Overview: Stella Maris was a major advancement in filmmaking. Mary Pickford plays dual roles in a film that is very different from anything she had ever done before. It tells the story of two, very different young women; a beautiful, rich, but crippled Stella Maris and Unity Blake, a deformed and abused orphan.

Director, Marshall Neilan, and cinematographer Walter Stradling created some trick photography for Mary to play both roles, using double exposure photography and complex editing which made it possible to present both characters on screen simultaneously.

Blu-ray Verdict: Lovely, crippled Stella Maris lives like a princess, sheltered from all of the world’s unpleasantness. Orphan Unity Blake, on the other hand, suffers under life’s harsh hand. These two young women are fated to be brought together with tragic, unforeseen consequences.

America’s Sweetheart, Mary Pickford, even though a tremendous movie star, had always been bothered by the fact that show business had kept her from acquiring a normal education. She asked her dear friend, screenwriter Frances Marion, to tutor her. One of the books they read together was Stella Maris by William J. Locke. Mary quickly saw the novel’s cinematic possibilities.

What startled the studio bosses was Mary’s determination to play the parts of both Stella and Unity. She was sure this could be achieved convincingly. For the role of Unity, Pickford wore makeup that negated her pretty features, learned to stand and walk awkwardly and even insisted that she be photographed mostly using her right, less photogenic, profile. The effect was most believable.

The result was a triumph, professionally, artistically and at the box office. Mary tugged at the viewer’s heartstrings, but never crossed the line into cheap mugging or maudlin histrionics. She earned her accolades with genuine, sincere emotion and pathos.

Frances Marion’s screenplay allowed both of Mary’s characters to share some screen time. Double exposure would produce a special effect that puzzled and delighted contemporary audiences.

Although Mary dominates the film, mention should be made of Conway Tearle who ably plays the strong, sensitive man who loves Stella; Marcia Manon is very effective as his brutal, alcoholic wife; and Josephine Crowell scores in another of her matronly roles.

And now, after years of neglect, Stella Maris is available on this most stunning remaster through MVD Visual and spread over two discs, is now ready to, once again, enchant a whole new generation of Pickford fans.

The two primary elements used in this restoration were a 1967 35mm B&W Dupe Negative and an incomplete 1925 35mm Tinted Print. Scans from the Dupe Negative were used for the majority of the feature, and all surviving material from the print was inserted where possible.

New inter-titles were digitally recreated for the Dupe Negative to match the feel and length of the Print, as the cards in the Negative were static and much longer than originally intended. The tinting scheme of the Print was used for all evening sequences: amber for night interiors and blue for night exteriors, with the rest of the feature B&W for all daytime sequences.

Lastly, all the most egregious damage was digitally repaired, the film’s printed-in jitter was stabilized, and the film’s frame-rate was digitally varisped to 19FPS, mirroring a more natural, hand-cranked projection speed suitable for 1918, the year of the film’s release.

The Mary Pickford Foundation and the Paramount Film Archive partnered to access all elements available in the Pickford collections both at the UCLA Film & Television Archive and at the Library of Congress. Even though the archives were shut down during the pandemic, all parties cooperated to send the film elements to Paramount so they could be scanned in 4K resolution and commence work on the restoration.

Special Features:
Commentary track by Marc Wanamaker, author and film historian
Liner Notes Pictorial Booklet by the Mary Pickford Foundation
Extensive Photo Gallery
The Mountaineer’s Honor, an American Biograph short film released November 25th, 1909. Newly mastered in HD with an original score by the Graves Brothers