poached from D.W. Griffith. It is a pretty good effort, with its Mark Twain-style opening, although the many titles and overt sentiment drag a bit until Lilian Ward falls from the high wire.

After all the kids grow up, a decent plot involving ministers, the circus and a well-photographed horse race ensue and matters are satisfactorily resolved at the end. The modern viewer may have some issues, like the white actors in blackface, but Mae Marsh is her charming, fluttery self. It was undoubtedly an excellent money-maker for the Goldwyn Corporation (later MGM) and a boost in the careers of not only the uncannily named Edwin Hollywood, but cinematographer George W. Hill, who a dozen years later would be MGM's go-to director for rough fare.

194 years after the movie and we still have pharisees in the church - judging others and pointing their boney old fingers without showing love, or mercy.

Pointing this out was the highlight of this movie.

It is a pity the final scenes were so rushed, there needed to be another fifteen minutes to wrap things up without rushing it so much.