Mae Marsh Movies
American actress Mae Marsh was the daughter of an auditor for the Santa Fe railroad - and as such, she and her family moved around quite a bit during Marsh's childhood. After her father died and her stepfather was killed in the San Francisco earthquake, she was taken to Los Angeles by her great aunt, a one-time chorus girl who'd become a New York actress. Marsh followed her aunt's footsteps by securing film work with Mack Sennett and D.W. Griffith; it was Griffith, the foremost film director of the early silent period, who first spotted potential in young Miss Marsh. The actress got her first big break appearing as a stone-age maiden in Man's Genesis (1911), after Mary Pickford refused to play the part because it called for bare legs. Specializing in dramatic and tragic roles, Marsh appeared in innumerable Griffith-directed short films, reaching a career high point as the Little Sister in the director's Civil War epic, The Birth of A Nation (1915). She made such an impression in this demanding role that famed American poet Vachel Lindsay was moved to write a long, elaborate poem in the actress' honor. Marsh's career went on a downhill slide in the '20s due to poor management and second-rate films, but she managed to score a personal triumph as the long-suffering heroine of the 1931 talkie tear-jerker Over the Hill. She retired to married life, returning sporadically to films - out of boredom - as a bit actress, notably in the big-budget westerns of director John Ford (a longtime Marsh fan). When asked in the '60s why she didn't lobby for larger roles, Mae Marsh replied simply that "I didn't care to get up every morning at five o'clock to be at the studio by seven." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1913
A besieged blockhouse containing a frightened Lillian Gish, marauding Indians, and a Mexican who heroically brings the cavalry to the rescue, are the none-too-original components of D.W. Griffith's endurable 2-reeler The Battle at Elderbush Gulch, made during the director's final year with Biograph. Griffith called the film his finest up to that time, and he might very well have been correct. It was, one could say, all in the editing, which here builds to a crescendo of excitement as Gish is rescued in the nick of time. Timeworn, yes, but the master knew what he was doing and demanded longer pictures in which to do it. The old-fashioned Biograph refused, and Griffith walked, taking with him the stars of "Elderbush Gulch": Mae Marsh, Gish and Robert Harron. They all reunited the following year for the director's masterpiece, the 12-reel The Birth of a Nation. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1913
The "three friends" in this sentimental Gaumont effort are an elderly cab driver, his faithful horse and his pet dog. Early on, it is established that both horse and dog have suffered unspeakable cruelties at the hands of their previous owners. The kindhearted cabbie rescues the two animals, forming a strong and unbreakable bond. After the dramatic rescue, however, very little of any interest happens on screen. Three Friends would seem to have been produced as a gesture of appreciation to the many Humane Societies throughout the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1912
The last film Mary Pickford did for director D.W. Griffith was made from the first scenario Anita Loos ever submitted to a movie studio. The young writer's story showed her to be clever beyond her years and experience. In a small Vermont town, a dying mother hands over her small savings to a minister (Lionel Barrymore). She implores him to watch over her daughter (Mary Pickford) and to buy her something nice now and again -- the girl's miserly father does not believe in luxuries. The minister promises to do so. One item he buys the girl is a fancy New York hat. The village buzzes with gossip when they see Mary wearing the hat that the minister bought, and rumors of an affair between the minister and the young girl spread. Finally the minister reveals the letter in which Mary's mother made the agreement with him, and all is well. Even with her first script, it is typical of Loos to lampoon self-righteous small-town values. After shooting The New York Hat, Pickford went on to star in a Broadway play, A Good Little Devil, for David Belasco; after that she went to work for Adolph Zukor at Famous Players. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1912
A prospector's (Charles Gorman) wife (Blanche Sweet) is kidnapped by a Mexican bandit (Charles Hill Mailes), but the two men call a temporary truce in order to defeat the common enemy -- the Indians. This typical Biograph Western melodrama was filmed on location in Southern California during the studio's 1911-1912 winter sojourn. It is preserved in the paper print collection of the Library of Congress. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
