Suds

Starring:Mary Pickford
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Amanda Afflick is a lovesick laundress who daydreams about customer Horace Greensmith and cherishes the shirt he brought in for washing eight months and sixteen days ago. She tells her fellow workers that the garment belongs to her fiance, a lord. Just wait, Amanda boasts; one day his lordship will return for his wash - and for her. Mary Pickford is heartbreaking as a lonely working girl so desperate for love that she tells her troubles to the laundry's delivery horse. But when Amanda rescues the nag from the glue factory and brings him home with her to her tenement flat, the result is a huge and hilarious ruckus. This bittersweet tale originally ended with Amanda abandoned by her "fiance," sadly musing "Who could love me? Who could? Nobody never won't." This conclusion struck some audiences as too tragic, so two alternative happy endings were filmed - one for the American release, one for international releases. This edition includes all three final scenes.

Suds
Average customer rating:

Very Chaplinesque

Altogether a good and interesting DVD

Suds
Starring: Mary Pickford
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007WFXUS
Release Date: 2005-05-03

Description

Amanda Afflick is a lovesick laundress who daydreams about customer Horace Greensmith and cherishes the shirt he brought in for washing eight months and sixteen days ago. She tells her fellow workers that the garment belongs to her fiance, a lord. Just wait, Amanda boasts; one day his lordship will return for his wash - and for her. Mary Pickford is heartbreaking as a lonely working girl so desperate for love that she tells her troubles to the laundry's delivery horse. But when Amanda rescues the nag from the glue factory and brings him home with her to her tenement flat, the result is a huge and hilarious ruckus. This bittersweet tale originally ended with Amanda abandoned by her "fiance," sadly musing "Who could love me? Who could? Nobody never won't." This conclusion struck some audiences as too tragic, so two alternative happy endings were filmed - one for the American release, one for international releases. This edition includes all three final scenes.

Customer Reviews:

Very Chaplinesque.......2006-09-13

This 1920 feature is often seen as being rather influenced by Mary Pickford's good friend Charlie Chaplin, because there's a good deal of slapstick here, as well as drama interwoven with pathos. The story is simple enough; homely young Amanda Afflick works in Madame Didier's French laundry in a part of London that doesn't exactly seem very well-to-do. Amanda often gets into trouble with Madame Didier (and the other girls and women she works with) because she spends a lot of time daydreaming and goofing off instead of paying more attention to her duties as a laundress. Her biggest daydream is that Horace Greensmith, Esquire, will return for the shirt he dropped off 8 months and 16 days ago, and that when he returns, he'll take her with him as his bride. Amanda even makes up a whole story for her co-workers about how she's really a duchess and Horace was her sweetheart, but her cruel father cast both of them out into the cold because he disapproved of their love and wanted Amanda to experience life like anyone else, and to be loved for herself, not because she had fancy clothes and expensive jewelry. There's also a subplot concerning Lavender, the laundry's worn-out old horse who pulls their delivery wagon, and Amanda's attempts to save him from the glue factory and to give him a good life in a nice place after so many years of hard work.

This story does have the usual Pickford charm, but for some reason I can't quite articulate, it never really gets off of the ground or goes anywhere. The plot could have been a little tighter and more concentrated, with more character development. Perhaps it could have been aided by a longer length (the film runs barely over an hour), or perhaps some of the more superfluous scenes could have been cut down or edited out altogether. Mary's acting also seems more broad than usual here, so we don't really fully come to care for Amanda the same way we care for, say, Judy in 'Daddy-Long-Legs' or Tess in 'Tess of the Storm Country.' Additionally, the people in her supporting cast aren't very memorable either, and Albert Austin (the man who plays Horace) isn't really that gorgeous, certainly not the type of man who would justify such constant daydreaming and unrequited love at first sight. The three endings also are very abrupt. One of the endings, which was very very Chaplinesque, is described to us even though it's not the ending of either of the two versions on the disc (that ending has Amanda crying on the steps lamenting how no one would or could ever love her), one of the endings suggests a possible future with her and Horace after all, and the third ending suggests a possible future for Amanda and Benjamin (the man who drives the laundry wagon Lavender pulls). In both extant versions, we do see Benjamin coming toward the laundry, holding a little bouquet of flowers, before seeing Amanda and Horace together and assuming the worst, although whether or not the ending suggests a romantic future for them, it doesn't really make much sense since we haven't had the slightest hint prior to this that Benjamin even had feelings for Amanda beyond friendship. Regardless, neither ending really gives us a sense of closure. This problem could have been rectified had the movie been just one reel longer.

In addition to the main feature, there's also the foreign version of the movie (with different intertitles and footage, and, as described above, a different ending from the American release), a short comparison of both versions, a photo gallery, one of the alternate endings, and a brief 1966 documentary about Mary and her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., 'The Birth of a Legend.' I found the documentary enjoyable, although it was annoying how most of the film clips had sound effects dubbed in. Overall, it's not a film I'd recommend to a newer fan, but it does still have charm and enjoyability. Even a lesser Pickford film is a good sight better than the majority of what passes for entertainment today.

Altogether a good and interesting DVD.......2005-05-13

There are several features of this DVD that make it interesting and different from the usual Mary Pickford DVDs. For a start, Mary's role in "Suds" is far removed from the `sweet little girl with long golden curls' image she has become most famous for, and anyone not so keen on films in which she plays a child-like young girl might find "Suds" more entertaining. Another change from the usual and popular image is the setting: a poor, working-class district of London at the turn of the century where women slave in steaming basement laundries day in and day out, leading one of them (Mary) to escape this drudgery by daydreaming about a certain gentleman customer. The sets, photography and well-suited musical score combine to express the mood very well, and some charming moments of comedy prevent the picture becoming too gloomy and depressing. In fact, the original ending was deemed too sad and heartbreaking for audiences who generally preferred a fairytale happy ending, especially in the every-popular Pickford films of the 1920s, resulting in not one, but two alternative happy endings being made! Both of these are on the DVD, as well as a separate short segment explaining the further differences between the American and overseas releases, which I found particularly fascinating. But perhaps most striking about "Suds" is how `America's Sweetheart' manages to distort her face and appear more like a very average-looking, unhappy working woman; even her walk and stooped stance adds to this sad character, so in this respect "Suds" allows Pickford to express other facets of her acting talents and gives audiences a bit of a change.

Also on this DVD is a half-hour documentary made in 1966 about Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks: Hollywood's first `golden couple' whose popularity in the 1920s is compared to the 1960's 'Beatlemania' phenomenon in this documentary. It is only a brief summary of the pair and covers just a few highlights of each one's individual career, but as such it would be a good introduction for those not yet too familiar with these famous silent screen legends, and no doubt a nice treat for their modern-day fans as well. Personally, I was impressed by the newsreel footage of the couple's overwhelming reception by huge, enthusiastic crowds wherever they went, including Russia, Denmark and Sweden, where they were hugely popular. There is also a nice "Suds" stills gallery on the DVD, making for entertaining viewing all round.

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