Two Restored Mary Pickford Silents Coming to Blu-ray
America’s sweetheart of the Nineteen-teens and Twenties is coming to Blu-ray from The Mary Pickford Foundation, released through Flicker Alley. Here are the details on the two upcoming releases from the video label:
The Mary Pickford Foundation proudly presents their production of two newly restored Mary Pickford classics, Fanchon the Cricket and Little Annie Rooney, released by Flicker Alley in deluxe, dual-disc Blu-ray/DVD editions and via high-definition streaming platforms.
Mary Pickford was the pioneering producer, studio founder and, at one point, the highest paid actor in the world, but for too many years her films have not been available at all or in versions that did not meet the highest standards of restoration.
Flicker Alley is pleased to release Fanchon the Cricket and Little Annie Rooney in the first of a planned series of her films that showcase the breadth and depth of her talent as well as that of the finest behind-the-camera craftspeople of the time.
Fanchon the Cricket
Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo (NTSC)
Region: Region Free
Director: James Kirkwood
Featuring: Mary Pickford, Jack Standing, Lottie Pickford, Jack Pickford, Gertrude Norman, Russell Bassett, Richard Lee
Composers: Julian Ducatenzeiler and Andy Gladbach
Year: 1915
Language: English
Length: 115 min.
UPC: 6-17311-68569-9
PRE-ORDER ONLY – RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 6, 2018
Fanchon the Cricket, based on an “adult fairy tale” by George Sand, stars Mary Pickford as the title character, a strong-willed waif ostracized by “acceptable” society” until she shows them the power of love and understanding. Directed by James Kirkwood and boasting exquisite cinematography by Edward Wynard, Fanchon the Cricket was filmed on location in Delaware Gap, Pennsylvania. A natural, sensual and uninhibited Pickford breaks through today’s stereotype of her as “the girl with the curls.” It is also the only surviving film in which both Jack and Lottie Pickford appear with their sister.
Once believed to be a lost film, Fanchon the Cricket’s restoration is the result of a unique international collaboration between the Mary Pickford Foundation, the Cinémathèque Française and the British Film Institute. A new negative and 35MM prints were created from the restored digital version and are paired with a new, original score by Julian Ducatenzeiler and Andy Gladbach, comissioned by the Mary Pickford Foundation.
Fanchon the Cricket includes a souvenir booklet featuring rare photographs and essays by Cari Beauchamp.
REVIEWS:
“There was never a Fanchon like Mary Pickford. Yes, I know that the greatest of the French and the English and the American stars have attempted and have successfully rendered Fanchon, but I stick to my belief that none ever surpassed and few ever approached the work of Mary Pickford.” – Moving Picture World, May 22, 1915
“Pickford plays the role not so much as a woodland nymph, but more as a rural hooligan… She is extraordinarily beautiful; the first close-up of her face among the glistening leaves comes as an almost physical shock.”- Kevin Brownlow, Mary Pickford Rediscovered
Little Annie Rooney
Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo (NTSC)
Region: Region Free
Director: William Beaudine
Featuring: Mary Pickford, William Haines, Walter James, Gordon Griffith
Composer: Andy Gladbach
Year: 1925
Language: English
Length: 114 min.
UPC: 6-17311-68579-8
PRE-ORDER ONLY – RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 6, 2018
Mary Pickford plays a “tomboy of the tenements” in this comedy drama, which she also wrote. Filmed over ten weeks, Little Annie Rooney was shot entirely on a set created by art director John D. Schulze at the Pickford Fairbanks Studio. Co-starring William Haines and a wide-ranging, multi-ethnic cast, Little Annie Rooney met with huge critical and commercial success upon its original release, proving fans and critics alike wanted the then 33-year-old Mary to stay a child forever.
Created from the original tinted nitrate print in Mary Pickford’s personal collection at the Library of Congress, Little Annie Rooney was preserved photochemically by the Academy Film Archive. A new 35mm preservation master was then scanned at 4K high definition so that the Mary Pickford Foundation, in cooperation with AMPAS, could create a digital version to perfectly match the original nitrate tints and tones. Andy Gladbach composed a new, original soundtrack performed by a 12 piece orchestra, including three percussionists.
Little Annie Rooney includes a souvenir booklet featuring rare photographs, essays by Cari Beauchamp, and an article on the composing of the new score.
REVIEWS:
“This is the Mary Pickford who will always be loved and welcomed. This is Mary at her best and her truest…as the leader of a gang that looks like a junior League of Nations. Here is Mary playing with so much sincerity that she fairly wrings your heart. Most of the picture, however is pure joyousness.” – Photoplay, October 1925
“Little Annie Rooney, starring the luminous Mary Pickford, was an unexpected delight [at the 2017 Glasgow Film Festival]… It is easy to see why Pickford was one of the most internationally renowned and best loved stars of her day. – Georgina Coburn, October 2017
