A Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)

An 11 year old girl (a 24 year old Mary Pickford) comes from a wealthy family but her father (Charles Wellesley) is more concerned with business and her mother (Madlaine Traverse) is more concerned with her social life than with their daughter. Based on the play by Frances Gates and directed by Maurice Tourneur (1920's LAST OF THE MOHICANS). I found this a bit of a slog to get through. I haven't seen all that much of Mary Pickford, often referred to as America's Sweetheart, but enough to know she's not my cup of tea. With rare exceptions (Tom Hanks in BIG), adults acting like children drive me up a wall (yes, talking to you, Ms. Rogers). Audiences at the time ate up Pickford's little girl act but she never comes across as a real child and one is cognizant of the sets being a bit larger than usual to make her seem smaller or some actors who are obviously standing on boxes to appear taller. The most interesting part of the movie is when the maid (Gladys Fairbanks) gives the child an overdose of drugs and she starts hallucinating and enters an Oz kind of land where the people in her life take the form of snakes and jackasses and a two faced character literally has two faces. It's a morality tale where love wins over wealth and I couldn't wait for it to be over. With Herbert Prior and Frank McGlynn Sr.