All on Account of the Milk (1910) User Reviews

The Milkmaid

[boblipton · 5/10 · 20 June 2019]

Housemaid Blanche Sweet is feeling poorly, so the daughter of the house, Mary Pickford, ineptly takes over her duties. Meanwhile, down the block, contractor Arthur Johnson is on site. When the workmen are having lunch, he goes to the house to get some milk. He thinks Mary, in her apron, is the maid; she thinks he in his coveralls is a laborer. They flirt.

It's a sweet little comedy because of the leads, although it is slow, and the comic business is limited to Mary's troubles with kneading dough and spilling the milk on the floor. Of course, the ladies are very cute, and the five minutes of courtship in the movie is rather abrupt if you don't believe in love at first sight, but for a two-reel movie, such matters are a necessity, or nothing ever gets done.

Nice to See a Non-Griffith Biograph Film Starring Mary Pickford

[jayraskin · 6/10 · 10 November 2023]

This film shows the rigidity of upper-class society back in 1910. When a rich daughter (Mary Pickford) takes over the roll of the housemaid (Blanche Sweet) who is sick, confusion and a break-down of class roles ensues. When rich son (Arthur Johnson) takes on the role of a day laborer, it increases the chaos and makes for a likeable social comedy.

There's a whirlwind courtship between Johnson and Pickford that takes place over a few hours in a day as they meet thinking that she is the maid and he is a visiting workingman.

There's a noteworthy appearance by Mack Sennett playing his typical yokel character to add to the comedy.

The beginning feels a bit repetitious as Johnson goes four times to ask Pickford for Milk, but Pickford grows more affectionate each time, until it is clear that she is head over heals in love with him. The speed of the romance makes it unrealistic, but is an interesting plot device.

Really charming, more charming than it has any right to be

[MissSimonetta · 8/10 · 14 May 2020]

The comic business is a little slow in the middle and the camerawork is the typical stage style so common to movies in the first decade of the twentieth century, but this was too cute for me to write it off. Mary Pickford is delightful and her chemistry with Arthur Johnson is adorable. A movie like this won't win over any non-silent film fans, but for those of us who enjoy early cinema, this is an unpretentious little treat..

Very enjoyable LITTLE one-reeler (warning: could by spoiled by class distinction today)

[mmipyle · 8/10 · 12 March 2021]

"All On Account of the Milk" (1910), directed by Frank Powell (and overseen by D. W. Griffith), is a cute little Biograph 11 minute one-reel romp with Mary Pickford, Arthur V. Johnson, Kate Bruce, Mack Sennett, Blanche Sweet, Flora Finch, and one or two others. The maid of Mary's family, Blanche Sweet, isn't feeling well, so Mary, a very spunky girl, says she can do the work and takes over the duties. She's inept and sloppy (in a comical way), but she's now dressed in the maid's outer cloak, so she looks as if she's the real deal. Meanwhile, a contractor down the street sees that at lunch time the crew needs milk, so he dresses in laborer's outer cloak (to protect himself from the mud), and, seeing nobody is able presently to get the milk, goes to fetch the milk from Mary's house. She, in maid's outfit, and he, in laborer's cloak, meet each other at the back door where the milk may be had. It's an instant infatuation, and they each think the other either a maid or a common laborer. This ruse keeps up for a day or two. Finally, each other's mother - don't ask - meet and are to about to have it out over the now seemingly more-than-infatuation (class distinction, get it!)...but all is solved... Simple, simplistic, and very enjoyable. May go a tad slowly for some; I thought it a great deal of fun. Yes, it MUST be enjoyed with a view of 1910; some will be put off by the division of labor class distinctions that were rampant in the period...in all periods. Period.

One of those clean, delicious little bits

[deickemeyer · 20 February 2015]

A clever comedy, unusually well acted and offering a novelty in making milk a vehicle of Cupid's arrows. And then the mix-up is interesting. The daughter of the house plays maid and the contractor plays laborer, each fearful that the other will discover the deception and spoil the little love comedy. And when the mothers of the young people appear on the screen it looks, finally, but suddenly they discover that they are old friends and true love's course takes on a much smoother mode of travel. This little comedy is to be commended. It is one of those clean, delicious little bits that amuse, and at the same time arouse the imagination of those who see the picture, influencing them to read into it all sorts of pleasant features which perhaps do not appear on the screen. - The Moving Picture World, January 29, 1910