Lena and the Geese
About Lena and the Geese
A noblewoman sends her baby girl to Gretchen, a peasant widow who already has a daughter, Lena, about the same age. The girls grow up as sisters. Dying, the noblewoman asks for her child back. Gretchen sends Lena, the goose girl, in the heiress's place. Lena is received at court and the mother dies believing she has repaired the wrong. The title does not sit on Lena. She wants Gretchen and the geese.
Cast & crew
More about Lena and the Geese
D. W. Griffith directed Mary Pickford's story, which she had sold to Biograph on September 26, 1910, under the title The Goose Girl. G. W. Bitzer photographed this one-reeler. General Film Company released it on June 17, 1912. Pickford plays Lena. Silent Era also lists J. Jiquel Lanoe as her sweetheart, Kate Bruce as Gretchen, Mae Marsh as the other girl, Edwin August as Lena's father, and Claire McDowell as her mother. Wikidata gives 17 minutes.
Themes
Making
Pickford supplied the story and played the girl who is sent to court in another child's place.
Look
G. W. Bitzer photographed the one-reel Biograph production.
Preservation
Silent Era lists 8mm prints in private collections. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The story sat at Biograph from September 1910 until this 1912 production.
- Silent Era records survival as 8mm reduction prints in private collections. A Wikimedia file also circulates.
- Lottie Pickford is in the Silent Era cast list.
- It is a switch of children, not the Grimm goose-girl plot line for line.
Scenes
- Gretchen sends her own daughter to the dying noblewoman.
- Lena, now a lady, wants the geese back.
