Suds

Amanda Afflick (Mary Pickford) is a laundry worker in London early in the 20th century. She is small and weak and the other girls at the laundry pick on her, but she has one consolation: she adores a male customer who left his shirt eight months ago. In front of her colleagues she pretends he is her lover and she is the disowned daughter of an 'arch-dook'. A sub-plot tells how she saves the ancient horse that pulls the laundry cart from being sent off to the knacker's yard. If there is any single film that demonstrates what a great actress Pickford was it is not one of the pictures where she plays a little girl; it is this one. Without any camera tricks and with minimal makeup she manages to appear as an entirely different person - small, wizened, with hunched shoulders and pinched face, whose underlying beauty becomes apparent only at second sight. 'Suds' tells a story that is not particularly happy but it is still full of humour and even of slapstick-like fun (the film exists with several endings, I saw the version where Amanda and her true admirer are reunited with the horse in the countryside). In the course of her career, Pickford would make more sophisticated pictures, for my taste reaching her high point in 1927 with 'My Best Girl'. However, 'Suds' is incomparably better than the earlier efforts of her that I have watched and it showcases her talents perfectly. Highly recommended!

Not wanting to be pigeon holed in little girls' roles, Mary Pickford immediately took on the part of a laundress working in a dingy laundry in the January 1920 film "Suds." She's constantly picked on by co-workers because of her fantasies associating with handsome men and members of the upper class. Pickford makes her character, Amanda, look as plain as possible by wearing worn out clothes and hunching her shoulders. Saving an old white work horse from the glue factory by taking it to her apartment opens doors of opportunities for Amanda in potentially realizing her dreams.

The studio was criticized for using the play's original ending and immediately filmed and tacked on an upbeat conclusion that still leaves today's viewers a bit confused.

"Suds," based on the 1904 English play 'Op o' Me Thumb," was revamped into a musical opera in the late 1990's using 1960's songs such as 'Please Mr. Postman' and 'Chapel of Love.'

Okay, so I've checking message boards and after seeing pretty much all of the Mary Pickford films one can get on video-which is just a small percentage-I have to say Suds is one of my favorites. It's really goofy, and yeah, a little uneven, but in a way that's it's charm. It has some real goofy charm, I like that Pickford plays a total screw-up. Most of her intentions are good, but she's also a liar, she's a very dynamic person. Often I get bored of Mary Pickford films because she would get stuck playing one-note characters. Amanda is an interesting character because she's such a dork. It's a little sad because seeing odd but charming choices she makes as Amanda, such as the scene where she can't stop scratching the itch on her arm, or the scene where she stitches a portrait of guy she likes into his own shirt show that while she got more opportunities than most women of her time if things had been different she may have been female Charline and not a footnote in cinema history-a title she doesn't deserve anyway. it's a good film.

Amanda Afflick, a poor laundress, works in London, where she is taunted by her co-workers and called "Sudsie." She has all sorts of misadventures. She then makes up a story that she is really the daughter of the "Arch-dook," and is hoping to find a man who will love her for who she is. Benjamin Jones, another commoner, shows fondness for her, but Amanda tries to hold out for the well-off Horace Greensmith, who had left his shirt to be laundered. (Note: in an alternate ending, according to contemporaneous reviews, Amanda cries her heart out on the steps of the laundry. This scene is included in the version I watched, but a more satisfying conclusion is added.)

It took me a while to warm up to this film. For one thing, Pickford is almost unrecognizable in her role; I kept wondering if I was watching the right movie. I was almost jolted during the scene where she imagines she is the daughter of royalty. We get a nice close-up of Pickford, and she appears stunningly beautiful, in contrast to her homely appearance for most of the film.

Some of her early predicaments were not too funny; some seemed downright painful to watch. Eventually, the story did grow on me. There are also some good laughs involving a horse she rescues. For me, Pickford's talent is on full display when she realizes that Albert Austin (as Horace Greensmith), who has just invited her out, is actually ashamed to be seen with her. One can see the pain in her face, even as she smiles at the man who is beyond her station in life.

This is not a classic by any means, but a chance to see Pickford playing an interesting character.

I love silent films, but I have to admit some of the old films don't translate well to the 21st century. Some of the older "classics" now seem antiquated and dull. However, I am happy to report that this is not the case with SUDS. Despite being an 86 year-old film, it still is good fun and is one of the most watchable Mary Pickford films because it doesn't take itself very seriously.

Mary plays a rather homely laundress and there is absolutely no hint of her beauty in this film. This laundress is pretty clumsy but nice. However, because her life is so drab, she dreams of a better life--even going so far as making up a fictitious boyfriend out of a guy who forgot his shirt there over 8 months ago. She described him as being a duke and talks of how he will whisk her away.

At the same time, there's a parallel plot of the horse cart that delivers the laundry from this business. The driver seems to like Mary but his feelings are not professed. Also, Mary adores the old broken-down horse and laments that it's about to be sent to the glue factory by the nasty owner of the business. She runs to its rescue and buys the horse--keeping it in her apartment! Then, the film offers two different endings on the DVD from Image Entertainment--one the American ending and the other the European ending. Both are different--one is a little sweeter, the other funnier. I recommend if you have a chance, view both endings--they are both worth seeing. There apparently was a third melancholy ending that was suggested by Chaplin that was also used, but apparently it is no longer in existence. I actually am glad, as I liked the more up-beat endings.

The bottom line is that the film is amusing and touching and well worth your time. Though a "slight film" with modest pretenses, I actually preferred it to many of the big reputation silent films.