Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917) User Reviews

One of Pickford's lesser 'little girl' films

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 9 October 2014]

During her tenure as 'America's Sweetheart', Mary Pickford made a lot of very similar films. Again and again, Mary played young girls and teenagers--even though she was clearly a woman in her 30s or 40s. America and the world loved it and didn't seem to mind. However, if you've seen as many of her films as I have, there is definitely a certain sameness about these performances. Again and again, she played a plucky, decent, adorable and slightly mischievous girl--in such films as "Daddy Long Legs", "Sparrows", "Pollyanna" and many others. I generally like these performances despite the sameness and this was true with all her fans. However, in the case of "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", she plays a similar sort of creature but the film is definitely not up to her usually high standards. Why? Mostly because the film is, at times, practically plot less.

The film begins with Rebecca (Pickford playing someone about age 14) going to live with her two elderly aunts. It seems that Rebecca's family is having financial problems and the aunts have offered to take one of the children in and adopt them--and the one turns out to be Rebecca. What follows is no real consistent theme--just a variety of incidents. Some involve Rebecca fighting with some stuck up girls at school, some with her attempts to help a local poor family and a very few involve Rebecca and her aunts. However, there really isn't much of a theme or purpose to all this. SOME attempt is made with the introduction of the Mr. Ladd character, but this is also very under-developed and a bit creepy. See the film and you'll understand about the whole 'creepy' angle. Overall, a film that left me surprisingly cold considering that I like Pickford's films...just not this one. Now I am not saying it's bad--just not nearly as good as her typical 'little girl' film.

By the way, if you want something other than these sorts of portrayals by Pickford, try finding a copy of "My Best Girl"-- probably her best film and one of the great silents.

Pickford Continues Hot Streak With Child Role

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 19 July 2021]

When Adolph Zukor and Jessy Lasky merged their movie production companies into one, the Famous Players-Lasky, they eyed their partner in its Paramount Pictures distribution branch, William Hodkinson, to squeeze him out with an involuntary buyout. Once they did in the summer of 1916, Zukor and Lasky dropped their Famous Players' name and called their combined production and distribution company Paramount Pictures.

Zukor believed in signing the top movie stars in the business. One of his first contracts was with Hollywood's most popular actress, Mary Pickford. Her signature on the dotted line on June 24, 1916, was the first million dollar pact for an female performer. Zukor was willing to pay her $10,000 a week and to give her half the profits for each film she made. He guaranteed over one million dollars (about $20 million in today's inflationary dollars) for the year with her full control of each of her film's production, an unprecedented contract at that time.

So impressed was Zukor with Frances Marion's script of "The Poor Little Rich Girl" he took the unusual step of paying her $50,000 per year to be Pickford's official scenarioist, making her one of the highest paid writers in the business. Marion wrote two other scripts for her in 1917, both becoming instant classics.

For her second Pickford screenplay, Marion took the 1903 Kate Wiggin's children novel, "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" and the 1909 play of the same name and adapted it to fit Pickford's magnetic personality. The September 1917 movie contains a series of vignettes of Pickford playing a young niece who is harbored by two aunts, one cranky and the other laid back She's harped on because of her confident independence, except for a one loyal friend and a rich young man who has eyes out for the adolescent Rebecca. Innocent romance develops between the two in this feel-good motion picture which the members of the American Film Institute nominated as one of 500 films to be considered for its "Top 100 Funniest Movies."

Lost Little Girl

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 27 April 2008]

After her mother mortgages the family's "Sunnybrook Farm", Mary Pickford (as Rebecca Randall) is sent to live with two aunts: Josephine Crowell (as Aunt Miranda) is stern and heartless; she overrides kinder, broken-hearted, Mayme Kelso (as Aunt Jane). Predictably, Ms. Pickford finds things are not so sunny in Riverboro. Moreover, she finds her self at odds with teasing peers, like Violet Wilkey (as Minnie Smellie). Pickford perseveres. And, eventually, she warms folks up, like her older man crush Eugene O'Brien (as Adam "Mr. Aladdin" Ladd), who Pickford hopes to marry when she "grows up"...

In a first class production, Pickford has some nice moments; though, her affected "little girl" persona doesn't really succeed in effectively portraying the young heroine of Kate Douglas Wiggins' "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", as evidenced on film. In sometimes startling contrast, several of the other young performers are noticeably more natural and/or charming. Ms. Wilkey, one of the younger set, regrettably "retired" shortly after her convincing portrayal of "Minnie Smellie". Wilkey, who also played young "Flora" in "The Birth of a Nation" (1915), was one of many marvelous young players Pickford employed, to shine by her side. Happily, kids like Wesley Barry and Milton Berle did not retire after appearing herein.

******* Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (9/22/17) Marshall Neilan ~ Mary Pickford, Eugene O'Brien, Violet Wilkey, Helen Jerome Eddy

Mary Pickford is a Joy to Watch

[Snow Leopard · 25 January 2002]

This is an ideal role for Mary Pickford, and she is quite a joy to watch. Young, lively "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" is innocent but not naive; she is charming and warm, but at the same time more than capable of taking care of herself, too - thus the character has all the qualities that Pickford excelled at portraying on screen. It was probably a pretty easy role for her to play, but the result is a delightful little comic melodrama that gives you a good idea of why Pickford came to be so wildly popular in her time.

The story follows the old-fashioned novel fairly closely, beginning with Rebecca sent to live with her two stern, joyless aunts in a new town. Much of the story's appeal lies in the ways that Rebecca responds to her new acquaintances and surroundings, and this is something Pickford does extremely well. Whether sizing up a new girl at school, or simply responding to the decorations in her aunts' home, she is convincing, captivating, sympathetic, and often very funny. And as for comedy, the wonderful circus sequence alone would make the movie worth watching.

It's hard to find this film now, but it's well worth the trouble. Perhaps from a detached point of view, this might not be considered a great movie, since the plot is somewhat predictable and very old-fashioned. But it's a thoroughly pleasurable, thoughtful film, and one filled with fine moments.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 18 April 2020]

An adaptation of Kate Douglas Wiggins' famous novel and play. A polished production based on a famous novel that nevertheless doesn't stray far from Mary Pickford's established formula. It's pretty thin on plot and only mediocre entertainment if you're not a fan of Pickford's fondness for playing adolescent girls.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 11 September 2022]

This was never a story I really took to as a child, and even though Mary Pickford in the title role brings a great deal of charm to the character, I still don't much care for the story. "Rebecca" is a young girl whose family have fallen on hard times. One of seven siblings, she is chosen to go and live with her two maiden aunts - "Jane" (Mayme Kelso) and Miranda (Josephine Crowell) who, frankly, don't care much for or about her. Her personality is not for giving up, though, and she determines to make friends - alighting on the poverty stricken "Simpson' family to whose aid she intends to come (aka well meaning meddling). The film is pretty episodic, as is the book, in nature - and frequently her character borders on the annoyingly precocious. This production is well constructed and at times is a little more adventurous - the storm scene at the end is quite effective, and there's no denying that the star has the part down to a tee - it's just not a particularly enjoyable part to watch develop - and, well, I didn't. The two aunts play their indifferent, curmudgeonly, parts well enough and there is a bit of light-heartedness conveyed adequately via the inter-titles, but this just wasn't for me.

Delightful and dream-like

[Spondonman · 8/10 · 5 May 2007]

Lovely but hard-headed Mary Pickford was something special, both at the time for the entertainment and now for the historical perspective. Out of the films I've seen of hers I always preferred Rebecca, even over Pollyanna, the story seemed more cogent, the acting by everyone more believable and the languid Victorian atmosphere more palpable. And at 25 she still believably played a teenager.

We're presented with a series of comic episodes in the life of poor young girl Rebecca Rowena Randall, sent to live with her well-to-do aunts and get a proper ejjication. She goes from selling Superba Soap door to door, reciting her unique poetry for Visitors Day at school to organising a Circus Parade and Show and then going to boarding school. On the way she manages to help various people in trouble in her own understated way and also falls in love and fixes on the man to marry - after she becomes a woman. The most violent scene is when Rebecca pulls Minnie Smellie's nose in class. With some lovely evocative olde worlde touches, especially in the storm scene we are eventually (horse) drawn to an appropriate sunbeam ending.

Most people would disdain to clap their modern eyes on this, but that's their loss. A nice little film to sink into every few years and ruminate on how the world has changed.

Mary's Circus Hijinks!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 5 September 2011]

When Mary Pickford decided to film Kate Douglas Wiggin's sentimental novel "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" for her own film unit, Artcraft, she chose young, vibrant director Marshall Neilan. His style of devising amusing gags and bits of business all the while revealing a depth of characterization in his players was ideally suited to Mary's playing. He also had a personal rapport and developed a long, warm friendship with her. They found each other at the right time as she had been less than thrilled with her recent directorial experiences (Tourner and Cecil B. DeMille) and she always felt she gave her best performances under Neilan's inspired direction. Kate Douglas Wiggin also co-wrote the Broadway play that ran for 211 performances in 1911 and a part the star, Edith Taliaferro, was forever associated with.

"Aunt Miranda has a heart that is only used for the pumping and circulating of blood" - that's Josephine Crowell at her flinty and hard hearted best. She has decided to adopt one of her poor sister's children because of the heavy mortgage on Sunnybrook Farm and the "good fortune" has fallen to Rebecca Rowena (Mary) - named after the two heroines in "Ivanhoe". She instantly runs afoul of the town bully, Minnie Smellie, (Violet Wilkey) the preacher's daughter but finds a friend in Emma Jane (Marjorie Daw).

Climbing trees, poking nasty little girls with her umbrella, reciting bad verse - Aunt Miranda or the town have never seen anyone like Rebecca before. The movie is just a series of charming vignettes woven together by the inventive direction of Neilan and Pickford's ace scriptwriter Frances Marion. Some plots fall a bit flat, like the time Rebecca and Emma try their hand at selling soap door to door to win an "ellegant and grand" prize for the Simpsons - the poorest family in the town, which just happens to be a banquet lamp!!! In my copy you never actually see whether the family get the lamp, although when a kind neighbour, Mr. Aladdin buys 150 cakes, you suppose they do!! Mr. Aladdin aka Adam Ladd (Eugene O'Brien) is the romantic interest, although I don't really agree with one reviewer, I think that plot line is tastefully done.

Visitor's Day at school doesn't go down too well for Rebecca, not only does she recite a poem about pounding Minnie Smellie into jelly but the two get into an altercation and Minnie's nose is tweaked. Taking advantage of her aunt's absence, Rebecca and the kids of the town decide to put on a circus. There is a Grand Parade through the town with acts such as Rebeccaretta, the lady bare back rider. For me this is the highlight of the movie, all the performing is done by children, even a little rich kid, Fauntleroy, gets into the act as he toboggans down a huge ramp.

Marjorie Daw was actually quite pretty and was a protégé of Myron Selznick, but was far less successful than his first - Olive Thomas. Violet Wilkey had been a child actress in some of D.W. Griffith's movies but after Rebecca, retired to lead a more normal life. Wesley Barry, a discovery of Marshall Neilans, had an uncredited part as the ring master.

Highly Recommended.

Mary Pickford in Rebecca opens a window on a vanished world

[nmarshi · 8/10 · 5 August 2004]

Saw Rebecca for the first time at the UCLA 2004 Restoration Festival. Obviously, Mary Pickford steals the show in a series of vignettes loosely tied together by screenwriter Frances Marion from the original children's story. Pickford is the original coquette, tiny (just watch her dancing with her "beau" in one scene), her head a mass of curls and a spunky spirit that's very twenty first century. However, there is much of the film that is dated and does not resonate with a modern audience.Of course, that's what I enjoyed most about the film- gazing back into a world which no longer exists. We get a glimpse at Victorian sensibilities- the movie was made in 1917-and harks back to an even earlier time. Much of the plot is devoted to Rebecca's heart warming but somewhat patronizing efforts to succor the woeful and shiftless Simpson family (now that's funny). The Simpsons are poor, badly dressed and lack a parlor lamp and a wedding band, until Rebecca comes along.

At times, it's disconcerting to see Pickford play a young teen because for all the prancing,pouting and curl tossing, Mary is clearly an adult woman. Even creepier is the abject attention this little girl is receiving from the village's most eligible bachelor, but I guess back even in 1917 people wanted to see a love story. Still, the film is an old fashioned pleasure, with many charming gags and characters, and over much too soon.

Mary Finds Lost Childhood Playing Rebecca

[PamelaShort · 10/10 · 8 August 2013]

It has been said that Mary Pickford finally lived her lost childhood, playing little girls such as Rebecca. She once said "I didn't act- I was the characters I played on the screen". Watching her as Rebecca, one does feel , she finally found the little girl she had never been. Viewing this film also takes you on a nostalgic journey into the life and values of late nineteenth century rural America. Roses bloom on every fence gate, and the horse and buggy hadn't been replaced by the motorcar. The one room schoolhouse, where Rebecca has fun performing her own written poem, on the disagreeable things about snooty Minnie Smellie, to a horrified roomful of parents. The classic scene where Rebecca struggles with the temptation over stealing a piece of berry pie. The poignant scene in which Rebecca manages to convey to her dying Aunt Miranda, that she has always loved her. Here we see the remarkable Mary Pickford's transformation from playing a little girl to a mature young woman. Mary as Rebecca is spunky, generous, and just plain pretty. With the help of screen writer Frances Marion and Marshall Neilan directing, it all makes this silent film adaptation fun to watch.

Unexpectedly bright and sunny!

[JohnHowardReid · 9/10 · 30 April 2014]

Mary Pickford's "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1917) struck me as a very pleasant surprise. I assumed this would emerge as just another all-is-shining, light fantasy about some busy-body goodie-goodie who enlightens even the gloomiest Sunnybrook with such an overwhelming parcel of virtuous deeds that one wants to rush – not walk! – to the cinema's nearest exit! Fortunately, unlike the 1938 remake with Shirley Temple as Rebecca, which virtually jettisoned all the book's plot in favor of an almost totally new storyline, this version still enjoys some affinity with the 1903 novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin, although considerable liberties have been taken, including the introduction of an adult love interest (somewhat listlessly played by Eugene O'Brien) and an obnoxious schoolgirl (forcefully enacted by Violet Wilkie), who happens to be the daughter of the almost equally obnoxious Reverend Smellie. In addition to these delightful diversions, we find that Rebecca's dad is no longer dead, but very much alive. The only problem now is that, despite their eight or nine children, they've not been married! Oh, dear! They just didn't have time to get around to it. But Rebecca and the obnoxious Smellie soon put this to right! Yes, "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" is indeed an unexpected delight that we cannot leave before commending Josephine Crowell for her marvelous account of the seemingly heartless Aunt Miranda (who figures on the excellent Alpha DVD's cover).

Highly enjoyable, warm-hearted comedy-drama

[I_Ailurophile · 9/10 · 12 April 2023]

It speaks well to all involved that this is filled with plentiful light humor by way of clever gags and situational comedy, deftly covering for the dour severity of Rebecca's aunts. Certainly this is to the credit of author Kate Douglas Wiggin, and playwright Charlotte Thompson, but more immediately it's a credit to prolific screenwriter Frances Marion for giving cinematic form to the story of a plucky, energetic child thrust into circumstances that are ill-fitting for her. The intertitles and scene writing are characterized by wit and charm that counterbalance the less cheerful facets of the narrative, allowing this comedy-drama to mostly feel more like the former than the latter under director Marshall Neilan's shrewd orchestration of every shot and scene. And to that same end, it's hard to imagine anyone other than silent superstar Mary Pickford in the title role, for she embodies Rebecca with all the range, nuance, physicality, and otherwise skill we know she possessed, but above all there's an unremitting gaiety in her performance that's endlessly enchanting. None of this is to say that 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm' is necessarily perfect, but it's very well done and great fun all around.

One should note a dubious instance of blackface that hasn't exactly aged well. Even by the standards of the silent era, there are also little details in the intertitles or scene writing that demonstrate values or culture that are all but totally alien to modern viewers. Smart, earnest, and entertaining as it is, mark this as an example of an older movie that may not appeal to those who aren't already enamored of works from the 1910s or 20s. This is to say nothing of aspects reflecting contemporary film-making sensibilities or capabilities (relatively exaggerated acting to compensate for lack of sound, sometimes brusque editing, division into discrete segments, and so on) that more commonly limit modern engagement. Yet though the sum total may not be altogether perfect, by and large I rather think this is splendid, and holds up better than some of its kin, or even no few flicks to follow the advent of talkies. That there are recognizable strains in the story is endearing, not off-putting, particularly as the good-natured levity of the proceedings readily shine through. Superseding the less favorable elements are themes of privilege, class, prejudice, plain old kindness, and stiff haughtiness, and the terrific contributions that everyone made to the picture.

Pickford stands out above all, yet her co-stars are no less able, and it's just a joy to watch the cast practice their art. Marjorie Daw, Eugene O'Brien, Violet Wilkey, Mayme Kelso, Josephine Crowell, and all others involved share in the tremendous spirit of warmth that broadly defines the film, making it all the more a delight. Moreover, crew behind the scenes did a fine job all around, from costume design, hair, and makeup, to sets, stunts, and simple effects. Modest by today's standards, there are nonetheless instances of cinematography or editing that are especially sharp on top of Neilan's swell direction. Really, even noting slight indelicacies or inelegance, in every way that matters most this is an excellent production. It may well represent "simpler entertainment for a simpler time," but there's gratifying sincerity and frivolity in the storytelling that handily outweighs whatever criticisms one might levy. Honestly, I quite had mixed expectations when I sat to watch, but I'm all so pleased at just how enjoyable and satisfying the end result is. While it may not be a feature that utterly demands viewership, when all is said and done 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm' is softly compelling and rewarding, and in that unflagging wholeheartedness becomes something that's well worth one's time. Don't feel like you need to go out of your way for it, but at only 70 minutes, this is a pleasant, refreshing diversion.