Coquette
Directed by Sam Taylor
Written by John Grey and Allen McNeil from a play by George Abbott and Ann Preston Bridgers
1929/US
Pickford Corporation
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
Norma Besant: I’ll tell you somethin’ I never told any other man, ever! Just the way you are, now, you’ll be the best lookin’ man there. Now, will you come?
Michael Jeffery: No.
Norma Besant: Well, you’re the first man I ever told that to the just didn’t naturally melt away.
Michael Jeffery: I reckon I’m different from the other men – you’ve never told that to.
I can’t believe Mary Pickford won an Oscar for overacting terribly in this romantic tragedy.
Norma Besant (Pickford) acts like a five-year-old around her beloved Daddy. She is a consumate flirt who tries her craft on any man available including Daddy. Daddy keeps an eagle eye on her. She is being courted by Stanley, a man in her social circle, but has fallen in love with Michael Jeffrey (Johnnie Mack Brown). Daddy doesn’t like Michael because he is not of their class and has a reputation as a shiftless hothead. He orders Norma never to see him again. The lovers agree to separate for six months so that Michael can get himself established in a good job.
Michael can’t stay away and returns 3 months later. Norma doesn’t listen to Daddy and ends up sneaking out with Michael to his mother’s cabin and does not return until 4 a.m. Daddy is outraged and shoots and kills Michael. Daddy’s attorney urges Norma to tell several lies on the stand to protect Daddy from the death penalty.
I watched this for Mary Pickford and was disappointed. I thought she went over the top both as the belle of the ball and as a tragic heroine. She acts about 5-years-old in her scenes with Daddy. Pickford produced the picture and possibly there was no one to restrain her. Other than that, the production is quite adequate and watchable.
Mary Pickford won the Academy Award for Best Leading Actress.
Clip – I thought the father looked so much like Anton Walbrook it was eerie
