"Lost and Won" (1917), with Marie Doro, Elliott Dexter, Carl Stockdale, Mayme Kelso, Mamie van Buren, Robert Gray, and Clarence Geldart, and directed by Frank Reicher and "Director General" Cecil B. DeMille, left me immediately wondering, after I'd finished watching, "Who was the audience for this?" My conclusion was that this was the perfect after dinner fodder for those young ladies who were workers and who needed to see how they could be, not just the stuff that turns the wheel, not simply a cog that moves the wheel forward or around, but the wheel, or a major part of it, that purposefully drives existence. It's a simple film. It moves quickly and well. Marie Doro is absolutely gorgeous. Her eyes are the size of gleaming cities, dark though they are. The fact that she mimes ten years behind the filmic times is of no consequence; she's wonderfully watchable. She begins a poor family's ward, an orphan who sells papers on street corners, and she's tough enough to be able to take care - usually - but there are lots of others out there - lecherous older men - who'd take advantage if they could. Her friend is a reporter for the paper. That's a good thing. He lends her a book: Daddy-Long-Legs. She wishes she could find her own Daddy-Long-Legs. Up steps Elliott Dexter (Doro's husband in real life at that period)- who sends her to school - who makes her into what she always wanted to be as a personality... Now, it's time to see if he can win a bet he proposes. During the year's time, though, another incident occurs that is a wrench in the cogs, or could be.
Really a fun little film. It's a little film, but it's done well for its period. Nothing earth-shattering, but for 50 minutes a good relaxation. A working girl today might snigger about it all, but this retired old film lover enjoyed it a lot. This is a newly restored film by The Library of Congress, Ed Lorusso and Joe Harvat, part of a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Musical accompaniment is supplied by David Drazin. Nicely done. Good to see the phoenix rise from the ashes: Marie Doro was a major actress on stage in the day; today she's nearly forgotten altogether. She was already 33 or 34 when she made this film, playing a young lady perhaps just 21 or so.
