The Pride of the Clan

Star Pickford and director Tourneur -- along with his two favorite cameramen and assistant Clarence Brown doing the editing -- bring great beauty and intelligence to this story of poor, isolated Scottish Islanders -- the same territory that Michael Powell would stake twenty years later for his first great success. Visions of wind and wave, sunbacked silhouettes of lovers do not merely complement the story, they are the story of struggle against hardship.

The actors bring the dignity of proud people to their roles and Pickford is brilliant as her character struggles with her duties as head of the clan, wavering between comedy and thoughtfulness, here with her father's bullwhip lashing wayward islanders to church, there seated with her guest's walking stick in her hand like a scepter, discussing her lover, played by Matt Moore.

See if you can pick out future star Leatrice Joy in the ensemble. I tried, but failed.

are highlights of this 1917 feature. The Pride of the Clan tells the story of a young girl who becomes clan chieftain after her father dies. On an island off the coast of Scotland, the villagers live the simple lives of "fisher folk." My copy is very dark and sometimes hard to read, but the film boasts some stunning ocean scenery, and the camera work on boats is splendid. Maurice Tourneur directed Pickford in this pleasant film. Pickford was already a major star in 1917, and this film seems to have been written just for her: plucky young woman succeeds over misfortune. Pickford whip lashing lazy villagers toward church is very funny. And the final scenes on the sinking ship are very well done. Not a great Picford film, but still worth seeing. Matt Moore (Pickford was married to his brother, Owen Moore) is the love interest, and is good as the strapping island lad. Leatrice Joy is one of the villagers but I couldn't spot her either. My copy intersperses lots of bells and gongs and adds an eerie feeling when the village warning bells are rung. Very effective.

Mary Pickford becomes the chieftain of a Scottish clan after the death of her father, and then has a romance. As fellow commenter Snow Leopard said, the film is rather episodic to begin. Some of it is amusing, such as Pickford whipping her clansmen to church, while some of it is just there. All in all, the story is weak, especially the recycled, contrived romance plot-line and its climax. The video I saw is so dark it's difficult to appreciate the scenery, but even accounting for that, this doesn't appear to be director Maurice Tourneur's best work. Pickford and Tourneur collaborated once more in the somewhat more accessible "The Poor Little Rich Girl", typecasting Pickford in childhood roles.

The silent film the Pride of the Clan starring Mary Pickford was supposed to be set in a fictional island off the coast of Scotland. In actuality, most of the exterior shots were filmed in Marblehead Massachusett on Marblehead Neck near several rocky seaside geographic areas including the Churn and Castle Rock. My initial interest in the film was because of two factors: 1) the Marblehead film location in my hometown and, 2) the fact that my grandmother Lizzette M. Woodfin was hired as a stand-in for Mary Pickford during filming of several scenes including the "cliff scene". Both women were small (5') in stature and both my father and grandmother related the fact that she was a stand-in with her back to the camera for the cliff scene as part of the Chiefton filming set. I just wanted to relate this story for future film historians and buffs. The film itself (my DVD copy is somewhat poor) is very well done with lots of action and expressive acting including several scenes where Miss Pickford portrays a strong woman characterization. I enjoyed it and would love to get a better copy of it although I am unsure whether one exists as I have seen in various movie sites that remaining copies are dark because of deterioration. A very nice film of the silent genre with lots of action!

There's something of a documentary feel to this rather length drama about "Marget" (Mary Pickford). She's the daughter of the island chieftain who rules the place with a rod of puritanical iron. Maybe that's what attracted him to his maker because one stormy day he doesn't make it back from a fishing trip and so she becomes the boss. Now she's the antithesis of her late father. She has a sweet nature and engenders affection from the natives - especially from the young "Jamie" (Matt Moore)! With him approaching his majority, though, it emerges that he (or his mother) has been keeping quite a secret that will necessitate a life-changing visit from the "Countess of Dunstable" (Kathryn Brown-Decker) whose husband decides that any future for this bright young man must mean severing all ties with his homeland. To that end he convinces "Magret" to banish the young "Jamie" but in doing that she banished love from her heart and facilitates a denouement that could spell tragedy, or maybe not...? The story follows fairly standard plot lines but the photography is really good at illustrating the bleakness of their island home (OK, so Massachusetts rather than the Hebrides) and the bedraggled and subsistence existence of this seafaring community is well presented used that imagery and some creative costume design. Pickford and Moore have a sort of rugged chemistry between them and rather despite myself, I found the ending quite attractive. It is too long, and could probably have lost twenty minutes without harming the storyline or the characterisations, but on that last front - at least Maurice Tourneur does try to make this a love story about plausible people.