The Wicked Darling (1919)

Director:

Tod Browning

Writers:

Evelyn Campbell (story)
Harvey Gates (writer)

Release Date:

24 February 1919 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

A slum girl is forced to steal for a living. After she swipes a rich society's matron's necklace, she hides out at the home of a man who turns out to be the socialite's former fiance.

Plot Keywords:

Pearl | Pickpocket | Financial Ruin | Theft | Threat

Cast

Priscilla Dean	...	Mary Stevens
Wellington A. Playter	...	Kent Mortimer
Lon Chaney	...	Stoop Connors
Spottiswoode Aitken	...	Fadem
Gertrude Astor	...	Adele Hoyt
Kalla Pasha	...	The Bartender

Also Known As:

The Gutter Bride (USA) (working title)
The Gutter Rose (USA) (working title)
The Rose of the Dark (USA) (working title)
The Rose of the Night (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

59 min (restored version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Universal Film Manufacturing Company

Quotes:

Stoop Connors: I took a damn good beatin' for them pearls - now come through!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000) (TV)

Solid Melodrama With A Fine Performance By Chaney

A solid melodrama in itself, "The Wicked Darling" is most noteworthy now for the supporting performance of Lon Chaney, in the kind of villainous role that he performed as well as any actor of his time (or just about any other time, for that matter). The movie has recently been restored from one badly damaged print and a few scraps of information, and the restorers have done an impressive job indeed piecing together almost all of the original feature.

Priscilla Dean has the lead role, as a good-natured pickpocket caught up in a bad crowd, among them being Chaney's vicious character. A chain of events leads Mary (Dean's character) to develop a friendship with an upper class gentleman (played by Wellington Playter) who has recently lost both his fortune and his fiancée. The two of them go on to face a series of crises, tests, and menaces, many of them instigated by Chaney's character.

It's a story like many others of its era, but Tod Browning's direction keeps it from being ordinary, adding some good touches and details, and getting good performances from most of the cast. Chaney, though, is the one that stands out. He has no disguises or detailed make-up this time, but he makes full use of every opportunity to portray a cold-hearted crook who forms a formidable obstacle to the happiness of the heroine and the man she loves. As a result, it's quite a bit more interesting and memorable than most movies of its kind.