Mary Pickford, 17 minutes, and a broken heart that launches a thousand revenge plots.
The representative of an American Syndicate comes to Mexico to look over some land. While there, he pays considerable attention to the little Mexican girl, at whose home he is a roomer. The girl falls deeply in love with the American, who wins her absolute confidence. When the time comes for his departure, he of course cannot take her with him, and when he says goodbye, she realizes how false his promises were. Her love for the American now turns to bitter hate, so she agrees to marry her erstwhile sweetheart, whom she threw aside for the American, if he will avenge her wrong. This he consents to do.
Acting
Pickford's expressive face carries entire emotional arcs.
Direction
Griffith experiments with cross-cutting tension.
Cinematography
1912 location shooting in genuine California 'Mexico'.
Director
D.W. Griffith
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pickford was already 'America's Sweetheart' when this dropped; playing a scorned Mexican woman was typical of era's questionable casting.
This is peak 'Griffith's problematic era'—romanticizing American exploitation abroad while making the victim's revenge the actual tragedy.
US
