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| Upper crust meets hard-working Irish |
Directedby Marshall Neilan
Starring Mary Pickford, William Scott, Kate Price, Ida Waterman
Produced by Mary Pickford Company
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley follows the adventures of our title character (Pickford) as she is torn between two worlds. Amarilly is a poor girl working to clean up a theater to help support her mother and four brothers. When she is unjustly blamed for a fire at the theater and fired, her bartender boyfriend gets her a job selling cigarettes at his club. A wealthy socialite visits the establishment and, after flirting with Amarilly, he gets involved in a brawl. Amarilly takes care of the injured, rich man and begins working for him. But the socialite's mother sees an experiment in the young woman. And Clothes-Line Alley is abuzz that Amarilly has a new love. Can Amarilly become a refined young debutante? Does she even want to?
This is a classic fish-out-of-water story that plays out (for the most part) in a predictable way. However, a couple of things elevate this one above your typical movie of this era. First, Neilan's direction is great throughout. He intercuts long shots and close-ups with the medium shots that were the staple of the silent era. More than that, the way the edits happen within scenes, from one actor to another, from medium shot to close-up serve the story perfectly.
The direction never draws attention to itself, but Neilan knows how to frame his shots and knows how to use lighting. I particularly love the shot of Amarilly in the alley after being fired. She is seen in silhouhette and the image perfectly captures the mood of the film.
The only special effect in the movie is Pickford. She is predictably brilliant in her role and Neilan is smart enough to showcase her. He often goes to close-ups of her expressive face and you always can see what's going through her head. I loved her reaction shots to the brawl in the bar and her sadness as she deals with the climactic collision of her rough and tumble family and her socialite employer.
The other notable performance for me was Kate Price as Amarilly's mom. She's right from central casting as a tough-as-nails Irish woman and is fantastic in the role. There's a scene where she admonishes one of her sons for not standing up to a bully, then cheers him on as he fights the other boy. Perfect.
The biggest issue with the movie is the story itself. As I said, you've seen this before and basically know where it is going. The movie is a set up to admonish the attitudes of the rich and praise the virtue of the poor and it carries its mission out according to the Pygmalion playbook. You know the ending within ten minutes.
That said, there are two moments that bug me in particular. First, it is clear that the socialite and Amarilly become involved at some point, but you never see it. At first, their "relationship" is a misunderstanding that stems from the ramblings of the neighborhood gossip. Then, the film jumps ahead in time and they seem together, although that is never 100 percent clear. A scene or even a couple of lines there would have helped.
SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE MOVIE! Second, the end sequence is about the most random scene possible. Amarilly has reconciled with the bartender. He picks up flowers and is walking to her apartment where she is preparing dinner. The neighborhood gossip finds a gun on the ground and as he examines it, the weapon goes off and shoots the bartender in the back. He then stumbles down the street, up two flights of stairs and collapses on Amarilly's dining room table. She comes to his aid, gets a doctor and then he's fine.
What was the point of this scene? Did they have to fill out more time on the reel? Was Neilan contractually obligated to deliver a movie that was over an hour? Did they want to showcase William Scott's terrible acting as the bartender? I mean, he either was shot in the back or has an itch he can't reach. You'd never know it based on his face. He survives the wound and he and Amarilly end up together. But they were going to end up together anyway, right? Just bizarre.
It's an unfortunate end to an otherwise solid movie. On the whole, I recommend it.
***1/2 out of *****
Watched on DVD through NetFlix
Photo from Silent Era
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