Metro Cinema Society: The Films of Mary Pickford

The Films of Mary Pickford

By the age of seventeen, Mary Pickford had become the first actress to achieve international super stardom. By the time she was thirty, she was the first and only woman ever to own a major movie studio, the only woman to be the highest paid actor in Hollywood and the first actress to have complete control in making her films. Although she was born to extreme poverty in Canada, she became an American icon, "America's Sweetheart". With comedic talents equal to Keaton, Lloyd or Chaplin, the tragic range of Gish and Swanson and business acumen to rival that of any Hollywood mogul, Mary Pickford was the consummate movie star of the 20th century (Milestone). Metro Cinema is proud to present a series of her classic films, two in December and two more in January, all 35mm prints with musical soundtracks.

Pickford: My Best Girl

Director: Sam Taylor

USA 1927, 80 min, 35mm

Dec 10 (2011) @ 7pm
Dec 11 (2011) @ 2pm

Thanks to the superb work of Sam Taylor (one of Harold Lloyd's favorite directors), legendary cinematographer Charles Rosher and producer/star Mary Pickford, _My Best Girl_ has become one of Hollywood's greatest romantic comedies... Maggie is a lowly shop girl in... view more

Pickford: Little Annie Rooney

Director: William Beaudine

USA 1925, 95 min, 35mm

Dec 17 (2011) @ 7pm
Dec 18 (2011) @ 2pm

Mary Pickford is tough slum urchin Annie Rooney, who faces a heart-wrenching dilemma when Joe Kelly (William Haines), the young man she has a crush on, is accused of killing Annie’s policeman father. Enraged, Annie’s brother hunts the accused slayer... view more

Pickford: Sparrows

Director: William Beaudine

USA 1926, 84 min, 35mm

Jan 14 @ 7pm
Jan 15 @ 2pm

Hidden deep in the Southern swamps, the Grimes family operates a "baby farm" where unwanted or "lost" children are cruelly underfed and overworked. Mama Mollie (Pickford), the oldest of the kids, protects the others as best she can and keeps... view more

Pickford: Suds

Director: Francis Dillon

USA 1920, 75 min, 35mm

Jan 21 @ 7pm
Jan 22 @ 2pm

Amanda Afflick is a lovesick laundress who daydreams about customer Horace Greensmith and cherishes the shirt he brought in for washing eight months and sixteen days ago. She tells her fellow workers that the garment belongs to her fiancé, a... view more