Stefan Willa After watching a few films of her, I have to say Mary Pickford is not at her best in this movie. Mainly, this is because of the weak plot, which doesn't always seem to be coherent, especially the triangle love story, when you think about it. Furthermore, the film tries to be moralistic and funny at the same time, which doesn't seem to work really well either. However there are one or two funny scenes, whenever the washer family's mother is depicted. However, even there, it is just about exploiting stereotypes to get a few cheap laughs, or so it seems. In my opinion, one major problem are the monotone settings of the scenes, which do not vary enough to make the whole movie more interesting. All in all, it does only take an hour to watch it, but I think there are better films from 1918 than this one.

PamelaShort Mary Pickford gives a most delightful performance in this story about a young girl living with her mother and younger brothers. Her mother is an Irish laundrywoman and supports the family by taking in wash, while Amarilly is a working-class girl who works hard scrubbing and cleaning. When the theater she cleans is burnt down, Amarilly takes a job as a cigarette girl at the popular Cyclone Cafe, where her boyfriend works as a bartender. When a wealthy young man is injured during a brawl at the Cafe, the caring Amarilly takes him home to nurse his wounds. Unfortunately Amarilly's beau misunderstands and believes she is in love with the wealthy fellow. The young man is very interested in the spunky girl and offers her a job cleaning his apartment, where his rich, snobby Aunt takes it upon herself to experiment with Amarilly, and tries to teach her high-class manners needed to live among the wealthy high-society. Knowing her nephew is in love with Amarilly she invites her family to a social party to embarrass the girl. Amarilly is proud of her hard-working Irish family and always having good sense, she realizes she will always be a great deal happier married to the Irish lad she loves. This story works so well due to the charming script written by Frances Marion that is enhanced by director Marshall Neilon's typical clowning humour. The conflicts dealing with the upper class reformers in this story are cleverly examined with light comedy and satire. Pickford gives an especially lovely performance, along with Kate Price who is extremely delightful as the Irish mother. All of the supporting actors deserve praise for the fine performances they give of their characters. I really enjoyed this story of a young girl who gives up the opportunity to marry into wealth, and stays faithful and proud in the end to her one true love. Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is one of Mary Pickford's underrated gems, but stands out as one of her most brilliant films. I highly suggest this film is worth watching.

style_grrl This is a great silent film and I very much liked Mary Pickford in it. Its basically about a working girl with a widowed mother and her siblings, she works as a cigarette girl at a bar and meets a wealthy guy. When he gets in a fight she takes care of him.This upsets her boyfriend, and she begins to fall in love with the wealthy guy. However things turn sour when he takes her home to his socialite aunt, who wants to "improve" her. This movie is also a satire of wealthy people and makes fun of them.Things go terribly wrong and she must then decided if its the trouble going through all this just for a guy.This would've been different had it been in present day America, but this was the 1920's and I think that the film was smartly written.

FANatic-10 In this 1918 film, Mary Pickford plays a down-to-earth Irish working class girl, complete with her washer-woman ma and 5 rambunctious brothers. The plot is perfunctory: she has an equally down-to-earth bartender boyfriend, but gets involved with dashing upper-crust sculptor Norman Kerry (who's handsome even to modern eyes!) until used as a "social experiment" by Kerry's socialite aunt, which she justifiably resents.No big surprises, but a wealth of small, charming moments. The film is undeniably creaky (it is 82 years old!), but actually flows together quite well. Its age is also, undeniably, part of its charm - it fascinates me to see these products of another era. There is a melodramatic turn at the end that seems to come out of the blue, but perhaps it was a nod to the fact that Amarilly's neighbourhood was undoubtedly a dangerous environment to live in.Its not difficult at all to see why Mary Pickford was "America's Sweetheart". This was the first complete movie of hers that I've watched, and I hope to see more. She's delightful - warm and sweet, and blessed with a heart-melting smile.