The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Maurice Tourneur

Writers:

Eleanor Gates (play)
Frances Marion (writer)

Release Date:

5 March 1917 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Gwen's family is rich, but her parents ignore her and most of the servants push her around, so she is lonely and unhappy...

Plot Keywords:

Servant | Neglected Child | Upper Class | Melodrama | Social Climber

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Mary Pickford	...	Gwendolyn
Madlaine Traverse	...	Her mother
Charles Wellesley	...	Her father
Gladys Fairbanks	...	Jane
Frank McGlynn Sr.	...	The plumber
Emile La Croix	...	The organ grinder
Marcia Harris	...	Miss Royale
Charles Craig	...	Thomas
Frank Andrews	...	Potter
Herbert Prior	...	The doctor
George Gernon	...	Johnny Blake
Maxine Elliott Hicks	...	Susie May Squoggs (as Maxine Hicks)

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Biograph Studios, Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Artcraft Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1991.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

A Study Of Neglect

Like so many of the silents, there is a powerful message here about family and the importance of family. Here is a little girl with everything money can buy except the time of her parents. They are so busy with making money and the social circuit they have no time for their little girl (Mary Pickford). As is also the case with so many silents, the cue cards make sure that we understand the points the makers want made. And as has been the case in so many other silents, the movie makes its points very well and did not need the extra cue cards to make them. Having said that, this is a very good movie. Early films could do a very good job of telling a story and making a statement. This one does indeed do both.