One-Cup Light, Two-Cups Heavy
(originally posted on IMDb 31 August 2005)

The collaboration between Mary Pickford and Frances Marion is one of the more interesting in the early history of Hollywood. Pickford helped define "movie star" with the aid of Marion, who wrote the screenplays for "The Poor Little Rich Girl" and some of her other early vehicles. In turn, Marion was among the first to establish the power of writers in Hollywood. And, of course, Marion and Pickford were both women in a business dominated by men.

Here, with "The Love Light", Marion made her directorial début--a career path that'd soon end. Judging by this film, that wasn't a bad thing. It is a competently made production, with the exception of the poorly realized and unrealistic storm climax. The photography and landscapes are pretty; there are some nice silhouette shots; and the different lighting effects, overall, display expertise.

The plot can be divided into three parts. The first part is light entertainment, which recalls similar moments in other Pickford and Marion fare, such as in "Armarilly of Clothes-Line Alley", or the childish interludes in "The Poor Little Rich Girl". The comedic set pieces are set against the backdrop of a picturesque Italian village and surrounding countryside--a good, if unoriginal, setup, I think--although the drunken farm animals bit falls flat.

The second part, with the war and espionage, isn't bad, either. But, it begins to seem that the story is going nowhere at times, and it becomes rather melodramatic, which are the problems with the third and final part of "The Love Light". Pickford's battle for sanity and her child is pure lurid melodrama of the kind that ruined "Stella Maris", another film by Pickford and Marion. In the end, "The Love Light" is an episodic, formulaic and melodramatic picture, which doesn't feature Marion's best writing, but did demonstrate that she could have been a competent director. As for Pickford, she's a professional, even though she sometimes didn't choose the best roles.