Coquette (1929)

Wealthy southern debutante Norma (Mary Pickford) has the attention of all the young (and a few middle aged) men, but she has taken a shine to an uncouth ruffian (Johnny Mack Brown) whom Doctor Daddy does not approve of. Ruffian Michael heads off to a work camp to make something of himself, but he can’t stay away.

It is hard to overstate how big of a star Mary Pickford was during the silent era. At five foot nothing and with youthful good looks, she played tween girls well into her thirties. Pancake makeup does wonders. She would not, however, transition successfully to sound cinema. Coquette was her first of only five forgettable talkies, then never to act again. By contrast hunky Johnny Mack Brown appeared in 165 feature films, well into the 1960’s, mostly in Westerns, and oddly as a character with his name.

Mary Pickford’s life may be more interesting than her films, definitely this one. She founded Allied Artists with D.W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, and soon to be husband Douglas Fairbanks. Her marriage alone makes for quite a story. She, the nagging and humorless wife or Fairbanks, the drunken womanizer. Pick an angle and you’ll find a biopic to support it. Film star, film producer, studio head. Not bad for a tiny woman in the first half of the last century.

Based on a stage play, Coquette (slang for a flirtatious woman) seems it, spending twenty minutes per set piece. The story has promise but lacks execution. The audio track is typical of early talkies, and the acting style is stuck in the silent era and seems oddly unrehearsed. I recommend this film only if you are curious what America’s Sweetheart sounded like. Otherwise, AMRU 2.