Almost as soon as there were movies there were movie stars. Curiosity, humor, and spectacle made movies a viable business, but stars made them the powerhouse industry they are today. And the biggest star of them all - certainly of the day, and arguably of all time - was Mary Pickford, the original America's Sweetheart (born Toronto, 1892).
I'd never seen a Pickford film before, so I was eager to size her up as an actress, not merely a celebrity, and Stella Maris provided a good opportunity to do so thanks to Pickford's double roles: as the titular Stella, a paraplegic sheltered all her life from the injustice of the outside world, and as Unity Blake, a homely orphan who's known nothing else.
January 9, 2011
Stella Maris (1918)
This week's film was a little bit confusing. The main actress, Mary Pickford, played both the title role of Stella Maris and the role of the homely orphan girl Unity. I'm not quite sure why she played both roles actually. At first I thought maybe it would turn out to be a "twins separated at birth and joyously reunited at the end" type of story, or perhaps something along the lines of "The Prince and the Pauper". But this movie is neither. The two characters are only connected through a shared relationship with one John Riska. This part was slightly confusing, as I think I missed the explanatory title plate. For most of the movie I was under the impression that they were cousins, but by the end I knew that was not the case. Apparently he was the cousin of Lady Blount, the woman taking care of Stella Maris, though why she was being cared for by people unrelated to herself is still a mystery. There was always a great affection between Stella Maris and John however, as Stella Maris always referred to him as the Great High Belovedest - a title which Robin now wishes to be known as by me.
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