Joseph, a wealthy young Southern aristocrat, graduates from a seminary; before he takes charge of his assigned parish, he decides to go out and see what "the real world" is all about. He win... Read allJoseph, a wealthy young Southern aristocrat, graduates from a seminary; before he takes charge of his assigned parish, he decides to go out and see what "the real world" is all about. He winds up in New Orleans and becomes attracted to Bessie, a poor, unsophisticated orphan girl.... Read allJoseph, a wealthy young Southern aristocrat, graduates from a seminary; before he takes charge of his assigned parish, he decides to go out and see what "the real world" is all about. He winds up in New Orleans and becomes attracted to Bessie, a poor, unsophisticated orphan girl. One thing leads to another, and before long Bessie discovers that she is pregnant by Jose... Read all
- Awards
- 2 wins total
- 'Auntie' Easter
- (as Lucille Laverne)
- An Old Negro
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Anyhow, this is one of Griffith's worst films (that I've seen). It's contrived, overlong, overly sensational and plodding. Its morality tale is boring and ludicrous at times. Additionally, Mae Marsh certainly does lay it on thick with her ridiculous flapper imitation, and Carol Dempster continues to demonstrate no talent. There's some (comparatively) mild racist comedy based in degrading African Americans, too. On the other hand, and to say something favorably about the picture, the film-making isn't technically as slipshod, or unpolished, as in some of Griffith's other lesser films. Not recommended.
(Note: The print I saw was of poor quality, with bleached faces occasionally.)
Her flapper, named Teazie, is meant to be a spoof of the 20s jazz babies known as flappers. Having come out of an orphanage, Teazie has to be taught how to primp and pose and vamp a man. Of course she's ridiculous because it's not her true nature. But the fact that the yokels fall for her vamp act is Griffith's comment on the phoniness of flappers and the stupidity of bumpkins.
One of the bumpkins gossips constantly about Teazie and convinces the preacher she's a tramp. He goes away after their one night together. She has the baby and is turned out of her job at the local inn. Despondent and starving she considers suicide but hangs on. But poverty and threats from others to turn her in and take away the baby take their toll. She becomes ill and lies dying when the preacher finally finds her. The ending is pure Griffith.
Marsh certainly ranks among the great early silent film actresses. She was much more expressive than Lillian Gish or Mary Pickford and sometimes now comes off as hammy, but she has moments in The White Rose where she is magnificent and matches her best work in The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. Handsome Novello suffers nicely as the guilty clergyman and probably could have given Rudolph Valentino and Ramon Novarro a run for their money as a Hollywood Idol, but he worked mostly on stage in London. Carol Dempster (Griffith's protégé) is bland as the clergyman's friend. Neil Hamilton, despite good billing, has a small part as the poor boy trying to make good. Lucille Laverne is fun (in blackface) as Auntie Esther.
Despite its melodramatic nature and moralizing tones, Griffith still packs this film with great scenes and his trademark layered action (foreground and background). The DVD I have is also washed out (noted elsewhere in comments) and some faces appear as white blanks, but this is a 1923 film that has not been restored.
Little Mae Marsh, one of the first movie stars, certainly deserves to be remembered. But The White Rose was her last real shot at stardom, and as talkies came in her work in the teens was forgotten She worked in films in bit parts through the 60s. But to fans of silent cinema Mae Marsh ranks with the greats and deservedly so.
'The White Rose' is not one of his best though sadly. Of the films of his seen, it is a lesser work and one of only three disappointments so far seen of Griffith's work. The others being 'The Birth of a Nation' because of its mess of a second half and the whole of 'Abraham Lincoln', the only one of his work seen where he was clearly not comfortable in the director's chair. It is a great representation of Marsh and interesting to see Ivor Novello (known best to me as a song-writer, some lovely songs he wrote too) in an acting role, but it's best looking elsewhere for a good representation of Griffith.
Some absolutely beautiful images and cinematography can be seen 'The White Rose', well it is Griffith so that was not unexpected. The lighting also has a lot of atmosphere. Griffith gives some more than competent and often accomplished direction, if not as imaginative as some of his other work.
Moreover, there is a wonderful lead performance from Marsh, another one of great silent film actresses. Carol Dempster does much with little and Novello is a dashing leading man even if the part doesn't exactly stretch him. There is some nice chemistry between him and Marsh.
However, 'The White Rose' is somewhat too long and could have been trimmed by twenty minutes. Evident from the pedestrian and over-stretched pace and too many self-indulgent close ups. The story, on top of being very slight for feature length, is very soapy and goes overboard on the too heavy melodrama.
Rest of the cast tend to overact or are not particularly memorable. Lucille La Verne, my first exposure to her being her voice work for the Evil Queen from 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves', comes off best. The stereotypes are unfortunate and are not going to go down well with everybody, have seen more offensive ones though.
In summary, watchable but Griffith did do much better than this. 5/10
And then there is Lucille La Verne as Auntie Easter, Dempster's "mammy". It is hard to tolerate Griffith's insistence of putting white actors in black face for African American roles - and his using these roles for low comic relief. Claims by some, including Lillian Gish, that Griffith was not racist are made a nonsense by this. Having said that it is impossible to deny that La Verne is excellent in the role, and that she shows more compassion to her fellow humans than the white characters do.
The performance of the film though is that of Mae Marsh. In the type of role normally played by Lillian Gish in Griffith films, Marsh proves herself to be the equal of Gish. She suffers with great beauty and emotional integrity - and she convincingly takes her character from innocent orphan girl, to town floozie (she is nick-named "Teazie"), to suffering single mother. It is one of the best silent era performances. How sad to note that in later years she was offered little more than extra work in movies.
And the film is so beautiful too - the rose symbol is used to great effect, and Bitzer's use of light and shadow is truly magical. This is a Griffith film that deserves serious reconsideration.
** (out of 4)
Light melodrama about a preacher (Ivor Novello) who decides to "see the real world" before taking over his new church. While out he runs into a poor woman (Mae Marsh) and the two soon become lovers, which leaves her pregnant. After hearing she's pregnant, the preacher takes off and soon ends up with a rich girl (Carol Dempster) but fate might bring all three together. This is yet another moral tale from Griffith who wants again comes off very harsh on the rich while showing that the poor are the strong people of the world. I've seen over one hundred films from the director and it seems this is the type of film he always goes back to. The movie isn't too bad but it is rather bland in its execution, which means only Griffith die-hards should seek it out. Novello, who would go onto star in Hitchock's The Lodger, turns in a very good performance and his moral breakdown at the end is certainly the highlight of the film. Dempster is also fine in her role but I think this is one case where Griffith should have used her in the lead. Marsh, back with the director for the first time since Intolerance is decent in the later part of the film but suffers a little at the start due to what seems like a lack of direction. Towards the end of the film when the poor girl is kicked around by the rich, she takes shelter with the black folks who take her in as one of her own. This type of support for blacks was certainly rare in these days but that didn't stop them from having mostly whites play them (the preacher was played by a real black actor).
Did you know
- TriviaThe original print was hand-tinted in soft pinks and greens.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Love Goddesses (1965)
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $650,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1