Even though Griffith had misgivings about her acting ability, by 1912 Blanche Sweet was being recognised as one of the screen's great dramatic actresses - but no-one knew her name and she was only in her mid teens!! She was singled out by the New York Dramatic Mirror as being the one Biograph actress who could bring light and shade to her complex role in "The Painted Lady".
"The Painted Lady" was a moving psychological drama with Blanche excelling as a young girl who, unlike her frivolous sister, scorns paint and powder. At the Ice Cream social (with Lillian and Dorothy Gish) she is "Unpopular" but then her father introduces her to a stranger who seems to be just as shy and awkward as she is. They meet in secret and Blanche tells him all the complications of her father's business dealings, he shows interest in her but in reality he is waiting for the chance to rob the family.
The night he breaks in masked, Blanche goes downstairs with a gun determined to save her father's savings. When she realises she has shot and killed the one person who she felt loved her for herself, she succumbs to madness, going to the bridge, their old meeting place, for imaginary meetings but now using the dreaded paint and powder until one day she doesn't return!!
Sweet's performance is so powerful - when she shoots the intruder she pleads with him to get up, then her face just collapses and takes on an "other worldly" look as the family look on helpless. Little Gladys Egan, a Griffith child actor is one of the taunters on the bridge.
"The Painted Lady" was a moving psychological drama with Blanche excelling as a young girl who, unlike her frivolous sister, scorns paint and powder. At the Ice Cream social (with Lillian and Dorothy Gish) she is "Unpopular" but then her father introduces her to a stranger who seems to be just as shy and awkward as she is. They meet in secret and Blanche tells him all the complications of her father's business dealings, he shows interest in her but in reality he is waiting for the chance to rob the family.
The night he breaks in masked, Blanche goes downstairs with a gun determined to save her father's savings. When she realises she has shot and killed the one person who she felt loved her for herself, she succumbs to madness, going to the bridge, their old meeting place, for imaginary meetings but now using the dreaded paint and powder until one day she doesn't return!!
Sweet's performance is so powerful - when she shoots the intruder she pleads with him to get up, then her face just collapses and takes on an "other worldly" look as the family look on helpless. Little Gladys Egan, a Griffith child actor is one of the taunters on the bridge.