Heart o' the Hills

I watched this film without the usual musical soundtrack accompaniment and was totally hooked from the first few frames nevertheless. Mary Pickford was a little dynamo in her role in this film; I thoroughly enjoyed her and the rest of the cast. Featuring a very young John Gilbert too (here credited as Jack Gilbert), Heart o' the Hills is great entertainment. Mary displays many emotional layers as a strong and independent country girl who has vowed to avenge her father's murder. Along the way she grows up, falls in love, becomes educated, and finds her place in life. A must see for the Mary enthusiast. >

This is certainly an odd film with superstar Mary Pickford playing a simple "mountain gal" in Kentucky who deals with crooked outsiders who want the land for its timber and coal and who will do anything to get it. Episodic in nature the film includes a great comic "barn dance" sequence in what is essentially a solid melodrama about Mavis Hawn and her growth into womanhood.

As always Pickford is super paying the feisty young woman whose father is gunned down before her eyes. Later, her widowed mother (Claire McDowell) marries, but he's in cahoots with the land developers. Pickford spends idyllic days in the mountains with pal Harold Goodwin hunting and fishing and walking through the majestic woods. But tension arises when the local "squire's" son (John Gilbert) catches Pickford's eye and the two guys begin to battle for her attentions.

In an effort to rid the area of the land developers, Pickford joins, in an astonishing scene, the "night-riders." Pickford dons the white sheets and hood of the KKK and rides with the men to scare the land developer but he gets shot and Pickford is accused of murder.

The comic relief in this film is the barn dance and it's a joy to see Pickford and future superstar John Gilbert (then only 22 years old) in the frantic dance sequence, which ends only when an old man loses his teeth on the dance floor.

Mary Pickford never gave a bad performance, and HEART O' THE HILLS is another example of the versatility of this superstar of the silent era. In 1919, Pickford also starred in DADDY-LONG-LEGS, THE HOODLUM, and CAPTAIN KIDD JR.

The tense, somber melodrama in this Mary Pickford feature is complemented very well by Charles Rosher's photography, which helps to draw you in and makes you feel part of the characters' world. It has very little humor for a Pickford vehicle, and even the occasional lighter moments are almost invariably followed quickly by another serious turn, which keeps the mood serious most of the time.

The story has Pickford's character Mavis battling for survival in the Kentucky hills, seeking to avenge her father's murder even as she contends with outsiders who want to exploit the region's coal. There are several complicating factors, so that the scenario builds up a web of problems for Pickford and the other sympathetic characters to contend with. Among the secondary characters is a very young-looking John Gilbert, who is interesting to watch even though his role is not especially substantial.

Besides the relative lack of comedy, Pickford's character is unusually desperate. There is also a rather unsettling sequence with a vigilante confrontation that evokes some real anxiety, and a courtroom scene that anticipates one of the well-known scenes from "Spartacus". The story packs a lot of drama and tension into an hour and a quarter.

The cinematography helps considerably in making the story work. Despite the limitations of the era (and the damage done to the print over time), it makes you feel as if you really were in the Kentucky hills, with many outdoor shots that work very well, and many details that make the setting and story more believable. Pickford's own performance and screen presence are, of course, a plus to any movie. Amongst her features of the era, this one is good rather than excellent, but it's certainly worth seeing.

When "America's Sweetheart", Mary Pickford, played this film's shotgun-toting, hillbilly heroin, Mavis Hawn, she was 28 years old and her character was 13. (Can you believe it!?)

I don't know about you, but, no matter how cute-n-innocent the petite Pickford may have tried to present herself, she certainly didn't convince me that she was but a mere child.

Pickford's "Mavis" may have been perceived as "pure-as-the-driven-snow" by the naive audience of 95 years ago, but, to me, her deception of age struck me as being downright ludicrous to the 10th power.

Very nicely shot in the mountainous region of Kentucky, Heart O' The Hills is something of a Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn-type "Chick Flick" of woe & injustice.

Pickford plays Mavis Hawn, a simple, "sweet-as-apple-pie" farm-girl whose strong-willed feistiness has made her something of a dead-aim with a shotgun (which she readily reaches for whenever the need arises).

After witnessing the shooting of her beloved father (by someone unknown), Mavis devotes her life to avenging his death. Meanwhile, her mother's farm is being threatened by villainous, rich, city capitalists who will stoop to anything to drive the Hawn family (and others) off their coal-rich land.

In the realm of entertainment, I, personally, consider this (color-tinted) tale of down-home, country comforts to be neither good, nor bad. It was just "OK".

Heart O' The Hills had a running time of just 78 minutes.

HEART O'THE HILLS was Mary Pickford's final film project before the formation of United Artists in 1919 and was her fourth film of that year. She had recently left Adolph Zukor and Paramount and was stretching her wings as an independent producer (they predicted she would fall flat on her face). It is one of a quartet of new Pickford releases from The Mary Pickford Foundation and Milestone Films and is one of Mary's best. The others three are LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY, SUDS, and THROUGH THE BACK DOOR.

The film is set in the mountains of Kentucky (it was shot in California) and deals with a young mountain girl's attempt to avenge the murder of her father. It gives Pickford another opportunity to do what she did best, a coming of age story in which she plays a young girl who becomes a young woman by the time the film is finished. The recreation of an isolated mountain community is remarkable although the dialect used in the title cards may annoy some people and the "Night Rider" sequence will disturb others. It has fantastic scenery, outstanding photography, and mighty fine performances from all concerned. There's a nice turn from veteran silent villain Sam De Grasse and check out the young John (Jack) Gilbert in his first significant role as a lowland suitor.

In addition to the quality print used for the video transfer (it's sharp and well defined with color tints), there is a remarkable new score from Maria Newman which captures the flavor of old timey mountain music while still being thoroughly modern in style. For me it enhanced the viewing experience tremendously. The DVD also comes with a second Pickford feature, M'LISS from 1918. While it is not as good as HEART and the print is not as well presented, M'LISS still has a lot to recommend it including sure handed direction from Marshall Neilan (Pickford's favorite director) and colorful performances from silent character stalwarts Theodore Roberts, Charles Ogle, and Tully Marshall. All in all an outstanding DVD and my favorite of the set...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.