Fille d'Écosse

This is a good movie for such a little-remembered feature. In itself, its main strength is probably the interesting setting on an island off the coast of Scotland. The setting is used throughout the movie, both as a background setting and in the story itself. There are some interesting sights and views, although (due to the fact that the surviving print is so dark) it's hard to tell just how good it may have looked originally - but that's hardly the fault of those who made the original film.

The story is similar in nature to many of Mary Pickford's later, better-known features, in that it looks at the ways that relationships are affected by considerations such as wealth, social status, change, and the like. After the opening sequence, much of the first part is episodic, but pleasant. The main part of the story comes later, when Pickford and Matt Moore, as sweethearts, must face some unexpected developments together.

As one of Pickford's earliest full-length features, it's also interesting to see her growing into the style that soon made her a great star. Later on, she could do even more with this kind of role, but she already knew how to hold the attention of the audience and to make the viewers sympathetic to her character. There are even some scenes - such as the opening scene in which she prepares dinner while waiting for her father, or her scenes with the cynical Pitcairn, or her discussions with Moore's family - that parallel similar scenes in her later movies. Later on, she would be able to make scenes like these unforgettable, but even here she is already much better than most, which makes this little-known movie worth tracking down to see.

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.

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.

After Mary Pickford (as Marget MacTavish) loses her father at sea, she becomes "The Pride of the Clan"; this makes Ms. Pickford the leader of her Scottish island community. For most young women, the responsibility would prove too daunting; but, the spunky Pickford perseveres. She whips the town into shape. Pickford finds romance with Matt Moore (as Jamie Campbell); but, a secret from his past threatens their future.

This was the lesser of the collaborations between Pickford and director Maurice Tourneur. The perpetually stormy coastline photography is a strength, with Marblehead, Massachusetts doubling for Scotland. John van den Broek and Lucien N. Andriot handled the camera. Despite the promising storyline, Pickford's role as leader of her community disappoints. She appears to be a divine link between the people and God. When the Church needs parishioners, Pickford runs around town cracking her father's whip, which frightens worshipers into their pews.

***** The Pride of the Clan (1/7/17) Maurice Tourneur ~ Mary Pickford, Matt Moore, Warren Cook

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.