Exit Smiling (1926)

In this silent film, the worst actress in a theatrical company turns out to be their only hope of survival.



Director: Sam Taylor
Cast: Beatrice Lillie, Jack Pickford, Doris Lloyd, DeWitt Jennings, Harry Myers, Tenen Holtz, Louise Lorraine, Franklin Pangborn, D'Arcy Corrigan, Charles K. French, William Gillespie, Gus Leonard, Andy MacLennan, Carl Richards, Carl 'Major' Roup, Dorothea Wolbert, Bert Woodruff

Running away to join the circus was a popular romantic sentiment in the 1920s for those wishing to escape life’s drudgery. For wannabe actress Violet (Beatrice Lillie), it was joining a third-rate traveling actors troupe specializing in over-the-top melodramas of love and loss. Too plain to play the vampy vixen, she was relegated to the menial but necessary tasks to keep the show afloat. Known for her rubbery features and comic timing, Lillie taps her higher Chaplinesque qualities and deep humanist emotions in beguiling balance to the laughter. Violet’s real-life drama rises far above the on-stage fiction, as with her tutoring and support of a handsome young recruit (Jack Pickford) who becomes the male lead, a man whom she falls in love with but withholds her heart. This silent classic is a riveting time capsule into a pre-Depression world that will fascinate, draw tears and ultimately…cheers.

IMDb

In her only silent film and only one of 7 or 8 films, Lillie is wonderful as the lousy actress in a traveling troupe playing "Flaming Women." She gets involved with a runaway bank employee (Jack Pickford) who joins the company as the leading man. Subtle little comedy about the theatre and young love, Lillie could have had a major career in films but never felt comfortable in from of a camera. A consummate stage actress, Lillie worked for decades with an occasional film appearance, and like pal Gertrude Lawrence, never quite got the hang of film acting. Exit Smiling is not a major film but it is interesting to see the young Lillie at her prime. Billed as the "funniest woman in the world," Lillie enchanted generations of theatre goers. Jack Pickford seems a little pale and shaky, Doris Lloyd is good as the vamp, and Franklin Pangborn is fun as the swishy actor. Lillie is best remembered for her 40s film, On Approval, and her 60s hit, Thoroughly Modern Millie (as Mrs. Meers). Exit Smiling is certainly worth seeing.

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