Suzanna

It is difficult to comment on Mabel's performance in this movie, as surviving prints don't have that much of her in them. The result is not a farce so much as a story of Mabel caught up between sneaky lovers in Mexico. Mabel is called upon to look pretty and realistic in her scenes, and she does this with the flair of the old trouper that she is.

The February 1923 released "Suzanna," was noted for tragic off-screen events during its production. Filming took place a year earlier when Normand became a person of interest after she was the last person to see film director William Desmond Taylor when he was murdered in his residence on February 1, 1922. Despite being a victim of circumstance, Normand's involvement was questioned, forcing her to undergo an exhaustive police interrogation right after the discovery of his death. Filming was postponed for several weeks while the investigation was playing out. Taylor's death came on the heels of Mabel's professional association with Roscoe Arbuckle, whom she co-starred in his final films before he was accused of murder. Those films were pulled from theaters and to this day most have never seen by the public since they've been presumably destroyed.

"Suzanna," so highly anticipated by Normand fans, did relatively well in the box office when it was released. The actress plays a Mary Pickford-type whose fortune is tied to her father, a laborer hired at a large estate. The owner's son is in love with Normand, much to the consternation of his father. To complicate their love, a rival from a nearby ranch also has his eyes on Mabel. A switch at birth makes things even more sticky as the plot unravels.