Poor Relations

Poor Relations is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by King Vidor.[1] Produced by the Brentwood Corporation, the film starred Vidor’s wife Florence Vidor and featured comedienne Zasu Pitts.[2]

For the novel by Compton Mackenzie, see Poor Relations (novel).

Poor Relations
Directed byKing Vidor
Written byKing Vidor
StarringFlorence Vidor
CinematographyIra H. Morgan
Distributed byRobertson-Cole
Release date
  • November 1, 1919 (1919-11-01)
Running time
50 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

The picture is the final of four Christian Science precept films that represent a brief phase in Vidor’s output championing the superiority of self-healing through moral strength and supplemented by the benefits of rural living. [3]

Cast

Plot

Country girl Dorothy Perkins succeeds as an architect in the city, but then is scorned by her old-money in-laws. [4]

Reception

The reviews were “poor”. Exhibitor’s Trade Review observed that “the slender, fragile story has just about all it can do to make its way through the new-mown hay atmosphere.” [5]

Theme

Poor Relations provides an early example of Vidor’s “feminist” presentation of professional and independent women, emphasizing reciprocal exchanges between the sexes.[6]

Footnotes
  1. "Progressive Silent Film List: Poor Relations". Silent Era. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  2. Baxter 1976 p. 9
  3. (Gustafssson 2016: “The film “advocated views associated with Christian Science (not to be confused with Scientology, a then relatively new religious movement that came about towards the end of the 19th century and to which Vidor claimed allegiance.”
    Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 26
    Baxter 1976 p. 9
  4. Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 337
  5. Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 337: ETR 25 Octorber 1919.
  6. Durgnat and Simmons, 1988 p. 15: Vidor a “natural feminist” in that his female protagonists “drive men crazy, or inspire them, and do what they want, without becoming superior beings.” and the “reciprocity [between men and women] constitute its mainspring.”
    Baxter 1976 p. 14: Baxter identifies The Real Adventure and Woman, Wake Up, both 1922, as early feminist cinema by Vidor.
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References
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