The Goose Woman is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Louise Dresser with Jack Pickford as her son. The film was released by Universal Pictures.[1]
The Rex Beach short story is based in part on the then already sensational Hall-Mills murder case in which a woman named Jane Gibson is described as a pig woman because of the pigs she raised on her property.[1]
Plot
As described in a film magazine reviews,[2] opera singer Mary Holmes loses her voice as a result of giving birth to a boy, and develops an intense dislike of her offspring. She becomes a victim of drink, living alone in a shabby cottage and raises geese. Her son wins the love of Hazel Woods, a young actress, who repulsed the vicious advances of a millionaire theatre-owner. The latter is murdered. To gain publicity, Mary invents a wild story about having witnessed the murder. The district attorney furnishes her with fine clothes, reveals her identity as a former stage star, and she is the sensation of the day. However, the details she concocts about the crime cause her son’s arrest. Confronted with him, she experiences a sudden awakening of mother-love and confesses that her story is false. It transpires that the theatre doorman is the guilty person. The son is cleared and faces a happy future with his reformed parent and Hazel.
Cast
- Louise Dresser as Marie de Nardi / Mary Holmes
- Jack Pickford as Gerald Holmes
- Constance Bennett as Hazel Woods
- George Cooper as A Reporter
- Gustav von Seyffertitz as Mr. Vogel
- George Nichols as Detective Lopez
- Marc McDermott as Amos Ethridge
- Spottiswoode Aitken as Jacob Rigg
- James O. Barrows as Unidentified role
- Kate Price as Matron
Reception
Both critics and audiences favorably received the film.[citation needed] The Goose Woman was remade in 1933 as The Past of Mary Holmes featuring Helen MacKellar and Jean Arthur.[3]
References
- ^ a b Progressive Silent Film List: The Goose Woman at silentera.com
- ^ "New Pictures: The Goose Woman", Exhibitors Herald, 22 (11), Chicago, Illinois: Exhibitors Herald Company: 54, September 5, 1925, retrieved September 1, 2022
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "The Goose Woman (1925)". UCLA film archives. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
External links
- The Goose Woman at IMDb
- Synopsis at AllMovie
- The Goose Woman is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
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