A wonderful romantic comedy and a fitting final silent film by “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford! Definitely recommended!
Images courtesy of © 1999 Mary Pickford Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: My Best Girl – The Milestone Collection
DURATION: 79 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: B&W & Color Tint, NTSC, Dolby Digital Stereo
RATED: Not Rated
COMPANY: Milestone Film & Video/Image Entertainment
Released Dated: October 26, 1999
Directed by Sam Taylor
Story by Kathleen Norris
Screenplay by Allen McNeil and Tim Whelan
Adaptation by Hope Loring
Producer: Mary Pickford
Cinematography by David Kesson, Charles Rosher
Art Direction by John DuCasse Schulze
Starring:
Mary Pickford as Maggie Johnson
Charles “Buddy” Rogers as Joseph “Joe” Grant
Sunshine Hart as Ma Johnson
Lucien Littlefield as Pa Johnson
Carmelita Geraghty as Elizabeth “Liz” Johnson
Hobart Bosworth as Robert E. Merrill
Evelyn Hall as Esther Merrill
Avonne Taylor as Millicent Rogers
Mack Swain as the Judge
John Junior as Nick Powell
Maggie (Mary Pickford), a shop girl in a five-and-dime store, falls in love with the owner’s son Joe (Charles “Buddy” Rogers), who is working incognito as a clerk to prove himself to his father. A timeless Cinderella tale set in the roaring twenties, MY BEST GIRL is one of Hollywood’s greatest romantic comedies. Also included is newsreel footage of the marriage of Buddy Rogers and Mary Pickford, as well as home movies of their life together.
Mary Pickford, who will always be forever known as “America’s Sweetheart†and a pioneer of early Hollywood and shaping the industry but also for being the first talent who had so much power in Hollywood and joined Douglas Fairbanks (who would end up being her husband), Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith to create the film studio United Artists. As well as being one of the original founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and building her legacy as one of the greatest female actresses of all time.
Known for her work in silent films such as “Stella Marisâ€, “Amarlilly of Clothes-Line Alleyâ€, “The Poor Little Rich Girlâ€, “Tess of the Storm Countryâ€, “Pollyanna†to name a few, towards the end of her silent film career, Pickford would star in her final silent film “My Best Girl”, a romantic comedy that did fairly well in 1927 earning over a million dollars during its first run and a film most notable as it paired Mary Pickford and Charles “Buddy” Rogers (Pickford would marry Rogers in 1937, a year after her divorce to Fairbanks).
“My Best Girl” is about a woman named Maggie Johnson, an overworked employee at the Merril Department Store who works as a stock girl and hopes to one day become a sales girl. As her friend at the sales counter goes on a break, she asks Maggie to watch her counter for a short time. Maggie looks at this opportunity to show her boss that she can work in sales and the first person she tries to impress on the job is Joe Grant, unbeknown to Maggie is that Joe is not a shopper but is actually the new employee who is going to work at the department store in the stocking department alongside with her.
While trying to help train him in the stock room, Joe seems to not know how to open crates or do anything and thus dubs him “The Dumbest Stockboy in the World”. But as the two continue to work together, she finds herself attracted to him. But there is more to Joe Grant than Maggie knows. He is actually the son of Joseph Merril, the department store owner who is secretly working at the Department Store and is happily engaged to another rich woman named Millicent.
One day after work as the other sales clerks flirt with Joe, she rides on the back of a truck (as she heads back home). But Maggie looks at the opportunity for her to flirt with Joe by accidentally dropping things out of the truck and thus Joe having to pick it up and run after her. And she keeps repeating it until he eventually jumps on the back truck to ride with her towards her home.
Maggie takes Joe back home, wanting to cook him a meal but we learn that her family situation is not too quiet as her sister Liz is a rebellious Flapper (a term for a woman in the ’20s who were liberal and independent) dating a guy who gets into trouble and her mother is constantly weepy that her elderly postal worker father has to make her sniff ink or salts in order to calm her nerves. Maggie tries to pass off her family’s dramatics to Joe that her sister is in a theater and is acting out a part.
But if anything, Maggie makes up for it the day after when she cooks him a meal and feeds him in the stockroom of the store and eventually, the two share their first kiss and the two become even closer with each other.
Meanwhile, Joe’s mother is preparing an engagement dinner for he and Millicent and Joe knows he will need to tell Maggie the truth about his true identity and that he is engaged. But what happens when Maggie learns by circumstance of the truth about Joe?
VIDEO:
“My Best Girl” is presented in 1:33:1 in black and white and color tinting. The good news is that “My Best Girl” is fortunately one of the films maintained by the Pickford Corporation that is in good condition. The whole film is intact with maybe a few missing frames and there is a few frames that have print damage but for the most part, the film is in good condition and there is not excessive dust, scratches that prevent the enjoyability of the film.  There really isn’t any bad news but the very few areas of the film that do have print damage but not the kind that takes over the whole screen, it’s usually at the side of the negative and it’s not long at all.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital stereo featuring a wonderful symphonic score by David Michael Frank. The music fits the film perfectly and definitely one of the better silent film scores for a Pickford film out there.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“My Best Girl – The Milestone” comes with the following special feature:
- Home Movies and Newsreel Clips – (3:44) Featuring home movies of Mary Pickford’s marriage and honeymoon with Buddy Rogers.
When I started my research and viewing on Mary Pickford films, the hardcore silent film fans recommended “My Best Girl” as a film I should start out with. And I admit that I was a bit bewildered by the recommendation because it was Mary Pickford’s final silent film and most of the films that she was known for, were for the roles playing a younger character or a dual role. But after watching this film, I can tell you that I absolutely enjoyed this film.
First off, this is a romantic comedy that can be easily be seen as a rags-to-riches story as Mary Pickford plays a role of a young, over-worked woman who works in the stockroom and she falls for a man which she does not know is the son of the owner of the department store, let alone a wealthy young man who is engaged to a wealthy woman. The story establishes how the character of Maggie is very close to her family but without focusing on the financial side of the family, the film focuses on how two people who can be seen as opposites falling for each other.
Mary Pickford is no doubt a master when it comes to her presence and what she wants to be seen onscreen, she does a magnificent job portraying a variety of emotions throughout the film, may it be happiness, sadness, flirtation, etc. And the onscreen chemistry with her and Buddy Rogers works quite well for this film. Granted, there is a 12-year age difference between both talent but Pickford throughout her silent film career has had a nack of playing characters that were younger and in this case, despite being 35-years-old as opposed to Rogers who was only 23-years-old at the time, their chemistry is believable.
But one of the most memorable scenes from the film includes shots of Buddy Rogers running after Mary Pickford in a busy street with the old Los Angeles buildings and advertisements as the scenery. What a nostalgic scene, let alone a hilarious scene from the film.
Overall, I can see now why many silent film fans, especially Mary Pickford fans have recommended this film to me.  Featuring solid performance by the talent of the film, especially the overly weepy mother Ma Johnson (played by Sunshine Hart) and the tired/panicky father Pa Johnson (played by Lucien Littlefield). Carmerlita Geraghty as the troublesome young flapper sister also did a good job although I wonder if flappers at the time felt the character was too judgmental in terms of the negative portrayal of flappers. And as a side note, Golden Era cinema fans can see actress Carole Lombard in a very small role as a flirty blonde trying to hit on Joe before the popular truck scene.
“My Best Girl” is a wonderful silent romantic comedy that has plenty of gags and dramatics to make this film, a fitting final silent film for “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford.  Definitely recommended!