Artful Kate (1911) User Reviews

One Step Forward, One Back

[boblipton · 6/10 · 23 January 2021]

Owen Moore is in the navy and has been assigned to a ship headed to Cuba. This saddens girlfriend Mary Pickford, until her uncle writes to invite her to a party in Havana. She has a grand time, and when news comes that Moore's ship is docking, she decides to confuse him by appearing and pretending to be a Cuban girl.

The two leads were veterans of D.W. Griffith's company, inveigled into joining IMP - the predecessor of Universal - for large salaries. They bring their excellent pantomime to bear, but Thomas Ince's movie is slow and primitive compared to productions at Biograph. Nevertheless, the actors make this a fun movie, one of only four Pickford movies to survive from her sojourn there.

Artful Kate, Artless Film

[HarlowMGM · 5/10 · 30 June 2007]

ARTFUL KATE is one of the few Mary Pickford non-Biograph silent shorts known to survive and it's quite tough to locate today (it was released on 8mm film by Blackhawk in the 1960's). Alas, it's not much worth the hunt. American girl Pickford's beau Owen Moore is in the services and gets stationed in Cuba. Later Pickford is invited to a house party in Cuba (presumably she lives in Florida) and while there she decides to impersonate a Spanish girl to see if her feller is behaving himself. She successfully vamps her solider boy (with a "disguise" consisting of nothing but "Spanish" clothes and a hand fan which rarely hides her face) and Moore is stumped when the local lovely beats a huffed retreat after a flirting session. Back in the states, Owen is reunited with his old flame Mary who feigns sweetness and pleasure at seeing him again - only to disappear for a moment and then return in the Spanish garb and (in the movies' one funny bit) briefly burlesques a vamp before immediately unleashing her angry at her "unfaithful" man. Eventually, all is forgiven.

This movie was filmed in Cuba but it might as well have been Kansas given the lack of local scenery (virtually all of it is filmed indoors). Virtually a two-person movie, even the always enchanting Mary can't make much out of this slender storyline and the almost complete lack of title boards combined with minimal action make this one something of a chore to sit through even at ten minutes. It's easy to see why Pickford went back to Biograph if her other IMP shorts were as artlessly done as this picture.

Mary Pickford's Cuban Roots

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 5 January 2009]

Spanish immigrant Mary Pickford (as Kate) shares a kiss with her Floridian sweetheart Owen Moore, then learns his ship is being sent to Cuba. Ms. Pickford is despondent, but Mr. Moore promises to be faithful. A week later, Pickford receives an invitation to attend a house party, given by her Cuban uncle. So, Pickford decides to test Moore's love. She dresses up as a native Spanish Senorita, and flirts mercilessly with Moore. He doesn't recognize his American sweetheart, and succumbs to Pickford's seduction. Furious, Pickford rebuffs her horny boyfriend. When he returns to Florida, Pickford has "a little surprise" for her roving man! - "Artful Kate" is a cute, but not artful, film for the newly wed Moore and Pickford. Hopefully, "Kate" will advise her sweetheart to have his eyes examined.

*** Artful Kate (2/23/11) Thomas H. Ince ~ Mary Pickford, Owen Moore, Charles Arling

It depicts Cuban manners and customs with close attention to the real truth

[deickemeyer · 22 November 2015]

The second of the company's Cuban releases, and, not to make invidious comparisons, is probably considerably better than the first. There is the dash and spirit of the soldier, combined with the lively flirtation which is popularly supposed to be a part of the life of the Spanish or Cuban girl. The young soldier is later nonplussed with the indisputable evidence of his perfidy in the hands of his fiancée. But after the storm subsides a bit they make up and are unmindful of the rocks upon which their bark was almost wrecked. The picture is interesting in that it depicts Cuban manners and customs with close attention to the real truth, and there is a spirit shown by the actors which helps wonderfully in the development of the picture. Sometimes the pictures seem to almost talk in their strength and the excellence of the acting. The photography, too, leaves little to be desired. The company deserves congratulations upon producing such a good film. - The Moving Picture World, March 11, 1911