HEART O’ THE HILLS

Sidney A. Franklin


Sc.: Bernard McConville, dal romanzo «The Heart of the Hills» di John Fox. M.: Edward McDermott. Scgf: Max Parker. F.: Charles Rosher. Ass.R.: Alfred L. Werker. Cast: Mary Pickford (Mavis Hawn), Allan Sears (Jason Honeycutt), Clare McDowell (Martha Hawn), Fred W. Huntley (Jason Hawn), Sam De Grasse (Steve Honeycutt), William Bainbridge (col. Pendleton), Jack Gilbert (Gray Pendleton), Betty Bouton (Marjorie Lee), Henry J. Herbert (Norton Sanders), Fred Warren (John Burnham), Harold Goodwin. Prod.: Mary Pickford Co.; 35mm. D.: 84’ a 21 f/s.

info_outline
T. it.: Italian title. T. int.: International title. T. alt.: Alternative title. Sog.: Story. Scen.: Screenplay. F.: Cinematography. M.: Editing. Scgf.: Set Design. Mus.: Music. Int.: Cast. Prod.: Production Company. L.: Length. D.: Running Time. f/s: Frames per second. Bn.: Black e White. Col.: Color. Da: Print source

Film Notes

The «New York Times» review of The Heart o’ the Hills indicates that critics were catching on to Mary’s strategy regarding her persona: «Apparently Mary Pickford is facing the realization that she cannot go on forever as the sweet, cute, and kittenish little darling of the screen, for her latest […] shows her in more serious moods and with more mature manners than her previous productions.» Pickford played an untamed Kentucky mountain girl in a story taken from a novel by John Fox, Jr., a popular fiction writer of the day. The clever way in which she and her collaborators addressed the problem of her age – and of her fan’s unwillingness to let go of their «little Mary» – is effectively demonstrated. […] In the final third of the film Mary becomes a grown-up, suddenly wealthy, having been conveniently adopted by Colonel Pendleton. She’s fashionably dressed in an elegantly cut riding habit, and she is a radiant, glowing young woman, her real offscreen self. In the end, reunited with her childhood mountain beau, the tomboy is seen to be still enclosed within the very elegant bosom of the mature young woman. Dressed in a beautiful organdy dress with a bow, she becomes again the playful young girl as she and her true love jump up and down in a stream and Mary falls on her bottom in the water. At this point, she gives her audience both her womanly self and her familiar youthful screen character.

Jeanine Basinger, Silent Stars, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999

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