AllMovie

Previously filmed in 1915, the Bret Harte story M'liss served as one of Mary Pickford's most memorable vehicles. The "terror" of Red Gulch, the hoydenish M'liss (Pickford) spends most of her time dragging her scraggly father Bummer Smith (Ernest Torrence) home from the local bordello. As such, M'liss has very little time for romance, and when she finally receives her first chaste kiss from new schoolmaster Allan Gray (Thomas Gray), she rushes to the bawdy-house Madam for advice! Eventually, M'liss wins her man through virtuous means, pausing long enough to save an innocent man from being hung for the crimes committed by a local outlaw. The finale features a decidedly uncharacteristic moment when "America's Sweetheart" looks on approvingly as the real crook is strung up from the nearest tree! M'liss was remade in 1922 as The Girl Who Rand Wild, then again under its original title in 1936.