Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Lovely but hard-headed Mary Pickford was something special, both at the time for the entertainment and now for the historical perspective. Out of the films I've seen of hers I always preferred Rebecca, even over Pollyanna, the story seemed more cogent, the acting by everyone more believable and the languid Victorian atmosphere more palpable. And at 25 she still believably played a teenager.

We're presented with a series of comic episodes in the life of poor young girl Rebecca Rowena Randall, sent to live with her well-to-do aunts and get a proper ejjication. She goes from selling Superba Soap door to door, reciting her unique poetry for Visitors Day at school to organising a Circus Parade and Show and then going to boarding school. On the way she manages to help various people in trouble in her own understated way and also falls in love and fixes on the man to marry - after she becomes a woman. The most violent scene is when Rebecca pulls Minnie Smellie's nose in class. With some lovely evocative olde worlde touches, especially in the storm scene we are eventually (horse) drawn to an appropriate sunbeam ending.

Most people would disdain to clap their modern eyes on this, but that's their loss. A nice little film to sink into every few years and ruminate on how the world has changed.

During her tenure as 'America's Sweetheart', Mary Pickford made a lot of very similar films. Again and again, Mary played young girls and teenagers--even though she was clearly a woman in her 30s or 40s. America and the world loved it and didn't seem to mind. However, if you've seen as many of her films as I have, there is definitely a certain sameness about these performances. Again and again, she played a plucky, decent, adorable and slightly mischievous girl--in such films as "Daddy Long Legs", "Sparrows", "Pollyanna" and many others. I generally like these performances despite the sameness and this was true with all her fans. However, in the case of "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", she plays a similar sort of creature but the film is definitely not up to her usually high standards. Why? Mostly because the film is, at times, practically plot less.

The film begins with Rebecca (Pickford playing someone about age 14) going to live with her two elderly aunts. It seems that Rebecca's family is having financial problems and the aunts have offered to take one of the children in and adopt them--and the one turns out to be Rebecca. What follows is no real consistent theme--just a variety of incidents. Some involve Rebecca fighting with some stuck up girls at school, some with her attempts to help a local poor family and a very few involve Rebecca and her aunts. However, there really isn't much of a theme or purpose to all this. SOME attempt is made with the introduction of the Mr. Ladd character, but this is also very under-developed and a bit creepy. See the film and you'll understand about the whole 'creepy' angle. Overall, a film that left me surprisingly cold considering that I like Pickford's films...just not this one. Now I am not saying it's bad--just not nearly as good as her typical 'little girl' film.

By the way, if you want something other than these sorts of portrayals by Pickford, try finding a copy of "My Best Girl"-- probably her best film and one of the great silents.

This was never a story I really took to as a child, and even though Mary Pickford in the title role brings a great deal of charm to the character, I still don't much care for the story. "Rebecca" is a young girl whose family have fallen on hard times. One of seven siblings, she is chosen to go and live with her two maiden aunts - "Jane" (Mayme Kelso) and Miranda (Josephine Crowell) who, frankly, don't care much for or about her. Her personality is not for giving up, though, and she determines to make friends - alighting on the poverty stricken "Simpson' family to whose aid she intends to come (aka well meaning meddling). The film is pretty episodic, as is the book, in nature - and frequently her character borders on the annoyingly precocious. This production is well constructed and at times is a little more adventurous - the storm scene at the end is quite effective, and there's no denying that the star has the part down to a tee - it's just not a particularly enjoyable part to watch develop - and, well, I didn't. The two aunts play their indifferent, curmudgeonly, parts well enough and there is a bit of light-heartedness conveyed adequately via the inter-titles, but this just wasn't for me.

Saw Rebecca for the first time at the UCLA 2004 Restoration Festival. Obviously, Mary Pickford steals the show in a series of vignettes loosely tied together by screenwriter Frances Marion from the original children's story. Pickford is the original coquette, tiny (just watch her dancing with her "beau" in one scene), her head a mass of curls and a spunky spirit that's very twenty first century. However, there is much of the film that is dated and does not resonate with a modern audience.Of course, that's what I enjoyed most about the film- gazing back into a world which no longer exists. We get a glimpse at Victorian sensibilities- the movie was made in 1917-and harks back to an even earlier time. Much of the plot is devoted to Rebecca's heart warming but somewhat patronizing efforts to succor the woeful and shiftless Simpson family (now that's funny). The Simpsons are poor, badly dressed and lack a parlor lamp and a wedding band, until Rebecca comes along.

At times, it's disconcerting to see Pickford play a young teen because for all the prancing,pouting and curl tossing, Mary is clearly an adult woman. Even creepier is the abject attention this little girl is receiving from the village's most eligible bachelor, but I guess back even in 1917 people wanted to see a love story. Still, the film is an old fashioned pleasure, with many charming gags and characters, and over much too soon.

This is an ideal role for Mary Pickford, and she is quite a joy to watch. Young, lively "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" is innocent but not naive; she is charming and warm, but at the same time more than capable of taking care of herself, too - thus the character has all the qualities that Pickford excelled at portraying on screen. It was probably a pretty easy role for her to play, but the result is a delightful little comic melodrama that gives you a good idea of why Pickford came to be so wildly popular in her time.

The story follows the old-fashioned novel fairly closely, beginning with Rebecca sent to live with her two stern, joyless aunts in a new town. Much of the story's appeal lies in the ways that Rebecca responds to her new acquaintances and surroundings, and this is something Pickford does extremely well. Whether sizing up a new girl at school, or simply responding to the decorations in her aunts' home, she is convincing, captivating, sympathetic, and often very funny. And as for comedy, the wonderful circus sequence alone would make the movie worth watching.

It's hard to find this film now, but it's well worth the trouble. Perhaps from a detached point of view, this might not be considered a great movie, since the plot is somewhat predictable and very old-fashioned. But it's a thoroughly pleasurable, thoughtful film, and one filled with fine moments.