My Best Girl

There is a bittersweet quality to "My Best Girl" which has nothing to do with the on-screen action. This was Pickford's last silent film, and as such heralds the end of an era. Though she would continue with her career until 1933, sound and its early limitations really knocked her off her exalted pedestal.

It is also the film in which she co-starred with Buddy Rogers who became her husband for over forty years. (In the process she had to divorce Douglas Fairbanks, and anyone who cares even vaguely about silent film will have certain pangs of regret about that.)

In itself it is a beautifully constructed, engaging romance. Unusual for a Pickford feature, it tends to outstay its welcome towards the end, where Mary's histrionics are laid on a little thick. Buddy I find irritatingly enthusiastic - can't the man just laugh without slapping his knees?

But let's not nit pick. "My Best Girl" is a totally engaging piece of fluff; not up to the standards that Mary set in "Sparrows" and "Stella Maris", but still amongst her most accessible features today. See it if you can with the Gaylord Carter organ track.

My Best Girl is Mary Pickford's last silent film...the last big go around for America's Sweetheart. In this film, she goes back to her roots...she plays someone her own age. Unlike the gothic Sparrows, or the poor low class lady in Suds, Mary comes off as striking and fills the screen with her beauty and charm. She plays a stock girl in a large department store, who falls in love with the owner's son, which at first she doesn't realize. She has to deal with her strange family, where they all look to her for leadership. The owner's son (Buddy Rogers, whom Mary later really marries) must deal with his parents and other girlfriend when he too returns her love. What's charming about this picture, is when I watched it late at night recently, is to notice how much the world has really changed since 1927. Remember when a family actually owned a department store instead of faceless boards of directors and changing CEOs? And how the cash registers rang up 5 cents for a total purchase? How the department stores has sales people every few feet to help you? How the street was filled with cars that now can only be found in museums? How innocent the dating was reflected in film...kissing was like...going all the way! It is also interesting to notice how the rich were shown on film in the 1920s. I'll bet most people in the audience could only dream of homes like those shown. And that all the actors and actresses you see are now gone, their image lives on in film..which is a moment captured in time forever.

A spunky stock girl in a large department store falls in love with the handsome son of the owner, who is working there incognito. Their ripening romance is threatened, however, by the antics of their two families.

Wonderfully warm & witty, MY BEST GIRL was Mary Pickford's last silent film. In it she bids farewell to the flickering shadows which made her the world's most famous celebrity. Fortunately, as her silent swan song, it is a very good picture, with excellent production values and equal dollops of comedy & heartbreak. Mary's face, and especially her eyes, express her every mood. This was the face of the shrewd & powerful woman who in a significant measure had created the motion picture industry - and who so soon would be leaving it.

Her co-star is young Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, who would score a huge success this same year of 1927 as the star of the epic WINGS, winner of the first Oscar for Best Picture. Here he displays the charm for which he became famous. Although 12 years younger than Mary in real life, he was a good knight to her lady in distress, protecting & loving her through her final silent film.

The rest of the cast is also very good: Lucian Littlefield as Pickford's tiny, ineffectual father; Sunshine Hart as her massive, emotional mother, a woman whose greatest delight is going to strangers' funerals; and Carmelita Geraghty as her flapper sister. Hobart Bosworth gives dignity to the role of Rogers' father. Comic Mack Swain appears as a harried judge. Movie mavens will recognize Nigel De Brulier in a poignant role as a crippled match seller.

The film has been restored and given an evocative new score. It will delight fans of Pickford & the silent cinema for years to come.

After MY BEST GIRL, Pickford made four talkies and even won an Academy Award, but she retired from the screen in 1933, very wealthy, her legend intact, and involved herself in various good works. Her divorce from Douglas Fairbanks came in 1936 and she married 'Buddy' Rogers in 1937, becoming, in truth, his best girl. For the next 42 years he cared for her, as age and alcohol took their toll on Little Mary. Pickford became increasingly secluded in Pickfair, rarely leaving the upper floors of her fabled mansion in her last years. She did not want her fans to see the old woman she had become. Surprisingly, she did make a TV appearance for a few moments in 1976 when she accepted an Honorary Oscar. Then it was back into the shadows. America's Sweetheart died in May of 1979 at the age of 87.

Never a great movie star, but a very well-loved gentleman, 'Buddy' Rogers involved himself with charities & various humanitarian causes. He died in 1999, at the age of 94.

Mary Pickford (as Maggie Johnson) is a lowly "5 & 10 cent" stockroom worker. One day, while covering a salesclerk's station, she encounters cute Charles "Buddy" Rogers (as Joe "Grant" Merrill). Ms. Pickford thinks Mr. Rogers is a customer; so, she tries to sell him on a Devil Doll - blowing it up for size! The two are mutually attracted; and, Rogers is happily assigned to be Pickford's stockroom ward. Pickford doesn't know it, but Rogers is actually millionaire store owner Hobart Bosworth (as Robert E. Merrill)'s son, posing as a "commoner" in order to earn some business sense. Moreover, Rogers is engaged to marry his societal equal, Avonne Taylor (as Millicent Rogers)…

This was Pickford's final silent film; and, in hindsight, she might have been wise to end her career right here, on top. "My Best Girl" is an indispensable film, one of several late 1920s films which show the silent film had achieved a considerable level of artistic sense. It's difficult to point out single pieces, since the entire film works so well; however, the rainy location scenes are notably exquisite. Director Sam Taylor and Pickford shine throughout. Dave Kesson, Charles Rosher, and Jack Schulze make outstanding contributions. This is one of Pickford's finest performances; and, she forms an extraordinary partnership with relative newcomer Rogers. Their scenes together are magical, rivaling the more rustic Lillian Gish/Robert "Bobby" Harron romances directed by D.W. Griffith.

Pickford and Rogers later took the chemistry evident on film to heart, and formed a more long-term partnership; their wedding and "newsreel" footage provide a lovely coda for "My Best Girl"...

Life imitates art.

********** My Best Girl (10/31/27) Sam Taylor ~ Mary Pickford, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Lucien Littlefield, Hobart Bosworth

Mary Pickford is as charming and funny as ever in this one. Her role gives her a chance to do what she did best, and it's a lot of fun to watch. 'Buddy' Rogers also makes his character likable and sympathetic, and the combination works very well. While the story is nothing really new - a poor girl working in a store falls in love with the rich owner's son - it's filmed with thoughtfulness, creativity, and plenty of humor.

Even if you don't like romantic comedies, it would be hard not to enjoy the scenes with Pickford and Rogers together. They are winsome, but usually avoid becoming overly cute. The scenario gives them just enough material to work with, and the settings and props are made to fit right in with the engaging characters. Their respective families - sources of difficulty and complications for them both, although ultimately they too are mostly sympathetic - are also nicely worked into the picture.

Pickford certainly had more challenging roles, but "My Best Girl" is one of her most enjoyable films to watch. It is (seemingly) effortlessly entertaining while also letting you into the lives of its characters, with a perfect balance of romance and comedy. Highly recommended.