Stella Maris

Director: Marshall Neilan
USA. 1918.
100 minutes. Tinted.

Cast: Mary Pickford, Conway Tearle and Marsha Manon. A presentation of the Mary Pickford Institute, Timeline Films and Milestone Film & Video.

From 1916 to 1919, the team of Mary Pickford, scriptwriter Frances Marion and director Marshall Neilan advanced the art of film to a greater degree than perhaps any American director of their day - even D.W. Griffith. With subtle acting and exquisite filmmaking technique, the two produced some of the finest silent films of all time. And Stella Maris can be considered the apex of their work together.

The public adored Mary Pickford’s little-girl character, and she felt obliged to play it until she was well through her long career. As early as 1918, however, she made a stand against the “sweeter-than-light” approach — with Stella Maris. From a novel by William J. Locke, Stella Maris was an honest and brilliant production. Mary Pickford played two parts; Unity Blake, an uncannily realistic portrayal of a pathetic Cockney slave, and Stella Maris, a rich girl, paralyzed from childhood, whose foster parents protect her from life’s unpleasantness. When Stella Maris leaves her sickbed and confronts reality, she is profoundly shocked. She turns, in despair, on her foster parents: “By trying to shield me you have destroyed my happiness and my faith in human nature.”

With an incredible orchestral score by composer Philip Carli, this is one of the finest releases produced by the Mary Pickford Institute.

Bonus Features

Pickford's own films of Liberty Loan drives with herself, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin.

Home movies of Doug and Mary.

Reviews

"Pickford's finest!" - Eileen Whitfield, Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood

"Stella Marris features two of Pickford's most impressive performances, and may very well be her best film." -Rob Edelman, Magill