My Best Girl (1927)
Directed by: Sam Taylor
Starring: Mary Pickford, Charles "Buddy" Rogers
Length: 79 min
Genre: Romantic Comedy
In her mid 30s, the studio finally puts Mary Pickford in her first adult role.
Joseph Merril (Buddy Rogers) is the son of a wealthy owner of a chain of 5 and 10 cent stores. To prove to his father that he is ready for the real world, he takes a job as a stock boy under a false name, Joe Grant. There, he meets Maggie Johnson (Mary Pickford). Maggie soon develops a crush on Joseph.
He, too, begins to have feelings for Maggie, but there's just one little problem. He's already engaged. He continues this duel life, trying to find the right time to break off his engagement, but time and his family catch up to him, leading to a scene in a courthouse where Joseph punches someone over a comment about Maggie.
It becomes a scandal in the newspapers and Joseph's father plans a trip to Hawaii for his son. Joseph plans to take Maggie with him, bet his father beats him to Maggie's house and offers a bribe and convinces her that leaving Joseph is the best thing for him. When Joseph arrives, Maggie tries to put on a act that she didn't care about him, but she can't keep it up and eventually breaks down.
The budget for the movie was around $500,000 and the movie made over $1 million in its first run. The studio had worried that putting Mary Pickford in an adult, romantic role would not go over well with a public that was used to seeing her as "American's Sweetheart". They were worried over nothing as the film was a big success.
This was Mary Pickford's last silent movie. After a two year absence, she returned to star in the 1929 movie Coquette, in which she would win an Oscar for. Her last movie was Secrets in 1933.
Entertainment Rating: 6/10
Historical Rating: 7/10