Kennington Bioscope presents; The Eagle's Mate (1914) & The Suffragette (1913), Wednesday December 8th @ 7:30pm Not a ‘prequel’ to last month’s The Eagle but instead a Mary Pickford vehicle long considered lost until a print was acquired by George Eastman House in 2000. It was produced in 1914 by the Famous Players Film Co. Pickford made seven features in 1914 and this was the first of nine films she made with the director James Kirkwood who also photographed and acted in the film. Other cast members include Jack Pickford and Ida Waterman. The Eagle’s Mate was adapted by Marion Michelson from a novel by Anna Alice Chapin. The story is set in Moonshiners’ territory with Mary Pickford as Anemone, a girl abducted by a disreputable mountain family and forced into marriage. In a contemporary review, Variety described Pickford as ‘one of the few picture actresses, or actors for that matter, who can interject personality into a negative. She breathes the role taken, and it fits her, up, down and all around … The Eagle’s Mate is a lively feature without a real kick – but it has Mary Pickford, better than the best kick or punch that could have been put in …’ Kicks and punches were not the issue when a 1918 revival ran into censorship problems in Chicago (and elsewhere) over its violent content; cuts were instead ordered because of shootings and a fight scene in which a man’s mouth is torn. The Eagle’s Mate is to be screened from a BFI 35mm print.
More info can be found here.
Tickets are £7 but seats are limited, so please arrive early or request an invitation via email; kenbioscope@gmail.com. |