Heart o' the Hills (1919)

Family tensions in the Kentucky hills are inflamed by an outsider's dishonest scheme to exploit the area for its coal.

Directors:

Joseph De Grasse, Sidney Franklin

Writers:

John Fox Jr. (novel), Bernard McConville (adaptation),

Stars:

Mary Pickford, Harold Goodwin, Allan Sears

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Mary Pickford	...	Mavis Hawn
Harold Goodwin	...	Young Jason Honeycutt
Allan Sears	...	Jason Honeycutt
Fred Huntley	...	Granpap Jason Hawn (as Fred W. Huntley)
Claire McDowell	...	Martha Hawn
Sam De Grasse	...	Steve Honeycutt
W.H. Bainbridge	...	Col. Pendleton (as William Bainbridge)
John Gilbert	...	Gray Pendleton (as Jack Gilbert)
Betty Bouton	...	Marjorie Lee
Henry Hebert	...	Morton Sanders (as Henry Herbert)
Fred Warren	...	John Burnham

Storyline

In the Kentucky hills, Jason Honeycutt lives with his harsh stepfather Steve, not far from where his friend Mavis Hawn lives with her widowed mother. Mavis spends much of her time preparing for the day when she can discover who murdered her father, and can exact revenge. Steve Honeycutt is romancing the widow Hawn, hoping to marry her and take control of her land, because he knows that visiting businessman Morton Sanders is planning to exploit the area for its coal. When Sanders's plan becomes known, a group of vigilantes confronts him by night, and soon shots are fired. Sanders is killed, and circumstantial evidence leads to Mavis being charged with the crime.

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Plot Keywords:

kentucky | hill | coal | widow | stepfather | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 November 1919 (USA)

Also Known As:

Heart of the Hills

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mary Pickford Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Hollywood (1980)

User Reviews

Mary Pickford and John Gilbert Together

This is certainly an odd film with superstar Mary Pickford playing a simple "mountain gal" in Kentucky who deals with crooked outsiders who want the land for its timber and coal and who will do anything to get it. Episodic in nature the film includes a great comic "barn dance" sequence in what is essentially a solid melodrama about Mavis Hawn and her growth into womanhood.

As always Pickford is super paying the feisty young woman whose father is gunned down before her eyes. Later, her widowed mother (Claire McDowell) marries, but he's in cahoots with the land developers. Pickford spends idyllic days in the mountains with pal Harold Goodwin hunting and fishing and walking through the majestic woods. But tension arises when the local "squire's" son (John Gilbert) catches Pickford's eye and the two guys begin to battle for her attentions.

In an effort to rid the area of the land developers, Pickford joins, in an astonishing scene, the "night-riders." Pickford dons the white sheets and hood of the KKK and rides with the men to scare the land developer but he gets shot and Pickford is accused of murder.

The comic relief in this film is the barn dance and it's a joy to see Pickford and future superstar John Gilbert (then only 22 years old) in the frantic dance sequence, which ends only when an old man loses his teeth on the dance floor.

Mary Pickford never gave a bad performance, and HEART O' THE HILLS is another example of the versatility of this superstar of the silent era. In 1919, Pickford also starred in DADDY-LONG-LEGS, THE HOODLUM, and CAPTAIN KIDD JR.