1919 romance
Rating: 14/20
Plot: A plain girl sells off her possessions, including a cow, in order to help her beau pay for college. When he returns, she's upset to see that he's got eyes for other gals.
Lillian Gish as a "plain girl" is a little difficult to buy. She makes some interesting decisions here as an actress in 1919, but she doesn't bring a lot of facial expressions to the table. Look at that goofy poster for the movie. That's pretty much the expression she makes the entire film. She makes it when she's looking at her boyfriend lovingly. She makes it when she's watching him with other girls. She makes it when she has to sell her cow.
Spoilers, by the way.
It's a little difficult for an audience watching this 100 years after it was released to root for Gish's beau, played like a walking piece of cardboard by Robert Harron. You could probably forgive him for damaging a tree because carving initials into bark was literally the only way one could show affection for another human being in the early part of the 20th Century. But when he returns from college, he's kind of a dick. He's got the adorable Lillian Gish fawning over him, but he's horny for girls with fancy dresses and make-up only. And then he marries one after knowing her for somewhere around five minutes because that's how movie characters did things back then. And then she's not even nice to him, and he still can't figure out that Lillian Gish was the one for him all along. It's not until his wife dies that he is able to figure everything out, and I'm not sure there's anything here that really helps this character earn a happy ending. I'm not sure what the moral of the story is supposed to be.
This looks good for the 19-teens, and it's always good to see Gish do her thing, even if "her thing" is just making slight variations of the same facial expression over and over again. But I like her face quite a bit and probably shouldn't complain.
By the way, I'm not sure if this is a return to Silent Saturdays or not. Watching a movie on a Saturday was more of an accident, but I didn't see nearly enough silents last year and should probably make it a habit once again. They're good for my heart.
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