User Reviews

Here is proof of why Mary Pickford was `America's Sweetheart.' In this rather complex drama, Mary plays the young daughter of a squatter that dare to dream of a relationship with the son of one of the `hill-toppers.' The scenes where they steal a kiss and otherwise fall in love are simply delightful. She is even willing to take a bath. That Mary could pull this role off at the age of 30 is simply amazing and somewhat due to her diminutive stature (5').

Tess must face numerous physical and emotional challenges. She does so with spunk not seen in many heroines of the time. Tess packs a wallop and is not shy about fighting with anyone. Why she agrees to help the `hill-topper' daughter is beyond me, but she sacrifices her own happiness in order to keep a deep secret. Pickford's close ups are wonderful.

Danish-born Jean Hersholt is simply wonderful as the villain. The scene in which he manhandles a small baby is enough to make you throw vegetables (or whatever) at the movie screen. If Forrest Robinson (who plays Daddy Skinner) had worn a beard, he would have been a match for the model used in those World War I recruiting posters of Uncle Sam – Wants You!

Although the story is somewhat predictable and slow in the beginning, it is worth the investment in your time to see the piece or pure `Americana.' The film highlights choices available to us all involving making someone else happy and what it is to be a real Christian. Recommended.

Wealthy Elias Graves builds his home on the top of a hill, where a group of squatters have taken up residence at the bottom. Many of the men in the squatters' village have their eyes on young Tess, and one of them, Ben Letts, frames Tess's father for murder. While maintaining her father's innocence, Tess must keep her love for Graves' son a secret, while caring for Elias' daughter's illegitimate child.

This has to be one of the defining films in Mary Pickford's career. At around two hours, it is something of an epic length by silent film standards. That is, if you ignore the D. W. Griffith film "Intolerance". A lot happens in two hours when you have nothing to say.

The version I watched was on DVD as part of a "Milestone Collection". I would say the digitally remastering was not top notch. A good deal of it was pixelated, and I imagine it is films like this where you really get the difference when you have a scan from the negative rather than just transferring the film over from a prior source.

I had never seen a silent movie until July 24, 2005. I had never seen a movie with Mary Pickford in it. I've seen thousands of movies. Very few are hypnotic to me. I found Last of the Mohicans and Unforgettable (Ray Liotta) to be hypnotic, so consider the source as you read this. I started watching Tess of the Storm Country on TCM just to see who this Mary Pickford was, who has been credited by many for launching Hollywood. I had no idea what I was in for. Two hours later, I snapped out of it, and realized I'd watched one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, playing a role perfectly suited to her. Imagine a movie fan in 1922, having never seen anyone that gorgeous and that expressive before. You would have to see her again and again. The setting was perfect for a girl that expressive. She was a poor squatter, couldn't speak the King's English, but you had to admire her. What a movie... time to start my Mary Pickford movie collection!

Uneducated & defiant, beautiful TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY is the daughter of a fisherman squatting on a rich man's land. Spirited & bold, she captures the heart of the millionaire's son, but violence, terror & sudden death are what will haunt her immediate future before she can claim the sweet peace of happiness.

Mary Pickford is utterly charming in this splendid, heart-wrenching film. She considered Tess to be her favorite role and she fills it with all the spunky joy & enthusiasm which made her for years the world's most popular movie star. The story has all the essential elements for a modern fairy tale, with Mary the lovely, distressed heroine beset by all manner of dangerous, stressful situations. The atmospherics are first-rate, with the outdoor fishing village sets being particularly well-conceived.

In the supporting cast, Jean Hersholt stands out as the vile villain who tries forcing Pickford to marry him. Hersholt, a very gentle soul off screen, manages brilliantly to depict his character's complete moral corruption.

This was actually the second time Pickford filmed TESS. A 1914 version had been one of her first important films, but its production values were a bit antiquated by the standards of the 1920's (no close-ups, for instance) and Mary, producing her own films & powerful enough by 1922 to make whatever film she wanted, decided for the only time in her career to remake a film. The end result certainly lived up to her expectations. Both films were very popular at the box office.

A fascinating study for some future film researcher would be the influence of Christianity in Mary Pickford's life; it certainly runs like a golden thread through the silent movies she produced. Although the romanticism inherent in the very nature of silent cinema might cause these spiritual sentiments to appear somewhat awkward today, we are compelled to accept them as sincere reflections, by their very repetition, of Mary's heartfelt beliefs. In TESS, one beautiful scene in particular stands out in this regard: Pickford is teaching herself to read using a Bible. She indicates to Lloyd Hughes (who plays her sweetheart) a word from near the back of the Book that she does not understand. He mimes it for her (the word is obviously `crucified') and, eyes turned Heavenward as the full meaning of the Sacrifice dawns upon her, Mary's face becomes positively beatific.

A splendid new orchestral score for TESS has been supplied by Jeffrey Mark Silverman which perfectly underscores the beauty & pathos of this wonderful film.

Mary Pickford often stated that Tess Skinner was her favorite movie role. Well said! She played the part twice and for this version which she herself produced, she not only had to purchase the rights from Adolph Zukor but even give him credit on the film's main title card. Needless to say her portrayal of this role here is most winning. Indeed, in my opinion, the movie itself rates as one the all-time great experiences of silent cinema.

True, director John S. Robertson doesn't move his camera an inch from start to finish, but in Robertson's skillful hands this affectation not only doesn't matter but is probably more effective. A creative artist of the first rank, Robertson is a master of pace, camera angles and montage. He has also drawn brilliantly natural performances from all his players. Jean Hersholt who enacts the heavy is so hideously repulsive, it's hard to believe this is the same man as kindly Dr Christian; while Lloyd Hughes renders one of the best acting jobs of his entire career. True, it's probably not the way Mrs White intended, but it serves the plot admirably, as otherwise we would have difficulty explaining why the dope spent a fortune on defense but made not the slightest attempt to ascertain who actually fired the gun that killed his future brother-in-law! Needless to say, this particular quality of the likable hero is downplayed by Jack Ging in the bowdlerized 1960 version which also totally deletes the author's trenchant attack on smug, middle-class Christianity. Notice how the well-washed priest here moves forward a pace or two in surprise at the interruption, but then makes no attempt whatever to assist our plucky little heroine in the performance of duties that he himself was supposedly ordained to administer. This is a very moving scene indeed because it is so realistically presented.

"Tess" also provides an insight into the work of another fine actress, Gloria Hope, whose work was entirely confined to silent cinema. She married Lloyd Hughes in 1921 and retired in 1926 to devote her life completely to her husband and their two children. Lloyd Hughes died in 1958, but she lived until 1976, easily contactable in Pasadena, but I bet no-one had the brains to interview her. Another opportunity lost!

To me, Forrest Robinson only made a middling impression as Skinner. I thought he was slightly miscast and a brief glance at his filmography proves this: He usually played priests or judges! But David Torrence as usual was superb.

In all, an expensive production with beautiful photography and marvelous production values.

Besides being a good melodrama with some fine moments, the role of Tess offers Mary Pickford quite a showcase, providing some good comic moments, a number of moving scenes, and some tense confrontations. You can see why it was not only one of her most popular roles, but also one of her own favorites. The story is quite involved and sometimes thought-provoking, although there is more than one occasion when it sacrifices believability for cinematic effect.

At the beginning it introduces an interesting assortment of characters, and sets up the conflicts to come between the family of rich, mean-spirited Elias Graves and the poor squatters (including Tess), whom Graves is devoted to driving out. The tumultuous events that follow test their loyalties and perspectives. It does have more implausible or coincidence-laden developments than do most of Pickford's movies, but if you can suspend disbelief on those occasions, it's an entertaining story that makes you care about the characters. It's also quite a bit longer than most of Pickford's features, but that is primarily because there is so much going on; there aren't too many slow spots. In its time it was one of her signature roles, and it's still well worth watching.

TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY is a big, busy story about religious hypocrisy in rural upstate New York wherein a Bible-thumping landowner in a hilltop mansion battles a community of hard- scrabble squatters who live below by the lakeside. Spunky Mary Pickford (30 years old at the time of filming, but playing a girl of 17) is the titular character, the daughter of a poor fisherman who is wrongly convicted of murdering a local official. The main villain, a repellent and lecherous squatter who tries to frame Pickford's father, is played by the normally sweet and gentle Jean Hersholt, who is virtually unrecognizable in his role. Kudos must go to Pickford not only as a performer who acts with her whole soul, but as a producer who supervised the construction of a realistic looking village of dilapidated waterfront shacks, and cast within it a gaggle of individuals who look like they came right out of the "hollers" of Appalachia. Although the sets are impressive, what goes on within them often cannot pass muster with 21st century viewers. A few of many examples: after Pickford tosses a cauldron of boiling liquid into Hersholt's face, he emerges intact and unblistered; a driving snowstorm outside Tess's shack covers a visitor's coat with flakes but leaves the boardwalk to the front door not only bare but bone dry; Tess takes a bath, including a voluptuously sudsy washing of her copious blonde locks, with nothing but a single bucket of water and in the middle of a wooden floor no less, and emerges clean as a whistle…. uh-huh. Charming scenes: Tess and her boyfriend so smitten with each other that neither one notices that the sleeve of his jacket has burned off after hanging next to the fireplace; bits of business involving a crow that makes a nuisance of itself around the house, providing comic relief between the waves of heavy-breathing melodrama. A showdown in a church, details of which would spoil the story, is still powerful. The most lasting impressions, however, come from Pickford's and Hersholt's stellar performances and the vividly constructed physical environment.

Tess of the Storm Country was a Mary Pickford vehicle I had intended to get for some time. I finally found a VHS copy for a reasonable price and got to enjoy it.

Mary gives her typical spunky, innocently sexy portrayal of a wrong-side-of-tracks girl who wins the heart of a rich heir. Only this time the stakes are higher: a false murder charge, an illegitimate child (and ensuing case of mistaken motherhood) and contemplated suicide.

One can see why Pickford wanted to redo this one. The story is a real morality tale, the kind that she loved to star in. The controversial topics aren't always spelled out plainly; a viewer has to pay attention and pick up on hints to catch everything that is being implied on first viewing – although everything is more or less explained in the end.

About the only negative remark I can make would be concerning Jean Hersholt and the dog. Hersholt, whose character, Ben Letts, looks to be about 6-2, 200 pounds (bigger next to Mary, of course!), is sent fleeing in panic when a 60-pound chocolate lab charges toward him! Then, to top it off (or maybe to justify his perplexing fear of the dog), it manages to pin him to the ground and somehow injures him so badly that he is still struggling to get up much later, as a bad storm hits! This is the same lovable lab that sleeps with Frederick (Lloyd Hughes) and cuddles with Mary! Yet Mary later throws boiling water in Ben's face, which barely slows him! OK, I've vented about Ben and the chocolate lab! Other than that, the movie was quite touching and certainly held my attention. Pickford's supporting cast was strong and believable. This is certainly among her better films.

America's Sweetheart,' Mary Pickford, played a vast array of characters in her long movie career. In the opening title of 1922's "Tess of the Storm Country," she states her favorite role was playing the daughter of a squatter fisherman, Tess Skinner.

Pickford took the role of Tess twice, originally in the Edwin S. Porter-directed work in 1914, a movie the actress had complained of his pedestrian direction. She was much happier with the second version, partly because of John S. Robertson, who earlier helmed the John Barrymore 1920 'Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde' film. Pickford also cited the advancements of cinematic techniques and technology taking place within the span of 1914 and the current 1922 times, making possible an aesthetic leap in improvement by updating a story she said deserved her second performance. The Grace Miller White 1909 novel received further adaptations in 1932 with Janet Gaynor and in 1960 with Diane Baker.

In the Pickford version, set in Ithaca, New York, a rich man owns property from top of the hill where his mansion sits all the way down to the shores of a big lake. That is where a group of squatters have set up a fishing village smack dab on his land. He's raised two children, now adults, a son who sides with the squatters, played by Lloyd Hughes in his first leading role, and a daughter, with actress Gloria Hope, who's madly in love with a law student. Pickford's spunky performance as Tess attracts the eye of Lloyd, the landowner's son. In real life, Hughes and Hope, meeting for the first time on the set, fell passionately in love and married soon after they finished "Tess of the Storm Country." Unusual for a Hollywood couple, the two remained married until Hughes' death in 1958.

The plot has every melodramatic device known in cinema: love, friendship, greed, murder, attempted kidnapping, an out-of-wedlock birth, sacrifice and a bit of comedy. Pickford's the glue that holds everything together. The actress was extremely happy with the positive reviews "Tess of the Country Storm" received. The accolades were especially appreciated after the disappointing negative ones said about her previous film, 1921's 'Little Lord Fauntleroy,' despite its box office success. 'Tess' was the only film Pickford appeared in 1922.

TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY is possibly the best movie of all of Mary Pickford's films. At two hours, it was quite long for a 1922 silent film yet continues to hold your interest some 80 years after it was filmed. Mary gives one of her finest performances at times the role seems like a "greatest hits" performance with bits of Mary the innocent, Mary the little devil, Mary the little mother, Mary the spitfire, Mary the romantic heroine, etc. characteristics that often were used throughout a single film in the past. The movie is surprisingly frank about one supporting character's illegitimate child for 1922 and at one point our Little Mary is thought the unwed mother in question! If the Academy Awards had been around in 1922, no doubt the Best Actress Oscar for the year would have been Mary's.

Tess Skinner, played by Mary Pickford, is the daughter of a squatter living on the land of Elias Graves (David Torrence). Old Graves wants to get rid of the squatters, but his son Frederick (Lloyd Hughes) falls in love with Tess. This is a story of greed, passion and jealousy: another squatter with an eye on Tess frames her father for a murder he himself has committed, Frederick's sister gets pregnant by her boyfriend and gives birth to a child, without her father knowing etc. Etc. There is really a lot going on, but then, with about two hours 'Tess of the Storm Country' is quite a long film. Director John S. Robertson (and Mary Pickford herself, who was a strong influence) therefore had time enough to focus on character development. That pays off: All the persons appearing are in one way or the other interesting, Tess of course first of all. Pickford got into that role with an increadible vigour. She is not just a tomboy (like in many of her other films); she is a wildcat - but at the same time vulnerable and sympathetic (at heart maybe even a bit too good to be true). The plot is complex but due to the excellent direction easy to follow. There are no plot holes whatever, and the whole thing is very well-paced, exciting and suspenseful. The film is also beautifully photographed, though some scenes have unfortunately become quite severely degraded. I watched a copy without any sound; it would be interesting to know what the original music was like (if there was any). All in all a very good film, well-worth watching.

The 1914 rendition of 'Tess of the storm country' holds an important place in cinema history and in the career of Mary Pickford, yet bears only just enough value to scarcely rise above "middling." Deep inadequacies of writing and direction meant that without outside context, it wasn't always clear who characters were, or what their place was in the story; what was happening in any given scene, or how the plot was developing. Scenes as they presented were less than totally engaging, and the narrative seemed to uphold those same antiquated values that in other ways it would purport to repudiate. By Pickford's own accounting, when the opportunity arose for a remake, there was concentrated effort to improve upon the previous film. Frankly, and thankfully, it shows - 1922's 'Tess of the storm country' isn't without its own problems, but it most certainly is a commendable achievement, a notable contrast to its antecedent.

To be honest, there's no aspect of the picture that didn't receive a boost the second time around. While details like hair and makeup, costume design, set design and decoration, and props were well considered in 1914, these are even more attentively realized in the updated version. Editing and sequencing, lighting, shot composition, and camerawork, in this production helmed by new director John S. Robertson, far supersedes the regrettable deficiencies under Edwin S. Porter that gravely dampened enjoyment and poignancy. Why, every scene as it presents is far more dynamic and vibrant, offering greater entertainment, emotional weight, or excitement, as the narrative would portend. And with that, the performances of all involved are likewise distinctly expanded to encompass far more rich, immersive, and absorbing displays. Pickford's turn in 1914 was one of the few truly admirable facets thereof, and like all her co-stars, in 1922's 'Tess' we see demonstrations of skill - range, nuance, physicality, poise, personality - that are absolutely, without question, superior and more worthy. I dare say, in all bluntness, that there is little comparison to be made. And if one has no interest in comparison, or is viewing the 1922 picture alone - well, there's no need at all to go back a further 8 years.

Most crucially, the higher quality here definitely applies as well to the screenplay. Maybe the faults perceived in 1914's rendition weren't entirely the responsibility of writer B. P. Schulberg; it's possible outside factors were at play to diminish the result. Whatever the case may be, though, Elmer Harris' take on the novel, as we in the audience see it, is simply much better. The prior feature carried a little bit of light amusement at times; here, we get some genuine comedy, as real as those moments that are heartfelt, or thrilling, or in any other way rousing. There is never any doubt or mystery about who a character is, or what their role they play in the narrative. Parts are written and portrayed with far more depth, complexity, and diversity. If anything, the pace is arguably just a hair too relaxed, and the content slightly overfull, but the plot advances steadily and without any murkiness or confusion.

Well... almost; there's one concrete criticism I have to make. To be sure, 1922's 'Tess of the storm country' is a significantly better film than 1914's. However, it is not perfect - and in fact, regrettably it does share to a degree in one of the same flaws that so hampered what its predecessor could have been. The character of Teola is central to the plot after a certain point - and therefore likewise is critical to the themes at work, and the values the movie would seek to impart. 1922's treatment of these matters is assuredly an improvement on the flailing shortcomings of 1914, in which the incidence of Teola's dilemma was first barely even suggested long before its nature was made plain. Yet, still, Harris' screenplay comes up a little short and a little late in not just cementing the woman's troubles - but indeed, in even indicating she has any in the first place. Just a little bit more elucidation, a little earlier, would have gone a long way.

And that brings us to one last important point. 1914's film played with notions including hypocrisy, the dehumanization of lower classes, misogyny, and devaluing life based on outrageous moralizing and beliefs. Yet in nigh the same breath as the story held up these indecencies as terrible concepts to be opposed, it treated its characters in such a way as to suggest it wanted to support those very same twisted norms. It was rather grotesque, and I feared what I might see in the remake. I am gratified, truly, that the error was not repeated. The real antagonist in 1914 was the culture in which the film was made, and which it reflected. In 1922, the tragedy, hardship, and prejudice that characterizes so much of the narrative is met at great length not with affirmation, but with love, just reward, and insight. The unseemly sociopolitical circumstances of the real world, that may indeed wish to instill the villainy to which we bear witness, is repulsed with welcome warmth and heart.

The disparity between one 'Tess' with Mary Pickford and another is astounding. Whatever the issues were that led to 1914's picture being what it was, the film turned into such a hodgepodge mess of unintelligibility and gloom that it's difficult to appreciate except for the slice of cinema history it represents. Eight years later, the endeavor to simply create something better unquestionably met with great success: if my reaction to the first is at best begrudging acknowledgement, my response to the second is at worst a marginally offbeat round of applause. This is a terrific feature, everything its precursor should have been, and certainly of its own accord but especially as a remake, is very much deserving of high regard and wide recognition. If you have a chance to watch 1922's 'Tess of the storm country,' this is a fine way to spend 2 hours.