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Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
 
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Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley

Mary Pickford (Actor), William Scott (Actor), Marshall Neilan (Director) | Rated: Unrated | Format: DVD
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product Description

From Amazon.com

The heart of this spunky, sweetly beautiful film is lovely, feisty Mary Pickford, of the baby face, lush curls, and sturdy little body. Pickford is Amarilly Jenkins, a poor lass from San Francisco's Clothes-Line Alley, hard by Chinatown. She's proud of her heritage, a long line of Irish washerwomen: "I likes scrubbin'!" She's content in her poverty, sharing "Irish turkey" (meatloaf?) dinners with her roly-poly ma, played by Kate Price--one can hear her infectious laughter even though the film is silent--and her five rambunctious baby brothers. Young bartender Terry McGowen (William Scott), with whom Amarilly keeps company, has waited three years for a good-night kiss. Then fate sweeps Amarilly into an entanglement with handsome, upper-crust artist Gordon Phillips (Norman Kerry). It's clear that this won't last. As Amarilly tells Gordon, "You can't mix ice cream and pickles!" But Amarilly and her family have to learn this the hard way, deliberately humiliated by Gordon's snooty aunt (Ida Waterman, as the film's requisite battle-ax).

The picture effortlessly mixes comedy, social commentary, drama, and melodrama. The legacy of the literature of American social realism can be felt here in the business about haves and have-nots. But there is none of the grim tragedy of, say, Stephen Crane's novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Although effectively emotional, the film has an appealing lightness, deriving from the simplicity of its shots and acting style. This edition has been masterfully restored from the original negative, with gorgeous atmospheric tinting (indigo for exterior night scenes, golden for day, etc.) and an affecting new score by the Mont Alto Orchestra. Also included on the tape is a bonus short film, The Dream, from 1911, in which a drunk, philandering husband dreams of his wife's revenge. (Note the beautiful Arts and Crafts period d&eaacute;cor in the couple's home.) --Laura Mirsky

Video Details

Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley (1918, 67 min.) - Amarilly is the belle of Clothes-Line Alley, a neighborhood near San Francisco's Chinatown. One night, after a fight breaks out in the club where she works as a cigarette girl, Amarilly (Mary Pickford) brings an injured socialite home with her. Grateful for her care, he hires Amarilly to clean his apartment and, over time, begins falling in love with her. But when Amarilly is presented at a posh social gathering, the disastrous results fuel the battle of high and low society. Mary Pickford is thoroughly charming and delightful as the feisty Amarilly.

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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I dream of Mary Mar 8 2001
Format:DVD
Amarilly of Clothes-line Alley is a good silent film and is indispensable for Mary Pickford fans. That said, it does not rise to the heights of, for example, Stella Maris or Daddy Long Legs. Somehow, Amarilly lacks the drama or the emotion of Pickford's very best films. It is a sort of Pygmalion story with poor girl Amarilly taken in by a rich admirer and his family, who try to change her. The rich are portrayed as either dissolute in their youthful excess or, if older, hypocritical and interfering in their attempts at charity. This is similar to the point that Griffith makes in his criticism of the charitable motives of do-gooders in the modern part of Intolerance.

The life of the poor in Clothes-Line Alley is shown to be hard. Amarilly is unjustly fired for something that is not her fault. Living conditions are overcrowded and the food is simple at best. Even the seedy side of life is hinted at when a group of young men decide to visit an establishment which is obviously a brothel. Where will Amarilly's future lie? In answering this question, whether she will join the rich or remain with the poor, the film tells a story which is frequently funny, sometimes touching and constantly entertaining.

The colour-tinted print which is used for this DVD is in good condition. It is faded in places and there are some scratches, but this damage is so minimal that it does not interfere with the viewer's enjoyment of the film. The score fits in well with the film's action and the period in which the story is set. It adds a great deal to the atmosphere of the various scenes and is memorable without being intrusive.

Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is only 67 minutes long, but the DVD has a wonderful bonus feature. It includes a short film called The Dream. This film, first released in early 1911 by The Independent Moving Pictures Company, was made by Thomas Ince who would go on to make the classic anti-war film Civilization in 1916. The Dream stars Mary Pickford as a married woman who is having trouble with her drunken and unfaithful husband. She is delightful in this film and the film itself packs so much into its one reel that it is easy to begin to appreciate the lost art of the one-reeler.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Mary Pickford is winsome and adorable Mar 4 2000
By A Customer
Format:DVD
This was my first opportunity to see a complete film of Mary Pickford's, and its not difficult at all to see why she was considered "America's Sweetheart". She's a delight - sweet and lovable, but not at all syrupy or coy, with one of the most charming smiles imaginable.

This 1918 comedy holds up rather well, with the necessary allowances for changing times and mores. Mary's a working-class Irish girl with a washer-woman ma and 5 rambunctious younger brothers. She's been seeing her equally working-class bartender boyfriend for 3 years, without even a kiss (like I said, she must have had a lot of charm to manage that!), but gets involved with dashing upper-crust sculptor Norman Kerry (who's handsome even to modern eyes). No surprises, it all ends well, but there are many cute and charming moments along the way, and the film flows together quite nicely given its age.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  9 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
I dream of Mary Mar 8 2001
By Mr Peter G George - Published on Amazon.com
Format:DVD
Amarilly of Clothes-line Alley is a good silent film and is indispensable for Mary Pickford fans. That said, it does not rise to the heights of, for example, Stella Maris or Daddy Long Legs. Somehow, Amarilly lacks the drama or the emotion of Pickford's very best films. It is a sort of Pygmalion story with poor girl Amarilly taken in by a rich admirer and his family, who try to change her. The rich are portrayed as either dissolute in their youthful excess or, if older, hypocritical and interfering in their attempts at charity. This is similar to the point that Griffith makes in his criticism of the charitable motives of do-gooders in the modern part of Intolerance.

The life of the poor in Clothes-Line Alley is shown to be hard. Amarilly is unjustly fired for something that is not her fault. Living conditions are overcrowded and the food is simple at best. Even the seedy side of life is hinted at when a group of young men decide to visit an establishment which is obviously a brothel. Where will Amarilly's future lie? In answering this question, whether she will join the rich or remain with the poor, the film tells a story which is frequently funny, sometimes touching and constantly entertaining.

The colour-tinted print which is used for this DVD is in good condition. It is faded in places and there are some scratches, but this damage is so minimal that it does not interfere with the viewer's enjoyment of the film. The score fits in well with the film's action and the period in which the story is set. It adds a great deal to the atmosphere of the various scenes and is memorable without being intrusive.

Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is only 67 minutes long, but the DVD has a wonderful bonus feature. It includes a short film called The Dream. This film, first released in early 1911 by The Independent Moving Pictures Company, was made by Thomas Ince who would go on to make the classic anti-war film Civilization in 1916. The Dream stars Mary Pickford as a married woman who is having trouble with her drunken and unfaithful husband. She is delightful in this film and the film itself packs so much into its one reel that it is easy to begin to appreciate the lost art of the one-reeler.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Mary Pickford is winsome and adorable Mar 4 2000
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:DVD
This was my first opportunity to see a complete film of Mary Pickford's, and its not difficult at all to see why she was considered "America's Sweetheart". She's a delight - sweet and lovable, but not at all syrupy or coy, with one of the most charming smiles imaginable.

This 1918 comedy holds up rather well, with the necessary allowances for changing times and mores. Mary's a working-class Irish girl with a washer-woman ma and 5 rambunctious younger brothers. She's been seeing her equally working-class bartender boyfriend for 3 years, without even a kiss (like I said, she must have had a lot of charm to manage that!), but gets involved with dashing upper-crust sculptor Norman Kerry (who's handsome even to modern eyes). No surprises, it all ends well, but there are many cute and charming moments along the way, and the film flows together quite nicely given its age.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Heavenly Mary Feb 13 2003
By Tee - Published on Amazon.com
Format:VHS Tape
What a darling angelic screen presence Mary Pickford was!! And today, almost a century later, she still shines as bright. Our Mary manages to be both a spitfire and a angel in a way no other actress from any era could match (and indeed, in this crude era with talentless, tacky starlets you won't be seeing any Mary Pickford types back on the screen anytime soon.) AMARILLY is one of the best of the two dozen or so Pickford films I have seen - she has a wonderful star "entrance" in the film where an unseen woman is cleaning a window - as she wipes it clean we see through the glass plate it's our girl MP. I've always considered Mary Pickford the best comedienne of the silent screen and this little gem had me laughing like it was a Chaplin or Keaton film. Mary was arguably the very first romantic comedy movie star - love is the theme of many of her movies and this movie is no exception, one of her most charming romance films. The print is quite nice though a few scenes are sadly imperfect. As a wonderful bonus, the video includes one of Mary's early one-reelers, 1911's "THE DREAM" in which Mary plays the wife of a cheating drunkard who in one drunken sleep imagines the tables turned (with our Little Mary smoking and knocking down booze!!). This little short is as good as the feature!
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