Sunshine Molly
Sog.: Alice von Saxmar. Scen.: Lois Weber. F.: Dal Clawson. Int.: Lois Weber (Sunshine Molly), Phillips Smalley (‘Bull’ Forrest), Adele Farrington (vedova Budd), Margaret Edwards (Mirra Budd), Herbert Standing (Pat O’Brien), Vera Lewis (Mrs O’Brien), Roberta Hickman (Patricia O’Brien), Frank Elliott (il suo fidanzato), Charles Marriott (Old Pete). Prod.: Bosworth. Pri. pro.: 18 marzo 1915 35mm. L.: 736 m. D.: 36’ a 18 f/s. ca. Bn.
Film Notes
Following four successful years at the helm of Universal’s Rex brand, Weber and Smalley joined Bosworth in the summer of 1914, taking advantage of improved opportunities for feature filmmaking. Bosworth promoted the couple as a prestigious producing team and by early 1915 Weber was described as “Bosworth’s principal director”. In Sunshine Molly Weber plays a young woman working in a boarding house next to an oil field, serving meals to the all-male crew and subject to continual harassment. Inventive staging and cinematography illustrate Molly’s navigation of this trying environment. Only late in the film do we learn of another workplace incident in her past. Location shooting in California oil fields adds authenticity. Reels 3 and 4 are missing and some of the remaining reels are damaged.