Poor Relations is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor.[1] Produced by the Brentwood Corporation, the film starred Vidor’s wife Florence Vidor and featured comedienne ZaSu Pitts.[2]
| Poor Relations | |
|---|---|
 Contemporary advertisement | |
| Directed by | King Vidor |
| Written by | King Vidor |
| Starring | Florence Vidor |
| Cinematography | Ira H. Morgan |
| Distributed by | Robertson-Cole |
Release date |
|
Running time | 50 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent with English intertitles |
The picture is the final of four Christian Science precept films that represent a brief phase in Vidor’s output championing the superiority of self-healing through moral strength and supplemented by the benefits of rural living.[3]
Plot
editCountry girl Dorothy Perkins succeeds as an architect in the city, but then is scorned by her old-money in-laws.[4]
Cast
edit- Florence Vidor as Dorothy Perkins
- Lillian Leighton as Ma Perkins
- William De Vaull as Pa Perkins (as William Du Vaull)
- Roscoe Karns as Henry
- ZaSu Pitts as Daisy Perkins
- Charles Meredith as Monty Rhodes
Reception
editThe reviews were "poor". Exhibitors Trade Review observed that "the slender, fragile story has just about all it can do to make its way through the new-mown hay atmosphere."[5]
Theme
editPoor Relations provides an early example of Vidor’s “feminist” presentation of professional and independent women, emphasizing reciprocal exchanges between the sexes.[6]
Footnotes
edit- ^ "Progressive Silent Film List: Poor Relations". Silent Era. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
- ^ Baxter 1976 p. 9
- ^ (Gustafssson 2016: “The film “advocated views associated with Christian Science (not to be confused with Scientology, a then relatively new religious movement that came about towards the end of the 19th century and to which Vidor claimed allegiance.”
Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 26
Baxter 1976 p. 9 - ^ Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 337
- ^ Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 337: ETR 25 October 1919.
- ^ Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 15: Vidor a “natural feminist” in that his female protagonists “drive men crazy, or inspire them, and do what they want, without becoming superior beings.” and the “reciprocity [between men and women] constitute its mainspring.”
Baxter 1976 p. 14: Baxter identifies The Real Adventure and Woman, Wake Up, both 1922, as early feminist cinema by Vidor.
References
edit- Baxter, John. 1976. King Vidor. Simon & Schuster, Inc. Monarch Film Studies. LOC Card Number 75-23544.
- Durgnat, Raymond and Simmon, Scott. 1988. King Vidor, American. University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 0-520-05798-8
- Gustafsson, Fredrik. 2016. King Vidor, An American Romantic La furia umana. LFU/28 Winter 2016. http://www.lafuriaumana.it/index.php/61-archive/lfu-28/548-fredrik-gustafsson-king-vidor-an-american-romantic Retrieved 4 June 2020.