Suds (film)

Last updated

Suds
Suds 1920 silent film lobbycard.jpg
Lobby card
Directed by John Francis Dillon
Written by Waldemar Young (scenario)
Based on 'Op o' Me Thumb
by
Richard Bryce and Frederick Fenn
Produced by Mary Pickford
StarringMary Pickford
Cinematography L. William O'Connell
Charles Rosher
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
January 27, 1920
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language Silent (English intertitles)
Suds

Suds is a 1920 American silent comedy film directed by John Francis Dillon and starring Mary Pickford. The film is based on the 1904 English stage play 'Op o' Me Thumb , a one-act work first produced in London and presented the following year in New York with Maude Adams, a curtain raiser for her appearance in Peter Pan . [1]

Contents

Plot

Amanda Afflick is a poor laundry woman working in London. She is too weak to do the hard work, but is always picked on and humiliated by her boss Madame Didier. Amanda is desperately in love with the handsome customer Horace Greensmith, but none of her colleagues thinks she has a chance of being his sweetheart.

One afternoon Amanda gets in trouble again and is forced to work all night long. All alone, she fantasizes about her first and only meeting with Horace, eight months ago. All the fellow employees ridicule her for still having faith that he will return someday to pick up his clothes. Amanda is fed up with all her colleagues making fun of her and lies that she is a duchess, coming from a wealthy family. She comes up with a story of her having an affair with Horace. Her father found out and sent her to live in London.

Meanwhile, co-worker Benjamin Jones has the job of collecting laundry with his cart. One day, his beloved horse Lavender is too weak to go up a hill and falls. The cart is destroyed and when Benjamin admits the truth to Madame Didier, she asks for the horse to be killed. Benjamin reveals to Amanda what will happen with Lavender and she tries to stop the horse from being killed. She eventually buys the horse and takes it into her own home.

Amanda is not allowed to take the horse into her own apartment and is noticed on the streets by the wealthy and sympathizing Lady Burke-Cavendish. She offers to take the horse to live at her country place. Amanda is delighted and accepts her offer. Later, Lady Burke-Cavendish stops by to tell Amanda the horse is doing very well. Amanda lies to the fellow laundry women Lady Burke-Cavendish is actually her aunt.

They are interrupted by Horace: he has returned for his laundry. The fellow workers assume he will recognize Amanda, since they were lied to he is her secret lover. Amanda is desperate and successfully pretends to be reunited with him. Horace is confused and wants to leave. While the laundry women are away she tells the truth to Horace. Benjamin walks in on them, initially trying to flirt with Amanda, but when he notices Horace's presence he leaves.

Horace sympathizes with Amanda and invites her to his mansion. He changes his mind when he becomes ashamed of her. Amanda notices this and pulls back. Horace leaves and Amanda is left behind with a broken heart. She is later hired as Lady Burke-Cavendish's personal maid and now lives in wealth. She finds out Horace is a worker at the country place and they fall in love with each other.

Cast

Production crew

Remake

The original film was adapted to a musical written by Deonn Ritchie Hunt with music by Kim Douglas in the 2000s.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire</span> English socialite, political organiser, style icon, and author

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was an English aristocrat, socialite, political organiser, author, and activist. Born into the Spencer family, married into the Cavendish family, she was the first wife of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, and the mother of the 6th Duke of Devonshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam De Grasse</span> Canadian actor (1875–1953)

Samuel Alfred De Grasse was a Canadian actor. He was the uncle of cinematographer Robert De Grasse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Treacher</span> English actor (1894–1975)

Arthur Veary Treacher was an English film and stage actor active from the 1920s to the 1960s, and known for playing English types, especially butler and manservant roles, such as the P.G. Wodehouse valet character Jeeves and the kind butlers opposite Shirley Temple in Curly Top (1935) and Heidi (1937). In the 1960s, he became well known on American television as an announcer/sidekick to talk show host Merv Griffin, and as the support character Constable Jones in Disney's Mary Poppins (1964). He lent his name to the Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips chain of restaurants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfred Lucas</span> Canadian-American actor, director, and screenwriter (1871–1940)

Wilfred Van Norman Lucas was a Canadian American stage actor who found success in film as an actor, director, and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Moore</span> American actor

Owen Moore was an Irish-born American actor, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Austin</span> English actor

Albert Austin was an English actor, film star, director, and script writer, remembered for his work in Charlie Chaplin films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Barr</span> English actor

Patrick David Barr was an English actor. In his career spanning over half a century, he appeared in about 144 films and television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Goodwin (American actor)</span> American actor

Harold Goodwin was an American actor who performed in over 225 films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Murray</span> British screen actress (1929-2014)

Barbara Ann Murray was an English actress.

<i>The New York Hat</i> 1912 film

The New York Hat is a silent short film which was released in 1912, directed by D. W. Griffith from a screenplay by Anita Loos, and starring Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and Lillian Gish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Kirkwood Sr.</span> American actor and film director

James Cornelius Kirkwood Sr. was an American actor and director.

Sweet Memories is a 1911 silent short romantic drama film, written and directed by Thomas H. Ince, released by the Independent Moving Pictures Company on March 27, 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabel Van Buren</span> American stage and screen actress

Mabel Van Buren was an American stage and screen actress.

<i>Tess of the Storm Country</i> (1922 film) 1922 film

Tess of the Storm Country is a 1922 silent film starring Mary Pickford, directed by John S. Robertson, and based upon a Grace Miller White novel. It is a remake of Pickford's film from eight years prior and was subsequently remade a decade later as a sound version starring Janet Gaynor.

The Cowboy and the Lady is a 1938 American Western romantic comedy film directed by H.C. Potter, and starring Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon. Written by S.N. Behrman and Sonya Levien, based on a story by Frank R. Adams and veteran film director Leo McCarey, the film is about a beautiful socialite masquerading as a maid who becomes involved with an unpretentious, plain-spoken cowboy who is unaware of her true identity. The Cowboy and the Lady won an Academy Award for Sound Recording, and was nominated for Original Score and Original Song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel Griffies</span> English actress (1878–1975)

Ethel Griffies was an English actress of stage, screen, and television. She is remembered for portraying the ornithologist Mrs. Bundy in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds (1963). She appeared in stage roles in her native England and in the United States, and had featured roles in around 100 motion pictures. Griffies was one of the oldest working actors in the English-speaking theatre at the time of her death at 97 years old. She acted alongside such stars as May Whitty, Ellen Terry, and Anna Neagle.

<i>Kiki</i> (1931 film) 1931 film

Kiki is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy, starring Mary Pickford and Reginald Denny, which was directed by Sam Taylor. It was based upon the David Belasco play of the same name. The film is a remake of the 1926 version starring Norma Talmadge.

<i>Stella Maris</i> (1918 film) 1918 film directed by Marshall Neilan

Stella Maris is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Marshall Neilan, written by Frances Marion and based on William John Locke's 1913 novel of the same name. The film stars Mary Pickford in dual roles as the title character and an orphan servant.

<i>Op o Me Thumb</i>

'Op o' Me Thumb is a 1904 one-act play by the English authors Frederick Fenn and Richard Pryce. It was produced at the Court Theatre, London, on 13 March 1904, in a double bill with Robert Browning's A Soul's Tragedy. It transferred to the St James's Theatre on 24 April 1904. The leading role of Amanda was played by Hilda Trevelyan. The play was staged in New York in 1905 with Maude Adams as Amanda. It was filmed in 1920 as Suds, starring Mary Pickford in the role created by Trevelyan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Everest</span> British actress (1890–1968)

Barbara Everest was a British stage and film actress. She was born in Southfields, Surrey, and made her screen debut in the 1916 film The Man Without a Soul. On stage she played Queen Anne in the 1935 historical play Viceroy Sarah by Norman Ginsbury. Her most famous rôle was as Elizabeth the rather deaf servant in Gaslight (1944).

References