Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917 film)
1917 film by Marshall Neilan
- September 22, 1917 (1917-09-22)
Running time
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a 1917 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Neilan based upon the 1903 novel of the same name by Kate Douglas Wiggin. This version is notable for having been adapted by famed female screenwriter Frances Marion. The film was made by the "Mary Pickford Company" and was an acclaimed box office hit. When the play premiered on Broadway in the 1910 theater season the part of Rebecca was played by Edith Taliaferro.[1][2][3]
Plot
As described in a film magazine,[4] Rebecca Randall (Pickford) is taken into the home of her aunt Hannah (Eddy), a strict New England woman. Rebecca meets Adam Ladd (O'Brien), a young man of the village, and they become great friends. One day Rebecca promises to marry Adam when she becomes of age. Unable to withstand her pranks any longer, her aunt sends her away to a boarding school. She graduates a beautiful young lady. Shortly thereafter, Adam demands a fulfillment of her promise.
Cast
- Mary Pickford as Rebecca Randall
- Eugene O'Brien as Adam Ladd
- Helen Jerome Eddy as Hannah Randall
- Charles Stanton Ogle as Mr. Cobb
- Marjorie Daw as Emma Jane Perkins
- Mayme Kelso as Jane Sawyer
- Jane Wolfe as Mrs. Randall
- Josephine Crowell as Miranda Sawyer
- Jack McDonald as Reverend Jonathan Smellie
- Violet Wilkey as Minnie Smellie
- F. A. Turner as Mr. Simpson
- Kate Toncray as Mrs. Simpson
- Emma Gordes as Clara Belle Simpson
- Wesley Barry as School Boy/Ringmaster (uncredited)[citation needed]
- Milton Berle as Bit Part (uncredited)[citation needed]
Production
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was filmed in Pleasanton, California.
Reception
Like many American films of the time, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of the intertitle "I have just learned the Simpsons are not married."[5]
Critical Assessment
Acknowledging that Rebecca was a “huge hit.”, biographer Jeanine Basinger observes that “Today, when an excerpt is chosen as a typical Mary Pickford scene, it’s often one from this film.”[6] Basinger continues:
It’s unfortunate...because actually it presents one of Pickford’s more heavy-handed performances. More than one film historian has suggested that Rebecca is the main source of misunderstanding of Pickford’s image...Its certainly true that Mary never lets up for a minute in Rebecca—winking, stomping, prancing, too cute for words...[but] her actions lack the spontaneity she displays in her best roles...[7]
Basinger adds that, by 1917, moviegoers favored the then 25-year-old Pickford “when she pretended to be a little girl” in her character portrayals.[8]
See also
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 1909 play
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 1932 film
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 1938 film starring Shirley Temple
References
- ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm at silentera.com
- ^ Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as produced on Broadway at the Republic Theatre, beginning October 3, 1910; IBDb.com
- ^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20 by The American Film Institute, c.1988
- ^ "Reviews: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm". Exhibitors Herald. 5 (13). New York: Exhibitors Herald Company: 26. September 22, 1917.
- ^ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. 5 (13): 33. September 22, 1917.
- ^ Basinger, 1999 p. 30-31
- ^ Basinger, 1999 p. 30-31
- ^ Basinger, 1999 p. 31
Sources
- Basinger, Jeanine. 1999. Silent Stars. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. ISBN 0-679-43840-8
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917 film).
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm at IMDb
- Synopsis at AllMovie
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm at the TCM Movie Database
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm available for free download from the Internet Archive
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Films directed by Marshall Neilan
- The Deadly Battle at Hicksville (1914)
- The Bottle Imp (1917)
- The Silent Partner (1917)
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)
- A Little Princess (1917)
- Stella Maris (1918)
- Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley (1918)
- M'Liss (1918)
- Hit-The-Trail Holliday (1918)
- Heart of the Wilds (1918)
- Out of a Clear Sky (1918)
- Three Men and a Girl (1919)
- The Unpardonable Sin (1919)
- Her Kingdom of Dreams (1919)
- Daddy-Long-Legs (1919)
- In Old Kentucky (1919)
- Don't Ever Marry (1920)
- Go and Get It (1920)
- Dinty (1920)
- Bob Hampton of Placer (1921)
- Bits of Life (1921)
- The Lotus Eater (1921)
- Penrod (1922)
- Fools First (1922)
- The Strangers' Banquet (1922)
- Minnie (1922)
- The Rendezvous (1923)
- The Eternal Three (1923)
- Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1924)
- Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1924)
- The Sporting Venus (1925)
- The Great Love (1925)
- The Skyrocket (1926)
- Mike (1926)
- Diplomacy (1926)
- Everybody's Acting (1926)
- Wild Oats Lane (1926)
- Venus of Venice (1927)
- Her Wild Oat (1927)
- Take Me Home (1928)
- Taxi 13 (1928)
- His Last Haul (1928)
- Three-Ring Marriage (1928)
- The Awful Truth (1929)
- Tanned Legs (1929) (*uncredited)
- The Vagabond Lover (1929)
- Sweethearts on Parade (1930)
- Social Register (1934)
- Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934)
- The Lemon Drop Kid (1934)
- This Is the Life (1935)
- Swing It, Professor (1937)
- Sing While You're Able (1937)
- Thanks for Listening (1937)
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