The first time I watched Her Bargain Day I swore I could smell coal smoke and bargain-bin talcum, as though the filmstrip itself had been fished out of a 1920 five-and-dime clearance box. Alice Howell—red-haired, pop-eyed, a wind-up toy of comic exasperation—charges through this one-reel contraption like a woman who’s...
Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.
Frederick J. Ireland
Unknown Director
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" The first time I watched Her Bargain Day I swore I could smell coal smoke and bargain-bin talcum, as though the filmstrip itself had been fished out of a 1920 five-and-dime clearance box. Alice Howell—red-haired, pop-eyed, a wind-up toy of comic exasperation—charges through this one-reel contraption like a woman who’s memorized every markdown in the Sears catalogue. The plot, if you insist on calling it that, is a matrimonial ledger: kisses tallied, housekeeping points accrued, affection barter..."
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A Directorial Spotlight on Frederick J. Ireland
