In the past few years, we have seen some of the movies featuring Mary Pickford getting released on Blu-ray. VCI Entertainment along with the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Mary Pickford foundation have been restoring her silent classics, much to the delight of fans who love the golden oldies. The latest release to the Blu-ray family is the 1921 drama, The Love Light. The movie was directed by Mary Pickford’s good friend Frances Marion. The director’s husband Fred Thomson is one of the stars!

In Frances Marion’s The Love Light, Angela Carlotti (Mary Pickford, Sparrows, Secrets) lives and takes care of a lighthouse in Italy, where she awaits the return of her brothers, Antonio (Jean de Briac, A Chump at Oxford) and Mario (Eddie Phillips, White Heat) from the war. She unfortunately learns that they have become casualties of the war. Angela, grief-stricken, receives comfort and support from her lover Giovanni (Raymond Bloomer, Broadway Rose). As luck would have it, he is also called in to the war. While he is away, an American sailor named Joseph (Fred Thomson, Kit Carson) is washed ashore and Angels looks after him. Later, they are secretly married, and she has a baby. To her chagrin, Angela discovers that Joseph is a German spy who assisted in her brother’s death via Angela’s special love signals from the lighthouse to him during the war! These signals were done innocently in the past, but now were instrumental in causing her brother’s death! Angela basically dumps Joseph, putting it mildly and is left alone with their child, but all is not lost!

VCI has given The Love Light a Blu-ray release. At the beginning of the film, there are some notes about the transfer which I have included in this review. As per the information provided prior to the movie is that the “UCLA Film & Television Archive restored the film by using portions of American and European release negatives, returning the film to its original eight-reel configuration. The film was restored using original camera negatives, nitrate positive prints, and 16mm elements with the cooperation with the Mary Pickford Foundation and the George Eastman House”.

Thanks to the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Mary Pickford Foundation, The Love Light has been given a 4k scan with digital work done by Roundabout Entertainment. Additionally, digital film restoration specialist Tiffany Clayton and VCI also have done final touch-ups for the movie.

The result of the restoration that the picture quality for the movie, at least to me is as good as it will get for the foreseeable future! The dark blacks, bright whites and greys are balanced throughout with plenty of details to the scenery and the characters. Shadow detail looks strong during the presentation. The image to me has that smooth, polished look from the restoration.  The Love Light now looks incredibly clear and pleasant to watch!  There are some speckles and vertical lines that do appear, but some of them are barely visible and much of them were removed for this release as shown in The Love Light before and after comparison which is part of the supplements on this Blu-ray. There are areas, due to the various film elements used, which do look a little rough or muddy but despite that, the image is still clear and does not hinder the viewing process. The 4K scan has given a strong boost to the movie and has made it that much more watchable, even on some of the rougher spots. Overall, The Love Light looks so remarkably good, that I cannot see it looking any better that it does now.

For this Blu-ray, the audio VCI has opted to go with is English LPCM 2.0. The soundtrack is also clear with Maiah Manser’s score sounding crisp and clear without any distortions.

VCI has provided some supplements for this Blu-ray offering.

Marc Wanamaker provides a commentary track, which of course is worth a listen.

The release includes a linear notes booklet provided by the Mary Pickford Foundation.

There is a feature called The Love Light Comparison which shows just how much was cleaned up for this Blu-ray release!

An American Biograh short film entitled Friends, which is newly mastered in HD with an original score by Malah Manser. The picture quality for this looks clear but there are plenty of speckles, print damages and vertical lines. It did not receive the extensive clean-up that The Love Light received but it’s a nice feature for fans of Mary Pickford that have wanted to watch her in some films that have been rarely seen.

A photo gallery is also part of the supplements.

This release to me is what I would call “The Holy Grail” with The Love Light looking and sounding the best that it ever has thanks to the restoration work that was done. Add some cool extras and you have a marvelous, highly recommended release!

The Love Light

Director – Frances Marion

Cast- Mary Pickford, Raymond Bloomer, Evelyn Dumo

Country of Origin-USA

Distributor – VCI Entertainment

Number of Discs –2

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date –11/26/2024