Mary, Lottie and Jack… Fanchon the Cricket (1915), Flicker Alley Blu-ray/DVD

It’s 1915 and we’re approaching peak Pickford in the second of eight feature films she made in the year of her old mucker DW’s Birth and one of six to be directed by James Kirkwood with scenarios from Mary’s pal Frances Marion also in the majority. Pickford was not yet in full command of the means of production as Cari Beauchamp notes in the Flicker Alley booklet, but she was fiercely protective of her career and determined to put in a typecast-proof performance as the wildcat “waif” that – now – we view as exemplary.

 

Fanchon provides an abundance of opportunities for Mary to demonstrate her winning ways and to explode out of the screen against the gorgeous backdrops of Delaware Gap, Pennsylvania. Some have criticised Kirkwood’s pacing but he certainly knew how to make the most out of his friend Mary; just pick the right location and let her roll. So many times, Mary demonstrates her extraordinary energy with her bodily ability to express emotion standing out amongst the dense woodland, against river and lake and a cast who are quite unable to draw the eye away from her.

 

Mary Pickford sits on the fence

Beauchamp describes the waif as an “inspirational” character in amongst a contemporary cinematic universe of matrons, vamps and adventuresses; “… there is a modernity to the waif with her backbone of steel as she stands up against hypocrisy, bullies and entitlement.” Watching with my Gen-Z daughter she would agree and it’s striking that such characters were on screen for the majority of cinema goers who were women yet to gain the vote.

 

Mary’s Fanchon is girlish but knowing and she knows what she wants in her man; someone who choses to love her and who is steadfast; she takes charge of her romantic situation and having worked her opportunity, expects the men to be honourable. If not… she’ll go her own way. She, genuinely, does not need a man to define herself and – according to our count – Fanchon passes the Bechdel test on a number of occasions.

 

Frank Standing and Lotte Pickford

Set in Eighteenth Century France and based on George Sand’s novel La Petite Fadette, the narrative is fairly light for first half of the film before fitting in – some – of the source material’s complexities. That strikes me as good work from Frances Marion (and Kirkwood) which allows the focus to be on Fanchon the free spirit and her pursuit of Jack Standing’s Landry Barbeau. Landry is from a family of good standing while Fanchon lives in a woodland hut with her grandmother (Gertrude Norman) who’s old and wizened enough to be regarded as a witch.

 

Fanchon’s problem – apart from lack of contemporary fashions – is that Landry is seeing a more respectable women called Madelon played by Lottie Pickford. Lottie was her sister’s junior by one year and, on this display, not in the same league as an actress (who was?) but she does a decent job as the spoilt brat determined to hold on to her man as much for pride as anything else. There’s also a cameo from Jack Pickford as a local bully who Mary has to fight in scenes that surely must have taken place in the family home in Toronto.

 

Jack vs Mary

Jack picks on Landry’s brother Didier (Richard Lee) who is described as a “half-wit”. It is interesting to see how films from this period treat mentally disabled characters and whilst Didier is a sympathetic character, the only one who treats him as an equal is Fanchon with the local youngsters tiring of him and chasing him away when it suits and his father (Russell Bassett) pushes him around. Are we supposed to see Didier and Fanchon as similarly outcast, he for neurodiversity and she for outrageous independence and “poor” blood? That’s maybe a stretch but why not?

 

 

Cinematography is from Edward Wynard and there are breath-taking shots of the locations – most of the action is outside adding a string sense of place to the action – as well as the lead. Kevin Brownlow is not the only one to have pointed to the visceral impact of Mary Pickford in this film; her hair is as long as I’ve ever seen it and sometimes forms a sunlit halo over her supercharged features and she’s definitely not the “the girl with the curls” but someone wiser and more artful.  Even with a dearth of clos-ups, the actress conveys an emotional impact few could hope to match and here it’s so very natural. How many scenes are just made up of her reacting to events off screen in well-chosen locations or amusing herself by playing with her shadow or just skipping with arms aloft, powerfully pantomiming joy and resilience.

 

The locals don't know what to make of Fanchon

Gradually the story solidifies as Fanchon starts to impress Landry, as someone with more spirit than Madelon but he must overcome not just his own doubts but the approbation of their peers and his own father. The gap between them seems too large to cross but Fanchon is nothing if not irrepressible but she’s also totally honest; she wants happiness on her own terms…

 

Fanchon is the only film to feature all three siblings and it’s very sad that at the time of her death, Mary thought it was lost. The Mary Pickford Foundation found a nitrate duplicate at Le Cinémathèque Française and combining this with an incomplete nitrate print at the BFI, a multi-national effort led to this crystal-clear restoration.

 

The MPF commissioned a new score in modern style from Julian Ducatenzeiler and Andy Gladbach which moves along very well with the film if occasionally foreshadowing the emotional journey. We enjoyed it, it’s upbeat and inventive and has the spirit of Pickford’s character. Those looking for organ or piano traditionalism may not agree but as a package this is a fun film and a side of Pickford we really need to see more of.

 

The Flicker Alley set is available direct from their site and really does the MPF proud in making available more of the work that explains her status as one of the founders of cinematic acting and one of the first superstars.