Review of Coquette (1929) by James H — 31 Jan 2009
Man, this was pretty bad. This film starred Mary Pickford, in her first talkie, as an upperclass girl who falls in love with a poor working class guy, and her father disapproves. Mary Pickford won Best Actress for this (the only reason I watched the movie), and she's pretty horrible in it.
Such overacting, you know how in the silent movies, all the actors exaggerate their emotions and body movements? Well add sound to that and you've got Coquette. Everyone uses booming voices, like they're vibrating when they talk, and they chew up the screen.
And most of the dialogue is so horrendous. There's one scene where Pickford's dad chases after her boyfriend and she's alone with her maid. Suddenly she feels a pain in her side, and says "oh it's nothing, it's like a got a big shot in my stomach.
... shot? Father! Oh Michael! Where's father's gun?!" And the ending is quite laughable. The funny thing is, this is the second Best Actress win ever, and the first couple years of the Academy Awards there were only a handful of people who actually voted for the awards.
Douglas Fairbanks was president of the Academy at the time, and guess who his wife was at the time?
This review of Coquette (1929) was written by James H on 31 Jan 2009.
Coquette has generally received mixed reviews.
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