User Reviews

Huntley Gordon is a new forestry graduate, hired to make a survey of Mary Astor's holdings in logging country. Her manager, Bradley Barker, is planning to knock down some of her biggest trees and sell the logs to the next logging company over.

It's a nicely produced three-reeler. I was very impressed by the concision with which the story is told, leaving time for some beauty shots of loggers at work. In addition, Miss Astor, at 15, in her second movie, is quite lovely. Her performance is simple at this stage -- she has yet to learn the nuances of screen acting -- but she offers a creditable performance.

"My Lady o' the Pines" (1921) was Mary Astor's second film, a nicely done three-reeler which also starred Huntley Gordon with whom Astor had starred in her first film, too, earlier in the year. Astor was a fifteen year old beauty who already had some acting chops, though her performance lacks the dynamics she picked up with forty more years experience. A gripping tale actually, this one has Astor the owner/proprietor of a section of pine woods - her "castle". She's being slyly bullied into selling, or even losing, her share to a competitor with absolutely no scruples or compunction, but she's unaware of the fact until Huntley Gordon comes to town. He's been hired to do a survey on the sly (by Astor's competitor) which will be used to coerce her into something she wouldn't want to do. But the bullies will have to pay, won't they? Such a rhetorical question shouldn't even have to be asked with respect to a 28 minute film of 1921.

This film appears along with the feature "Other Men's Shoes" (1920) which was a Kickstarter campaign by Ed Lorusso. Frankly, this short is far better than the feature, and it's actually extremely well acted and well directed, with decent progression, and a good share of fine photography. The action is first rate! Musical accompaniment is provided by Ed Lorusso who also provided the score - and it's really good, appropriate and well performed. Though most wouldn't notice, there are a couple of continuity things which I found only very slightly disconcerting: they were a cutting problem. As I say, most won't notice.

This is a Holman Day production starring Gordon, Astor, Bradley Barker, Charles Slattery and Fred Bond.

In 1921, a 15-year-old actress named Mary Astor began her long film career. She appeared in 6 films that year, 3 of which were shot in Maine. The Maine "north woods" stories were directed by Philip Carle and based on stories by Holman Day,.

In this 28-minute film, Astor stars as Norah Collison, the young woman who owns a huge timberland in Maine, full of white pines. As she arrives to take control of her company, her manager and rival logger are planning to log the woods and steal the pines. They've sent for a forestry school (Yale no less) graduate (Huntley Gordon) to help assess the illegal haul, but he has ridden on the stage from the railroad with Astor and is smitten. Once he overhears the plans, it rounds up the townspeople and there is a battle with dynamite on the site of the white pines.

Nice location shooting around Augusta, Maine. Day was a prolific author and many of his stories were filmed.

Co-stars are Fred Bond as Duberry, Charles Slattery as Strott, and Bradley Barker as Wiggins.

Astor is stunning and so is the location shooting.