Little Mary Sunshine 1916

Film Review and Rating / Synopsis

• Little Mary Sunshine (1916) - Plot Summary - Basically an early animal and kid picture, directed by Henry King. About a well-to-do young man, Bob (Henry King), newly engaged to Sylvia - but he prefers to get drunk with his circle of chums rather than pick her up to go to the theatre. Apparently, one mistake is all it takes - when Bob finally arrives (very, very late) she (under the encouragement of her Mama) breaks the engagement. Meanwhile, in another house in a poorer part of town we see little Mary (Baby Marie Osborne), cute blonde moppet, whose father has just arrived home drunk and murdered her mother by clobbering her over the head. Neighbors come to help the child, but seems they aren't paying THAT much attention to her, as they let a 4-year old wander off into the street alone. Mary climbs into Bob's car to hide. Bob finds her - and decides to keep her! Bob, even though fast approaching thirty years old (it seems to me anyway), still lives with his parents in their upscale house. They all take a liking to little Mary, who soon is cavorting with this organ grinder's trained bear, which, of all things, the organ grinder leaves tied to a tree in Mary's backyard. Meanwhile, Bob's dad teases Sylvia that Bob has a "new girl" in his life, and Bob gives up "drink" 'cause of the trouble it has caused him.

  Review - Well, this film is quite cute - nothing great, but enjoyable and the little girl has a lot of charm. It certainly is the same kind of plot often seen in later Shirley Temple films. The DVD of this is from Unknown Video and features a tinted print that looks fairly decent - a bit fuzzy and with some speckling and a few frames missing here and there. It features a nice organ score by Bob Vaughn. Rating - * 7.5/10 stars *

  Director: Henry King
  Film Genre: Melodrama
  Film Runtime: 46 minutes

Links / Resources

• IMDb film listing for Little Mary Sunshine (1916), cast and crew
• AFI Catalog Listing, cast, summary, tech details

RATINGS KEY:

10 = Absolutely Fabulous/Superb
9 = Really Good/Excellent
8 = Good
7 = Fairly Good/Decent
6 = So-so, some flaws
5 = Mediocre
4 = Not that good, many flaws
3 = Poor
2 = Very Poor/Stinker
1 = One of the worst BOMBS ever filmed