The Hoodlum (1919)

The granddaughter (Mary Pickford) of a wealthy but corrupt businessman is a spoiled brat used to getting her own way. When she spurns her grandfather's offer to travel to Europe and decides to live with her father instead, she finds it difficult to adjust as her father lives in the slums of lower New York City. Based on the novel BURKESES AMY by Julie Matilde Lippman and directed by Sidney Franklin (THE GOOD EARTH). I'm not a huge Mary Pickford fan so I don't know where this film ranks among her fans but I enjoyed it. Even though she starts off playing a self centered brat, we know it's only a matter of time until she sees the light and does the right thing, after all she's Mary Pickford, America's sweetheart! The humor isn't too broad and the movie has a good moral without being too treacly. The print I saw had a very nice orchestral score by Bonnie Ruth Janofsky that propels the movie along nicely. With Ralph Lewis, Kenneth Harlan and T.D. Crittenden.