True Heart Susie

Rarely considered among D.W. Griffith's classics, the 1919 feature True Heart Susie is presented here with a sharp transfer courtesy of the British Film Institute and a newly composed Rodney Sauer score performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. The eponymous Susie (Lillian Gish) is a simple country girl who loves William (Robert Harron). Alas, William doesn't have the funds to attend divinity school, so Susie sells her pet cow to help finance his education. William goes off to the big city, but comes back with more than a degree: he has a new girlfriend, the sophisticated Bettina (Clarine Seymour), who becomes his wife. Needless to say, Susie is heartbroken; however, a convenient storm arrives before the final reel to remove Bettina and reunite Susie and William. True Heart Susie is a fairly silly film that often feels like a parody of rural drama, but it's at least made tolerable by Gish's ability to spin acting gold from a straw-stuffed plot. Also presented on this DVD is Hoodoo Ann, written and produced by Griffith in 1916 (under a pseudonym) and directed by Lloyd Ingraham, in which Harron teams with Mae Marsh in a lame comedy about an allegedly demonic doll. Griffith's diehard fans may be intrigued by these obscurities, which boast little more than curio value, but this is not a necessary purchase for others. (P. Hall)