Everybody's Sweetheart

When the benign headmistress of the county poor farm is discharged and replaced with a tyrant, John and Mary, two orphans who have lived there since infancy, decide to run away. Accompanied by a feeble old corporal from the farm, they are forced to seek refuge at the home of General Phillip Bingham when the old soldier becomes ill. After the corporal's death, the general promises to care for the two waifs. Mary becomes his protegee, and John his gardener. Friction develops between the two newcomers and Willing and his wife Jessica, a couple living with the general who hope to inherit his wealth, until one day the general notices a close resemblance between a portrait of his deceased son and John. It is discovered then that John is actually the general's grandson. Thus legitimized, John weds Mary, and the general is pleased with his newly acquired family.

Olive Thomas' last film, being released posthumously. And she left on a high note. This is her best work, displaying the ability to convey more subtly what she previously might have had to convey more overtly, while still being able to be bubbly and endearing at the drop of a hat, because that was just her. It's sad to see her there, so full of life, knowing that she'd be taken away not long after filming this. The film is sad, happy, poignant, hopeful, and has a happy ending. Moving Picture World reported on October 23, 1920, a month and a half after her death, "The sweet nature displayed by the character in Everybody's Sweetheart, Miss Thomas' late picture, is bound to live as an example of the star's actual personality. This role showed Miss Thomas as she lived, an adorable and sweet character, whose main object in life is to make those around her happy." That says it all.