(William DeMille, US 1921, 90 min., 35mm)

William DeMille (older brother of Cecil B.) was a successful Broadway playwright and talented film director, and this is considered his finest film. A small-town girl, played with pained humility by Lois Wilson, has been relegated to the thankless role of servant in her own sister’s household. DeMille observes the details of ordinary life—dinner table conversation, dirty dishes stacked in the sink, idle hopes and dreams—with gravity and grace, and makes us long for Miss Lulu Bett to find happiness. But can she? Live piano by Philip C. Carli.