Silent Film of the Month: The Hoodlum (1919)

 

Runtime: 78 Minutes. Studios: Mary Pickford Company, First National. Director: Sidney Franklin. Writer: Bernard McConville. Based on a book by Julie Mathilde Lippmann. Main Cast: Mary Pickford, Ralph Lewis, Kenneth Harlan, T.D. Crittenden. Cinematographer: Charles Rosher. Editor: Edward M. McDermott. Despite being one of the biggest stars of the silent era and some one who is still associated with silent movies, Mary Pickford's films often get overlooked by today's silent movie fans. Instead many silent movie fans gravitate towards slapstick comedians like Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, or towards European art films. This is a shame because Mary's films hold up extremely well today and it is crystal clear why she was such a major star in her day. Mary has often been referred to as the little girl with the curls. This however can be misleading as it can make her character sound overwhelmingly girly but in reality her characters are very much tough tomboys. However her characters were often much younger than she was herself. Though Mary tried to branch out and play older characters, audiences latched on to these little girls and wanted and expected her to play these roles. In The Hoodlum her character is of indeterminant age. She is young enough to play with little kids like peers but old enough to have a serious romance. Mary plays Amy a spoiled girl who lives with her grandfather (Ralph Lewis). However when she moves in with her father (T. D. Crittenden), she finds herself in a completely different environment, the slums of New York. She starts out as stuffy and looking down on her new neighbors but soon she finds out that they are truly good hearted people. This is truly an excellent film that shows the appeal of Mary Pickford to its fullest. She plays the part to perfection. In her hands this part becomes more than just a spoiled little girl, but a tough and spunky but also sweet and good hearted character. She also equally gets tp show off her comedic and dramatic side. While Mary may not have been a slapstick comedian in the same way that Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton were, she could definitely pull of a physical joke very well and humor plays an important part in all her best movies. This movie also is an incredibly good hearted film. This is especially seen in the scenes with with the folks from the slums. Many of them are minorities and because this movie was made in 1919, they are obviously somewhat stereotyped (one of them is played by Max Davidson (who had a series of comedy shorts playing a stereotyped Jewish character)). However there is nothing mean spirited in this stereotyping and these are characters that are shown in an incredibly positive light. It is easy to see why Amy grows to care about them because we do too. While it is a good hearted sweet film, it does not overly sugarcoat anything and we see the sheer hardships of poverty in some startlingly real and effective scenes.

Exhibitor's Herald, 1919 This movie's director is Sidney A. Franklin, a fairly prolific director and producer. Some of his directorial efforts include The Good Earth (1937), Her Night of Romance (1924), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957) and Quality Street (1927). Movies that he produced include Mrs. Miniver (1942), Random Harvest (1942) and The Yearling (1946). Disney fans might recognize his name from a credit in Bambi (1942) stating "To Sidney A. Franklin - our sincere appreciation for his inspiring collaboration." This was because he originally bought the story for Bambi with intentions of making a live action film. However he came to the conclusion that this film should be done in animation, he sold the rights to Walt Disney. Charles Rosher is the cinematographer for this film. During the silent era, some actresses had their favorite cinematographer who they felt photographed them best. Mary's favorite was Charles Rosher and would work on most of Mary's films during this era.

Motion Picture News, 1919 Of course in 2021, we are all familiar with the idea of a wide-spread disease affecting the making of the movie. The same thing happened at the time when this movie was made, but instead of Covid-19, at this time it was the Spanish Flu. Mary caught this and production had to be delayed for four weeks. Her doctor advised her to wait longer to go back to work, but Mary resumed working on this movie before she was completely better. In 1918 Mary had signed with First National. First National was not like other studios at the time which completely ran the whole show. The studio had been formed by exhibitors Thomas Tally and John Williams in 1917. At this time "block booking" greatly effected many exhibitors. This was when the studios demanded that to get their big name movies you had to also get their less popular and sometimes quite bad movies as well. The two founders brought in other exhibitors from around the United States and started their own roster of stars. Two of these stars were two of the biggest names in Hollywood, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, both of whom received complete creative control over the films they made there. She received her own production unit, named Mary Pickford Company. First National shared the copyright for the movie with Mary Pickford Company. The Hoodlum marked Mary's second film for First National (preceded by Daddy Long Legs (1919)). After this movie she would only make one more picture for First National, The Heart O' The Hills (1919). The reason for this is that she would form United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks and make all her future films there.

Exhibitor's Herald, 1919 The following are some exhibitor's reviews from Exhibitor's Herald. "The Hoodlum, with Mary Pickford.— This picture went over fine. Better than some of the others.—E. W. Blythe. Majestic theatre, Decatur, Tex.—Small town patronage." " The Hoodlum, with Mary Pickford.— Drew well. Patrons seemed pleased. Star draws well for me.—Dr. E. Webb, Majestic Theatre, Chillicothe, Tex. - Small Town Patronage." "The Hoodlum with Mary Pickford. Business extra good. Mary certainly makes them laugh in this one. I even liked it better than Daddy Long Legs. Henry Pelteer, Shelby Theatre, Louisville Ky. - Neighborhood Patronage." "The Hoodlum with Mary Pickford. Class A picture. Business good. Weather bad. P.D. Alleman, Strand Theatre, Clinton, Ia. - Neighborhood Patronage." "The Hoodlum, with Mary Pickford.— Good picture and drew fine, but after paying extra advertising and high rental nothing left for us.—R. R. Booth, Para- mount theatre, Nebraska City, Neb.— General patronage." For anyone interested this movie can be found on YouTube or in better quality on the DVD, Rags & Riches: The Mary Pickford Collection. The below video does not have any music so if you are going to watch it this way put on some instrumental music you like to accompany it.

-Michael J. Ruhland Resources Used https://silentology.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/obscure-films-the-hoodlum/ https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/495738/the-hoodlum#articles-reviews?articleId=345380 https://www.skywaytowonderland.com/bambi/ Doug and Mary: A Biography of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford by Gary Carey.