Mary Pickford made not one but two popular adaptations of Grace Miller White's Tess of the Storm Country; the success of both silent pictures guaranteed a sound version, which Fox conceived as a vehicle for Gaynor and Charles Farrell, their eleventh of twelve screen teamings. Gaynor shines in the title part as the plucky daughter of an ornery skipper (Dudley Digges), while Farrell portrays the son of a dastardly local landowner on the seafaring coastline of the otherwise nameless “Storm Country.” Unabashedly sentimental, Tess is prime Gaynor material, presenting her as a self-sacrificing young woman steadfastly carrying out the more melodramatic aspects of the plot while engaging in charming romantic byplay with Farrell, not to mention some comic hijinks with her pet monkey, Peppy. Director Alfred Santell considerably softened the naturalistic, often brutal source novel in an effort to fashion an upbeat, affirmative film for Gaynor's legions of faithful fans.

Preceded by short:
Pep of the Lazy “J” (Victor Noerdlinger, U.S., 1926). Judith Rosenberg on Piano. This is typical of a series of Universal shorts that starred Janet Gaynor and Edmund Cobb. Life at the Lazy “J” ranch is upset by the arrival of three strangers: down-on-his-luck cowpoke Pep (Cobb), an heiress, and her friend, played by the fetching nineteen-year-old Gaynor. (21 mins, Silent, B&W, 35mm, Preserved by George Eastman House)

• (Total running time: 96 mins)