Hoodoo Ann

Starring:G.M. Anderson, Mildred Harris, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh
Director: Lloyd Ingraham
Studio: Unknown Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
In early 1916, D.W. Griffith had his hands full making "Intolerance," yet he still found time to write a script for Mae Marsh, one that would show off all the qualities that made her one of the most important screen actresses of the 1910s. "Hoodoo Ann" is sometimes a poignant drama, and at other times a light comedy, but Mae Marsh is always center stage, in one of her few surviving showcase films.

Here she plays an orphan girl who seems to be cursed with the worst luck in the world... and bad things keep happening to prove it! Things begin to turn around, though, when she meets Bobby Harron. Both of these stars are best remembered for the work they'd just finished in Griffith's "The Mother and the Law" (soon incorporated into "Intolerance"), but this little film is a real charmer, a glimpse back to a simpler time. Organ score by Bob Vaughn.

Description

In early 1916, D.W. Griffith had his hands full making "Intolerance," yet he still found time to write a script for Mae Marsh, one that would show off all the qualities that made her one of the most important screen actresses of the 1910s. "Hoodoo Ann" is sometimes a poignant drama, and at other times a light comedy, but Mae Marsh is always center stage, in one of her few surviving showcase films.

Supplemental material: Not one, but two Broncho Billy one-reel dramas: "The Making of Broncho Billy" (1913) and "Broncho Billy and the Greaser" (1914), both starring G. M. Anderson.

Customer Reviews:

A pleasant trip down Memory Lane.......2005-05-23

Above all else, this 1916 feature film feels like it captures people's lives and the mentality of that time, with a nice story that is intended to show the lives of ordinary people - and perhaps the occasional extraordinary things that happen to them. The script for "Hoodoo Ann" was actually written by none other than D W Griffith, the Father of Film, who is most famous for powerful dramas like "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance", so I found it good to see some of his other, less-known work for a change. Although Griffith didn't direct "Hoodoo Ann", the star, Mae Marsh, was one of Griffith's regulars, appearing in dozens of early Griffith shorts, and playing important roles in his major films as well. In this light drama/comedy, Mae's role is similar to many of her others, and that of another early Griffith protégé, Mary Pickford. As Hoodoo Ann, Mae first appears as a playful young girl in an orphanage, and then as a young lady a few years later; much like many Pickford roles, but in this case I found Mae's performance much more natural and enjoyable to watch. She handles a few comical scenes very well and without the excessive animation I'd seen in her other performances. As Hoodoo Ann, brought to an orphanage on Friday the 13th, she feels her life is jinxed, and although her fortune changes when she is adopted by a nice couple, her fears return when she accidentally fires a gun and her neighbor mysteriously disappears at the same time: did she kill him or whodunit? While not really a mystery or thriller with any real depths or dramas, I found "Hoodoo Ann" to be a very good and enjoyable light drama, especially for its time. The picture quality is also very good, and lively traditional organ score helps it along nicely, too.

This DVD actually begins with two bonus shorts from earlier years featuring G M Anderson as "Broncho Billy", the screen's first cowboy and Western star. Although they have little in common with "Hoodoo Ann" except their early production years (1913-14) these two 10-minute Broncho Billy `episodes' give us a glimpse of what this early series was like. Anderson made around 50 such short 1-reelers a year for several years, like a regular TV series, and as such, the story moves very quickly and you have to stay alert to catch everything. There's certainly never a dull moment though, and for a better in-depth look at G M Anderson and Broncho Billy, "The Son-of-a-Gun" also on Unknown Video is worth viewing, too.

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