Did you people see the same film I saw?

Crappy film

A lot of fun.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"The Hoodlum" saw Mary desperately trying to diversify her screen persona - for the last couple of years fans had kept her as Rebecca, the poor little rich girl and a little princess. She was also getting the enviable reputation of only having the best directors and technicians on her films, but as far as she was concerned it was no secret - if you want the best (Marshall Neilan, Frances Marion) you pay the best. The reviewers noticed, especially on her film "The Hoodlum" where they commended both her and Paramount for never being better. They also couldn't see Mary, who had now been on top for almost six years, as abdicating her throne soon.Amy's (Pickford) grandfather, Mr. Guthrie, is a hard headed business man and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as Amy rules the house with tantrums and terrorizing the servants and the poor cat. When contrary Amy decides at the last minute that she doesn't wish to accompany her granddaddy on his European holiday he banishes her to her father's care when father takes up residence in the heart of the Bowery. The film's by line is a bit misleading "a spoiled young girl forced to fight for survival in the slums and alleys"!! giving the impression that much of the film is about her effort of trying to fit in with her new found acquaintances. There are some funny scenes regarding her initial feelings at being forced to give up her Park Avenue luxuries for survival in the slums (there is a scene where Amy imagines she is living in a pig sty - it was handled better in "Poor Little Rich Girl") but almost the next scene shows her as the leader of the gang, shooting craps with loaded dice, dancing a shimmy for the entertainment of the street and the funny but inevitable police chase. A funny scene shows Amy bewailing the fact that she is coming last in the class whereas at the start a wheedling tutor told her the only person smarter than herself was her grand daddy!!There is also a slum scene of dramatic reality - when Amy is taken by a little girl to visit her sick mother you see a drunkard's room with a swag of dirty rags for a bed and a sick woman with crawling bugs on her pillow. Into this monstrous poverty comes a "stranger on the third floor" - it is Amy's grand-daddy who in his disguise as old Mr. Cooper is horrified by Amy's "hoodlum ways". Amy has also caught the eye of William Turner (Kenneth Harlan) who is working on an undercover dossier on the crooked business practices of Mr. Guthrie who was responsible for sending him to prison on a falsified charge.It all climaxes back at Park Avenue when Amy and William are caught raiding the safe for the incriminating ledgers, Mr. Guthrie is back, a completely changed man vowing to continue his good works among the city poor. No other reviewer has mentioned what little Dishy is doing in the millionaire's house - there must have been a sequence in which Guthrie adopted the little boy and bought him home to his palatial house but it is missing now. Dishy was played by Buddy Messinger who had been part of a child acting troupe (Virginia Lee Corbin, Francis Carpenter etc) who had starred in a series of "kid pix" directed by the Franklin brothers. They were hugely popular and Mary must have seen what a rapport Sidney Franklin had with children because his direction of Mary and the slum kids is the best part of the movie!!

THE HOODLUM is perhaps one of Mary Pickford's lesser known silent films, but it's a total delight. And she does not play "little Mary," in this one, but plays an older version of her famous and beloved character.We first see Pickford as Amy Burke, a rich little terror who throws hysterical fits when she can't have her way. She's maybe 16-ish, in school, but she drives a car (a "white racer"). Her grandfather (Ralph Lewis) is planning a trip to Europe but she pitches a fit for some reason and decides to go live with her father on Craigen Street in New York City while he finishes up his sociological study for his book. Snooty Amy has a major culture shock as she adjusts to life in the slums.So Pickford becomes one of the "gang," learns to fit in, and also learns through a neighbor (Kenneth Harlan) that her grandfather framed him and sent him to jail. Of course all wrongs are righted by the end of the film.Pickford is hilarious as she shoots craps with loaded dice, runs from the police, dances a wild tango in an alley, and eventually settles the score between the wronged man (whom she marries) and her grandfather.The film is great looking with a terrific "Craigen Street" set that includes tenement hallways and stairs, fire escapes, and alleys. The film is briskly directed by Sidney Franklin and boasts some beautiful title cards by Ferdinand Pinney Earle, who was the major title card artist of his time, and whose art sometimes resembles that of Edward Hopper.But Mary Pickford is center stage here whether she's trashing her mansion bedroom, driving wildly down country roads, or dancing in an alley. Aggie Herring, Melvin Messinger, and Max Davidson (as Isaacs) co-star.

Despite the rather reckless-sounding title, the Mary Pickford feature "The Hoodlum" is actually an entertaining and thoughtful movie that resembles many of her other films, with a few touches that make it different and worthwhile. The story-line is a bit too far-fetched on some occasions, but otherwise the movie works very well.Pickford gets to play the kind of high-spirited but innocent character at which she excels, and she makes full use of the material. After her character moves in with her father, some of the scenes of her transformation are quite amusing. Pickford had the rare ability to bring out a character's yearning for change and desire for experimentation without making the character come across as self-righteous or rebellious.The production and the rest of the cast are solid, but it's mostly Mary's show, and she pulls everything together. Her interactions with her grandfather are nicely done on both ends, and add some real substance to a movie that was already entertaining. The settings are believable, and especially so in the slum neighborhood. The story is relatively simple (if implausible at times), but it is thoughtful and worthwhile.

It's too bad the title of this film would be a turn-off to many people, because the story is delightful, the acting fantastic, and the print that I saw of the film excellent. This has become one of my favorite of all Mary Pickford films. After watching Amy Burkeses transition from high-brow Fifth Avenue to the ghettos of New York I had to read the book it was based on. The film is quite different than the novel, but both are enjoyable in their own ways. Mary's script makes the romance a little sweeter, and the storyline in her film is less political. I would love to see this one on DVD with a new musical score.