![]() Director and special effects whiz Norman Dawn, who developed this technique, was the creator of a similar shot with Dorothy Phillips in The Right To Happiness (1919). In this film’s most famous scene, mother-Mary leans over and kisses son-Mary on the cheek, a shot that was achieved by the careful use of matte effects. In Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921) she went one better, performing as the pre-adolescent male title character and his mother. ![]() In Stella Maris (1919), playing both the beautiful but crippled title character and the timid, plain orphan Unity Blake, she achieved the latter so effectively that audiences wondered why Mary had let a talented unknown steal the show. Mary Pickford played some of the most famous silent dual roles. For the star, there was an opportunity for a virtuoso performance - or performances. The idea of a dual role is not so common today, but in the silent era it was the novelty du jour, dating back at least as early as 1914’s La Belle Russe. For audiences, there was the excitement of ‘special effects’ for the screenwriter, a unique psychological twist to an otherwise mundane story. ![]() ![]() The White Shadow (1923) tells the tale of two sisters - one virtuous, one vampish - both of whom are played by Betty Compson. Reviews were near unanimous in their praise of Compson’s ability to pull off the difficult task of playing two very different characters. This essay was my contribution to the 2012 For The Love of Film Blogathon to benefit the National Film Preservation Foundation and their restoration of surviving footage from Graham Cutts' The White Shadow (1923), also Alfred Hitchcock's first credited screen work. ![]()
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