An Arcadian Maid (1910) Poster

(1910)

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5/10
Mary Pickford Is a Maid to Order
wes-connors6 October 2010
Down on her luck, dowdy Mary Pickford uses her strong arms to get a job as matronly Kate Bruce's farmhouse maid. While scrub-boarding the laundry, Ms. Pickford encounters Mack Sennett, a randy moustache-twirling peddler. Pickford accepts both his flattery and engagement ring, then surrenders a kiss. She is smitten. But, Mr. Sennett has trickery up his sleeve.

Suffering from gambling debts, Sennett tricks Pickford into stealing a dowry from Ms. Bruce and husband George Nichols, then promises to elope. Naturally, Sennett leaves Mary broken-hearted - and in potential hot water with her employers.

Notably directed by D.W. Griffith, "An Arcadian Maid" moves along at a nice clip, and features two big name movie-makers of the future - "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford and "King of Comedy" Mack Sennett - in the primary roles. As always, the locations chosen by Mr. Griffith and his extraordinary cinematographer G.W. Bitzer are lovely; for this one, the "Biograph" players are in New Jersey. Watch for a nice "special effect" as Sennett gets himself thrown from his train, near the end.

***** An Arcadian Maid (8/1/10) D.W. Griffith ~ Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett, Kate Bruce, George Nichols
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6/10
Beware of the evil peddler!
planktonrules12 August 2013
I think that "An Arcadian Maid" is a film that is meant to reinforce stereotypes of the day--that traveling salesmen, and perhaps Gypsies, are bad and are not to be trusted. I know this message seems very simplistic and silly, but such messages seemed pretty common in the older silent films.

A young maid (Mary Pickford) is wooed by an evil peddler (Mack Sennett--yes, THAT Mack Sennett). He really cares nothing for her and has no intention of marrying her, but lies and convinces her to steal from her employer--and he plans on using the money to pay off his bad debts and blow town. However, because he is evil and D.W. Griffith's films are quite moralistic, by the end of the film, he is exposed and the lady learns her lesson and returns the money.

Overall, the story is very simple and reinforces some old prejudices. Not terribly exciting or compelling, though it was nice seeing the peddler tossed off the train!
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6/10
I've never seen a dead man breath so heavily...
JoeytheBrit22 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Mary Pickford finds herself being seduced by weaselly Lothario Mack Sennett in this above-average (for the era) short from D. W Griffith. No sooner has Pickford found work as a skivvy for a farmer and his wife than travelling salesman Sennett is on her case, swapping a kiss for an engagement ring. When he gets into debt to a gang of heavies, Sennett persuades Pickford to steal the farmer's savings so that they can run away together. Of course, no sooner has he got his hands on her doubloons than he's away on the first train out of town.

Griffith reins in his sentimental tendencies for this one, although the melodramatics are still there, and he even finds time to inject some moments of humour when Pickford performs a spot-on imitation of Sennett's moustache-twirling bad guy. It's clear to see why Sennett became a producer if this is typical of his acting skills. Having died after being thrown from a train (quite a good shot), he can clearly be seen breathing as if he's just run a half-marathon.

As others have noted, the cinematography is incredibly good for the period in which it was made, and while Griffith doesn't yet appear to have twigged to the idea of panning, he at least shows spatial awareness within the frame as well as the existence of space beyond its confines.
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7/10
Little Mary Is a Frump
boblipton22 December 2007
This D.W. Griffith feature -- for 1910, this 13-minute movie ranks as a feature -- manages to combine most of what Griffith had learned of film-making by the point, except for his handling of crowd scenes. Mary Pickford and company are excellent in this melodrama with comic overtones, from the ironic title -- there is nothing blithe about Mary's life as she suffers a life of hard work on a farm -- to the occasional gawkiness she displays when she is seduced by a hard-living traveling salesman. Finally, when she recognizes the situation, she finds unsatisfactory solace in religion.

The performances are a little slow to the modern eye, but fulsome. The camera work is wonderful, as you might expect from Billy Bitzer in this period. While this is not a key work, it is well worth the time of anyone interested in silent movies.
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In so much the audience can rejoice
deickemeyer2 August 2015
Fate sometimes overtakes those who betray trusting innocence and does it so forcibly that there can be no question of the result. Here is a villain who induces a trusting girl to commit a robbery. But his ill- gotten gains do him no good. In a brawl on the train he either falls or it thrown out, and later falls dead at the feet of the girl he has deceived. Just how he got to where the girl was in the woods is not quite clear, but perhaps for dramatic purposes it is not altogether necessary. She, realizing the probable results of taking her employer's money, secures it from the body and returns it before the loss is discovered. In so much the audience can rejoice. If the object of the film is to show how easily innocence may be entrapped into wrong doing the success is marked. If it was the intention to show that punishment is almost certain to follow such villainy it is equally successful. Dramatically the film is good, and photographically it is up to the Biograph standard. - The Moving Picture World, August 13, 1910
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Griffith & Pickford
Michael_Elliott27 February 2008
Arcadian Maid, An (1910)

*** (out of 4)

D.W. Griffith film about an out of work maid (Mary Pickford) who gets a job and soon starts getting hit up on by a playboy. This is fine with the maid until she learns the man is talking about her to his friends. Here's another Griffith film that's pro-woman and anti-man as the men in the movie are pretty cut and dry villains while the Pickford character is seen as an angel. There's nothing wrong with this as it adds to the story and Griffith certainly knows how to handle it.

You can view this title at various online places like YouTube.
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