Mary Pickford's performance as Nora the waif, is portrayed with a vivid realism. She is able to pull out a gamut of various emotions from this character, with an outstanding magnetic effect. Nora, a young girl who lives a secluded life with her alcoholic father, must attend school. Having never played with other children, she completely lacks all social skills. This has both a frustrating and humiliating effect on the lonely and neglected waif. Mary is able to portray each sequence of emotions, with the ability to have them flow perfectly throughout the entire story. At one point the harried Nora, shakes a small tree in her grievance after the mocking from the other schoolmates and next skips with joy after the teacher pats her head with assurance of support, something Nora has never received before. Pickford's years at Biograph with D.W Griffith prove to have been valuable, for the improvisation which allowed her to develop believable characters with genuine spontaneity. Her representation of the young self-sufficient, feisty waif would continue to be enormously popular with audiences. The School Teacher And The Waif is a real early Pickford treasure and delightful to watch.
Review of The School Teacher and the Waif
