The Wicked Darling (1919)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

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:

Mary Stevens: I'm through wid yuh! Through wid your whole damn filthy bunch! Do yuh get me?

Movie Connections:

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

Travel to The Slums

Human curiosity is one of those primal feelings that the aristocracy share with coarse people; the more bizarre and obscure the subject, the more interested are the aristocrats. Strange places are especially fascinating even if such locales are the slums, the very opposite of aristocratic neighbourhoods.

But to travel to the slums is a dangerous outing so in order to satisfy aristocratic curiosity about these nether regions (while not overlooking the need for protection on these peculiar journeys) aristocrats need an expert guide to be able to take a safe walk on the wild side ( as an old German proverb says) so how can one do better than turning to Herr Tod Browning?

Thanks to Herr Browning's expertise, this Herr Von recently watched (from a safe distance) slum specimens like unscrupulous pawnbrokers, greedy landladies, violent waiters, hardened criminals, ruined men and working girls, all bizarre and curious fauna for an aristocrat ( especially the working girls) that are depicted carefully in the film "The Wicked Darling" (1919).

It is well-known that Herr Browning had a special likeness for those underprivileged persons who were the main characters of many of his films, works that could be great or obscure but were always astounding and unique. "The Wicked Darling" is one of his early silent films that is also one of Herr Browning's many collaborations with Herr Lon Chaney; they were a perfect team.

The film is characteristic of many of Herr Browning films and also displays a sarcastic sense of humour that this Herr Graf likes specially (Surely the ending is meant as a joke with our gutter heroes finding a new and peaceful life as farmers, surrounded by impassive cows rather than dangerous criminals.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must return to the peaceful isolation ward at the Schloss.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/