Pauline Lord Movies
A stage actress from the age of 13, Pauline Lord made her Broadway debut in 1912. She became a major star nine years later as Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie. Lord didn't get to play the role in the 1923 screen version, veteran film star Blanche Sweet was chosen instead, and by the time of the 1930 remake she had become too old. Lord instead made her screen bow as Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934), but W.C. Fields was also in it, and hardly anybody remembers her. The following year she played one of those lachrymose 1930s mothers in A Feather in Her Hat (1935), after which she hurried back to Broadway. The veteran trouper died of a heart ailment in a hospital in Alamogordo, NM, while touring as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 2002
Oscar-nominated documentarian Amy Sommer (Waco: The Rules of Engagement) turns her attentions toward family matters in this in-depth look at the bizarre and sometimes deadly phenomenon of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP). In this outlandish form of supposed child abuse, mentally unstable mothers attempt to gain the attention and sympathy of the medical community by allegedly faking their child's illness or intentionally making their own healthy children sick. Though the founder of this supposed medical phenomenon has been discredited, doctors across the globe have still seen cases of child illness that they believe to be a direct result of MSbP. In this documentary, Sommer explores instances in which MSbP may have been used to punish mothers seeking medical assistance for their ailing children. The prospect of doctors prescribing drugs never approved for pediatric use to infants is also explored, as are cases in which medical professionals diagnose cases of MSbP without even meeting the mother of the child in question. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
Legendary stage actress Pauline Lord made but a few films, but was always worth watching whenever she took command of the screen. In Feather in Her Hat, Lord plays cockney storekeeper Clarissa Phipps, who worries that her son Richard will grow up being ashamed of her humble vocation. Thus, she loftily pretends that she's not Richard's mother, and that the boy is actually the offspring of a prominent theatrical family. Upon reaching adulthood, Richard (Louis Hayward) becomes a prominent playwright, confident that the stage is in his blood, while Clarissa secretly sells her store at a loss to finance Richard's first production. Only on her deathbed does Clarissa reveal the truth -- and happily, Richard isn't ashamed of her in the least, and indeed is prouder of her than ever. Basil Rathbone contributes a fascinating characterization as a gin-swilling, unshaven remittance man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pauline Lord, Basil Rathbone, (more)
- 1934
Frequently and misleadingly advertised as a W.C. Fields vehicle, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch confines the Great Man's appearance to the final two reels. The rest of the picture is a ploddingly paced adaptation of the hoary old Anne Hagan Rice novel about how wonderful it is to be poor. In a rare movie appearance, the great stage star Pauline Lord plays Mrs. Wiggs, the impecunious but ever-optimistic matriarch of a large, fatherless brood. Though creditors constantly hound Mrs. Wiggs, she remains firmly confident that all family problems will be resolved when her long-missing husband (Donald Meek) returns from his unexplained odyssey. It's quite a chore for our heroine to put on a happy face, especially after the death of the sickliest Wiggs child (George Breakstone), but she does -- and miracle of miracles, her faith in the elusive Mr. Wiggs turns out to be well-founded (though not intentionally so). W.C. Fields is cast as touring actor Mr. Stubbins the "mail-order husband" of Mrs Wiggs' spinsterish friend Miss Hazy (ZaSu Pitts). Once Fields shows up on screen, demanding a gourmet meal from poor Miss Hazy (who's never cooked anything in her life!) all the film's shortcomings and maudlin passages can be forgiven. W.C.'s best line: "The theatre was so packed, the audience couldn't applaud this way?" (claps sideways) "?They had to applaud this way." (claps up and down). Previously filmed in 1914 and 1919, Mrs.Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch was remade with Fay Bainter in 1942. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pauline Lord, W.C. Fields, (more)
