The Goose Woman is a 1925 American
silent drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Clarence Brown
Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director.
Early life
Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when he ...
and starring
Louise Dresser
Louise Dresser (born Louise Josephine Kerlin; October 5, 1878 – April 24, 1965) was an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the many films in which she played the wife of Will Rogers, including ''State Fair'' and ' ...
with
Jack Pickford
John Charles Smith (August 18, 1896 – January 3, 1933), known professionally as Jack Pickford, was a Canadian-American actor, film director and producer. He was the younger brother of actresses Mary and Lottie Pickford.
After their father d ...
as her son. The film was released by
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
.
[Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Goose Woman''](_blank)
at silentera.com
The
Rex Beach
Rex Ellingwood Beach (September 1, 1877 – December 7, 1949) was an American novelist, playwright, and Olympic water polo player.
Early life
Rex Beach was born in Atwood, Michigan, but moved to Tampa, Florida, with his family where his father ...
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.
Plot
As described in a film magazine reviews, 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
Reception
Both critics and audiences favorably received the film. ''The Goose Woman'' was
remade
Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is inf ...
in 1933 as ''
The Past of Mary Holmes
''The Past of Mary Holmes'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film, directed by Harlan Thompson and Slavko Vorkapich, and released by RKO. The film is a remake of the silent film ''The Goose Woman'' (1925), which is based on a short story by Re ...
'' featuring
Helen MacKellar
Helen MacKellar (February 13, 1895 – August 5, 1966) was an American actress.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, MacKeller's ancestry was Scottish and French-Canadian. She studied acting in Chicago and Spokane. Her stage debut came in Spokane in ''Th ...
and
Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur (born Gladys Georgianna Greene; October 17, 1900 – June 19, 1991) was an American Broadway and film actress whose career began in silent films in the early 1920s and lasted until the early 1950s.
Arthur had feature roles in three F ...
.
References
External links
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1925 films
Films directed by Clarence Brown
American silent feature films
1925 drama films
Silent American drama films
Universal Pictures films
American black-and-white films
Films based on works by Rex Beach
1920s American films
1920s English-language films
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