Margaret Kirby refuses her husband's request to help him obtain a loan from her guest, Gordon Pell. The husband, John, in financial difficulties, then attempts suicide and becomes seriously ill.
Poverty is usually painted in soot and sweat; Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby daubs it in lace and candle wax, letting the wax drip until the lace chars. Released in the exhausted first breath of 1921, this seven-reel whisper from the short-lived Metro Pictures arsenal feels like a missing vertebra in the spine of America...
Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.
William P.S. Earle
William P.S. Earle
Community
Log in to comment.
" Poverty is usually painted in soot and sweat; Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby daubs it in lace and candle wax, letting the wax drip until the lace chars. Released in the exhausted first breath of 1921, this seven-reel whisper from the short-lived Metro Pictures arsenal feels like a missing vertebra in the spine of American melodrama. While Griffith was still sermonizing with Babylonian balustrades and DeMille was rhinestoning sin with bathtub gin, director William C. deMille (yes, the less cannonad..."
Lewis Allen Browne, Kathleen Norris
United States
Deep dive into the cult classic
Discover similar cinematic experiences
A Directorial Spotlight on William P.S. Earle
