During the early 1920s D.W. Griffith's, who had been held up as a God of early Hollywood, fortunes began to change until, with the release of "The White Rose", James Quirk, influential editor of "Photoplay", posed the question "when was Griffith going to release a film that would restore his "the Master" title. He had been having management problems at his Mamaroneck studios but film gossip ignored that and blamed his slump on an alleged romance with Carol Dempster.
Griffith may have "given up his throne for a third rate actress" according to Adela Rogers St John but it seemed that when meaty roles came along they never went to Carol but to the tried and true actresses Griffith had developed in his earlier directing days. The same with "The White Rose" - Dempster, being his muse, was given the boring part of the romantic heroine but for the pivotal dramatic role of the seduced girl, Bessie, he coaxed Mae Marsh out of semi retirement. He always believed she gave the greatest performance as the "Little Sister" in "Birth of a Nation" and with "The White Rose" she received the only praise the critics gave the film.
There are the usual lengthy, sentimental titles (so beloved by Griffith and William S. Hart) and Mae Marsh is introduced as Bessie - "I am a First Class Orphan, I had a mama and a papa both". She is given a job as a waitress at the Blue River Inn where her sweetness of personality bring scorn from the waitress she is replacing and she proceeds to turn Bessie into "Teazie", a little town flirt!! Mae Marsh is just superlative - shy and wanting to be liked initially, then flirting up a storm as she dances, trips around and generally kicks up her heels.
The lesser romantic story has to do with Marie, a sweet Southern belle (Dempster of course) and John White, a grocery clerk (Neil Hamilton) who loves her from afar. He is determined to rise above his family's shiftlessness and is writing a book entitled "From a Grocery Store Window". Griffith's disrespect of the Afro- American race is blatantly obvious here. Apart from Aunty Easter (Lucille LaVerne in black face which was very common in films then) there is not one who is not lazy, bumbling or a figure of fun. Marie's family is hoping she will marry Joseph (Ivor Novello) and unite the two oldest families in the district but he is determined to become a priest and his sanctimonious moralizing while on a walking tour leads an old timer to caution him "Pride goes before a fall" - famous last words.
Scenes involving Marie and Joseph are the slowest in the film. A tighter editing job could have lopped half an hour off the length and would have made for a gripping, more emotional film. Also more could have been made of John White's story as he struggled for success. Carol Dempster was not a great actress but she couldn't be blamed for the inordinate amount of closeups she was given of her blank face trying to muster up every emotion. Ivor Novello was the same. A witty London song writer and playwright, the camera dwelt too long on the suffering and emotion he went through after "sinning" on a walking tour.
He meets "Teazie" and believes the village stories about her "easiness". After a night of passion he leaves and Bessie is then left to tramp from village to village looking for work to support herself and her child. I know at the beginning the titles say the story is taken from true life but there is an awful lot of "The Scarlet Letter" in this movie. Marsh really comes into her own as the embattled, friendless waif who at one point contemplates suicide but finds herself (of course during a stormy night) at Auntie Easter's door where she finally finds refuge.
I don't really think (as does one reviewer) that Griffith purposely exaggerated "Teazie's" vampish behaviour to show up the silliness of the jazz age. I think Mae Marsh may have exaggerated "Teazie"'s flirty ways to show how innocent the character was - she was just not up with a flapper's way of thinking. To me Griffith seemed a bit out of step - what had worked in "Way Down East" didn't with this movie due to an inferior story and self indulgent editing.
Griffith may have "given up his throne for a third rate actress" according to Adela Rogers St John but it seemed that when meaty roles came along they never went to Carol but to the tried and true actresses Griffith had developed in his earlier directing days. The same with "The White Rose" - Dempster, being his muse, was given the boring part of the romantic heroine but for the pivotal dramatic role of the seduced girl, Bessie, he coaxed Mae Marsh out of semi retirement. He always believed she gave the greatest performance as the "Little Sister" in "Birth of a Nation" and with "The White Rose" she received the only praise the critics gave the film.
There are the usual lengthy, sentimental titles (so beloved by Griffith and William S. Hart) and Mae Marsh is introduced as Bessie - "I am a First Class Orphan, I had a mama and a papa both". She is given a job as a waitress at the Blue River Inn where her sweetness of personality bring scorn from the waitress she is replacing and she proceeds to turn Bessie into "Teazie", a little town flirt!! Mae Marsh is just superlative - shy and wanting to be liked initially, then flirting up a storm as she dances, trips around and generally kicks up her heels.
The lesser romantic story has to do with Marie, a sweet Southern belle (Dempster of course) and John White, a grocery clerk (Neil Hamilton) who loves her from afar. He is determined to rise above his family's shiftlessness and is writing a book entitled "From a Grocery Store Window". Griffith's disrespect of the Afro- American race is blatantly obvious here. Apart from Aunty Easter (Lucille LaVerne in black face which was very common in films then) there is not one who is not lazy, bumbling or a figure of fun. Marie's family is hoping she will marry Joseph (Ivor Novello) and unite the two oldest families in the district but he is determined to become a priest and his sanctimonious moralizing while on a walking tour leads an old timer to caution him "Pride goes before a fall" - famous last words.
Scenes involving Marie and Joseph are the slowest in the film. A tighter editing job could have lopped half an hour off the length and would have made for a gripping, more emotional film. Also more could have been made of John White's story as he struggled for success. Carol Dempster was not a great actress but she couldn't be blamed for the inordinate amount of closeups she was given of her blank face trying to muster up every emotion. Ivor Novello was the same. A witty London song writer and playwright, the camera dwelt too long on the suffering and emotion he went through after "sinning" on a walking tour.
He meets "Teazie" and believes the village stories about her "easiness". After a night of passion he leaves and Bessie is then left to tramp from village to village looking for work to support herself and her child. I know at the beginning the titles say the story is taken from true life but there is an awful lot of "The Scarlet Letter" in this movie. Marsh really comes into her own as the embattled, friendless waif who at one point contemplates suicide but finds herself (of course during a stormy night) at Auntie Easter's door where she finally finds refuge.
I don't really think (as does one reviewer) that Griffith purposely exaggerated "Teazie's" vampish behaviour to show up the silliness of the jazz age. I think Mae Marsh may have exaggerated "Teazie"'s flirty ways to show how innocent the character was - she was just not up with a flapper's way of thinking. To me Griffith seemed a bit out of step - what had worked in "Way Down East" didn't with this movie due to an inferior story and self indulgent editing.