Coquette (film)
Encyclopedia
Plot
Norma Besant, daughter of a SouthernSouthern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
doctor, is an incorrigible flirt and has many suitors. Her father Dr. Besant (John St. Polis) favors Stanley (Matt Moore), who is taken with Norma. However Norma has met a simple man named Michael Jeffrey (Johnny Mack Brown) who she has fallen madly in love with. Dr. Besant disapproves of Michael and orders Norma to never see him again. Norma gives him their word, then promptly plans to marry Michael in 6 months, when he's made 'good in the hills' so he can buy her a home in the valley.
A few months pass and Michael sneaks down from the hills to see Norma at a Country Club dance. Wanting more time alone they sneak off to Michael's mothers cabin. According to Norma they made coffee and talked all night about the future. She returns home the next day at 4am. However someone has spotted the couple and began to spread rumors around town destroying Norma's reputation. Michael is furious and vows he will ask her father for her hand in marriage immediately.
Dr. Besant is furious and a heated verbal exchange takes place with Michael leaving, vowing to runaway with Norma as soon as possible. Dr. Besant orders Norma to her room and leaves, pistol in hand. As Norma's brother tries to distract her Stanley arrives, telling Norma that Michael was fatally wounded by her father.
Norma runs to Michael's cabin where he dies in her arms. Dr. Besant's lawyer friend arrives begging Norma to lie on to the police to save her father's life. Norma refuses, but later as the trial wears on she changes her mind. She takes the stand and lies about Michael, trying to save her father. Norma breaks down under cross examination and her father comes to comfort her on the witness stand. As he tells her she doesn't have to lie anymore he spots the gun on the evidence table.
After comforting Norma, Dr. Besant approaches the bench and confesses his guilt, saying he has done wrong and is willing to pay the price. He then takes the gun and kills himself in front of the court. Later we see Stanley waiting for Norma, who has been in the judge's chambers. He offers to walk her home, but Norma refuses saying she'd like to walk home alone.
Cast
- Mary PickfordMary PickfordMary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
as Norma Besant - Johnny Mack BrownJohnny Mack BrownJohnny Mack Brown was an All-American college football player and film actor originally billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career.-Early life:...
as Michael Jeffery (as John Mack Brown) - Matt Moore as Stanley 'Stan' Wentworth
- John St. PolisJohn St. PolisJohn St. Polis was an American actor. He appeared in 126 films between 1914 and 1943.He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Shadows...
as Dr. John M. Besant - William Janney as James 'Jimmy' Besant
- Henry KolkerHenry KolkerHenry Kolker was an American stage and film actor and director...
as Dist. Atty. Jasper Carter - George IrvingGeorge Irving (American actor)George Henry Irving was an American film actor and director who made over 200 films in his lifetime. Some of his best known movies were Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Hearts Divided, A Night at the Opera, Son of Dracula, Hangmen Also Die!, Once Upon a Honeymoon, and Maid's Night Out.-Death:Irving...
as Robert 'Bob' Wentworth
Production background
The film stars silent filmSilent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
star Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
in her first talkie, Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown was an All-American college football player and film actor originally billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career.-Early life:...
in one of his earliest roles, John St. Polis
John St. Polis
John St. Polis was an American actor. He appeared in 126 films between 1914 and 1943.He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Shadows...
, Matt Moore (Pickford's ex brother in law), and Louise Beavers
Louise Beavers
Louise Beavers was an African-American film and television actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Beavers was a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American...
.
The film was adapted for the screen by John Grey, Allen McNeil, and Sam Taylor
Sam Taylor (director)
Sam Taylor was a film director, screenwriter, and producer, most active in silent film era. Taylor is best known for his comedic directorial work with Harold Lloyd and Mary Pickford....
from the play by George Abbott
George Abbott
George Francis Abbott was an American theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than nine decades.-Early years:...
and Ann Preston Bridgers, and was directed by Sam Taylor. The play originally opened in New York City on November 8, 1927 with Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
in the title role.
The film was a box office success, firmly launching Mary Pickford as a sound actress. For her role, she won the second Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
.
William Cameron Menzies
William Cameron Menzies
William Cameron Menzies was an Academy Award-winning American film production designer and art director who also worked as a director, producer, and screenwriter during a career spanning five decades...
provided set decoration
Set decorator
A set decorator is in charge of the set dressing on a film set, which includes the furnishings, wallpaper, lighting fixtures, and many of the other objects that will be seen in the film. Props and set dressing often overlap, but are provided by different departments...
, or production design
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
, with the film crediting him for "settings". Cinematography was by Karl Struss
Karl Struss
Karl Struss, A.S.C. was a photographer and a cinematographer of the 1920s through the 1950s. He was also one of the earliest pioneers of 3-D films. While he mostly worked on films, he was also one of the cinematographers for the television series Broken Arrow.He was born in New York, New York and...
.
Place in Pickford's career
Pickford had been one of the most popular stars in silent filmSilent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
. Her popularity had been steady since her debut in 1909. In 1916 she founded her own production company, taking control of every detail of her films. In 1919 along with Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, her husband Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
, and D.W. Griffith she founded United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
giving her complete control over her films.
Known for little girl type roles such as Pollyanna
Pollyanna (1920 film)
Pollyanna is a 1920 American melodrama/comedy film starring Mary Pickford, directed by Paul Powell, and based upon an Eleanor H. Porter novel. It was Pickford's first motion picture for United Artists. It became a major success and would be regarded as one of Pickford's most defining pictures...
(one of her highest grossing films ever) Pickford had been trying to escape typecasting since 1923 taking on roles such as Rosita. However these films did not do as well as her children styled roles (though they were still successful at the box office) and Pickford had reverted making films like Little Annie Rooney
Little Annie Rooney
Little Annie Rooney was a comic strip about a young orphaned girl who traveled about with her dog, Zero. King Features Syndicate launched the strip on January 10, 1927, not long after it was apparent that the Chicago Tribune Syndicate had scored a huge hit with Little Orphan Annie.Although the King...
in 1925 and Sparrows in 1926. She attempted tried an older role with her final silent film My Best Girl in 1927., and in 1928, following the death of her mother, cut off her world famous curls.
With the arrival of talkies Pickford immediately took to the new medium, being one of the first major stars to do so. At her Pickfair Studios she installed a sound stage in 1928, and began preparing for her first talkie. She bought the rights to Coquette, a play that Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
had made popular on the stage. Coquette is the story of a flirtatious southern girl, who chooses to stand behind her father after he kills the man that she loves. Much like My Best Girl the role was older skewing, with Pickford portraying a flapper
Flapper
Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
type for the first time.
Sound technology was extremely touchy at the time, with jewelry or footsteps ruining takes. Cameras could barely move, and were hidden behind a clear glass so as to not interfere with the sound recording. Pickford employed the best technology possible, resulting in a film that had more natural movement and acting than other early talkies.
Despite Pickford's embrace of the new medium it seems she was as concerned as everyone else about how her voice would record, despite the fact she had a stage career before entering film. After reviewing her first sound test she reportedly remarked, "Why that sounds like a little pipsqueak voice!" She immediately began intensive vocal lessons, hoping to accomplish a realistic Southern accent for the role.
Pickford became nervous during preparation, firing her sound man when a take wasn't ready for her review on time. On set during an emotional scene, she notoriously fired her longtime cameraman and friend, Charles Rosher
Charles Rosher
Charles Rosher, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer who worked from the early days of silent films through the 1950s...
, when he yelled "Cut" in the middle of one of her lines. She didn't know at the time that a shadow had fallen across her face, as she was simply annoyed at being interrupted. Slightly embarrassed by her behavior and realizing she had been wrong, she wrote him a letter saying, "Tragedy is an ugly mask. I don't want to look like something on a candy box or a valentine."
Release
The film premiered in New York April 12, 1929 at the Rialto Theatre. A fuse blew rendering the film silent. It was rewound and shown again, this time with intermittent, bad sound. Finally technicians were able to fix the problem and the film began again for a third time.Contemporary reviews were polite and warm. It was a box office success grossing $1.4 million. Coquette launched Pickford as a competent talkie star.
Complete prints of the film still exist. In the 1990s it was restored by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
and The Mary Pickford Institute. Coquette was released on home video in the 1990s. Pickford's estate no longer owns the rights as another studio bought the film for a never-made remake.
Academy Awards
Pickford was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
, for which her husband would be the first president. She was one of only three women founding members.
The first Academy Awards were held in 1929, without any nominations for Pickford. She was nominated for Best Actress in 1930 for the 2nd Academy Awards
2nd Academy Awards
The 2nd Academy Awards were presented on April 3, 1930 at an awards banquet in the Cocoanut Grove of The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and broadcast live on the radio...
. Many have accused Pickford of unfairly winning, using her clout and standing in the industry for an Award she was unworthy of. One author called it 'the first lifetime achievement award' (despite the fact Charlie Chaplin had won something similar the year before).
Pickford did lobby hard for the Oscar, inviting the judges over for tea at her home Pickfair
Pickfair
Pickfair was a 56 acre estate in the city of Beverly Hills, California designed by architect Wallace Neff for silent film actors Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Coined "Pickfair" by the press, it was once one of the most celebrated homes in the world...
. However her performance was critically and publicly acclaimed. Pickford would win another Oscar in 1976, an honorary lifetime achievement award.
In 2008 a legal battle ensued between The Academy and Buddy Rogers's heirs over the sale of the Coquette Oscar. The heirs were trying to sell the award for charity, as stipulated in Rogers's second wife's will. The Academy insisted that the Award must be offered back to them for $1, a rule they instated long after Pickford won her Oscar. They claimed that when she won her honorary Oscar in the 1970s she signed a contract covering the Coquette statuette as well. The heirs argued that it might not have even been her signature, as Pickford was frail at the end of her life.
The Academy won the legal battle, but announced they were willing to pursue a private agreement with the heirs. The outcome of this agreement is unknown.