Stella Maris on AllMovie

Based on a novel by William J. Locke, Stella Maris is a remake of the 1918 Mary Pickford vehicle of the same name. Patsy Ruth Miller takes over the Pickford role as Stella, a crippled girl who is raised like a hothouse orchid by her overprotective guardians. Also like Pickford, Miller essays a second role: Unity Blake, an ugly kitchen slavey who, in contrast to Stella, is mistreated and abused by everyone around her. The destinies of Stella and Unity intersect when the poor slavey murders a man to secure the future happiness of the wealthy cripple. In the original, Unity also financed the operation that restored Stella's ability to walk: in the remake, the operation is paid for by Stella's sweetheart John Risca (Elliot Dexter). Though the split-screen and double-exposure work is superb, this Stella Maris is otherwise inferior to the Pickford version.