Heart O' The Hills

Mary Pickford, Allan Sears, Clare McDowell, Fred W. Huntley, Sam DeGrasse and John Gilbert.

Director: Sidney A. Franklin. Cinematography by Charles Rosher. Original score by Maria Newman. Produced by the Mary Pickford Institute and Timeline Films.

Wild, hell-raising, Kentucky farmgirl Mavis Hawn (Pickford) has devoted her life to avenging the death of her father, shot by an unknown man. Meanwhile, her mother’s farm is threatened by rich city capitalists who are out to drive them off their coal-rich lands. Mavis experiences the outside world at its best and worst — love, revenge and murder — before she finds true happiness. As one intertitle reads, "tragedies are quickly forgotten in the mountains."

Pickford is extraordinary as the many-faceted Mavis (in one of Frances Marion’s best scripts), proving again that this talented actress was more than just "America’s Sweetheart." The film also boasts a wonderful country hoedown and a very young and handsome John Gilbert, who went on to become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

Bonus Features

The complete feature M’LISS (1918) directed by Marshall Neilan, starring Mary Pickford, Theodore Roberts, Thomas Meighan, Tully Marshall, Charles Ogle and Monte Blue. Music composed and performed by Donald Sosin. ©2004 Farmhouse Window Productions (ASCAP) www.silent-film-music.com

Stills Gallery from the collections of the Mary Pickford Library, Rob Brooks and Joe Yranski.

Milestone’s Press Kit with an appreciation by Daniel Eagan downloadable on DVD-rom.