029: Stella Maris (1918); released 1/21/1918; viewed 1/15/06
1918. The United States declares war on Germany, joining the Great War at last. The Russian Revolution has left the royal family dead. The very first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded. T.E. Lawrence leads Arabian troops to capture Aqaba from the Turks. John Tolkien, age 25, begins writing his Book of Lost Tales, while in the trenches, the first work that would become the world of Middle-Earth.
Births: Ernest Borgnine, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Desi Arnaz, Ella Fitzgerald, Raymond Burr, Dean Martin, John F. Kennedy, Jack Kirby, June Allyson, Joan Fontaine. Deaths: William 'Buffalo Bill' Cody, Mata Hari.
DOUG: So before we move on to the 30s and attack the sound era full-on, we will first go back and cover certain personalities more thoroughly. First off, PickFair. Our first bonus feature starring Mary Pickford is Stella Maris. We watched this early in the morning, and only half awake, so we had to re-watch the highlights later. Overall, not all that interesting. I was impressed at Ms. Pickford's dual role; if I didn't know that she played both Stella and Unity, I never would have guessed. The title character is a young invalid who is cared for and sheltered by an upper-class couple, blissfully unaware of the horrors of the real world. Eventually an operation restores her legs, and when she gets her first look at the world outside her bedroom, she is (rather predictably) horrified. Pickford also plays Unity Blake, an orphan who lives on the street, obviously Stella's opposite by being all too familiar with the horrifying real world. Another good performance comes from Marcia Manon, who plays the horrible, alcoholic Louise, married to the long-suffering John. The movie reaches its highest moment of drama when Unity confronts Louise, who had beaten her severely in an earlier scene, and shoots her dead.
KEVIN: Had this film been on the list to begin with, it would have been the second film we watched. I liked this one better than My Best Girl, but not as much as Sparrows. I thought Mary Pickford's dual performance was impressive. If the title cards didn't give away that she played both Stella and Unity Blake, I would not have been able to tell the difference. When the aunt and uncle comment on their resemblance, I thought, "They don't look much alike to me." I was not a fan of Unity's thick cockney accent, every syllable of which is phonetically displayed in the intertitles. The movie did get very sappy, but I guess that's just a sign of the times. The scene where Unity kills Louise was effective, but everyone's reactions to that event afterward lacked dramatic punch.
Next film: Daddy-Long Legs (1919)
The Movie Odyssey is an exhaustive, chronological project where we watch as many milestone films as possible, starting with D.W. Griffith's Intolerance in 1916 and working our way through, year by year, one film at a time. We also write a short review for each and every film. In this project, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the time period, the films of the era, and each film in context, while at the same time just watching a lot of great movies, most of which we never would have watched otherwise.
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