Volume II: Filmography

A MOTHER'S FAITH

November 17, 1911 (Friday)

Length: 900 feet

Character: Comedy (per Thanhouser, probably in error); drama (per scenario and reviews)

Cast: James Cruze (the son), Florence LaBadie

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, November 11, 1911:

"The never-do-well son of a rich man 'goes wrong,' but throughout his long career of dissipation his mother never loses faith in him. After the death of his father the son comes back, a broken-down tramp. His sister sees him before he sees his mother and she advises him to go out into the world and 'make good' - and thus sustain his mother's unbroken faith. The boy strikes out and after years comes back a man who knows how to earn a living by toil. This story will bring many a tear."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, November 11, 1911:

"The spoiled son of a wealthy man is expelled from college. He regards it as rather a good joke, but his father warns him that he will have but one more chance to make good. The 'chance' is in a broker's office, where the young man airily neglects business and is finally discharged. He rather welcomes it, however, has an enjoyable evening with some college chums, and returns late at night in exuberant spirits. Angry words are exchanged between father and son, which end in the younger man being ordered out of the house. His mother and sister plead in vain. They might have gained pardon for him had it not been for the drunken bravado displayed by the youth. The son has no special training or ambition. He rapidly degenerates into a common tramp. In the city park one day he picks up a newspaper. One item that strikes his eye tells of the death of his father, and he realizes that the way is clear if he wants to return home. He returns with all speed to the resident of his parents. He arrives there, shabby, a drunken outcast.

"At the gateway of his home he meets his sister. She is shocked when she sees him, and more shocked when he tells her that he means to return. She leads him around to a window of the house and bids him look inside. There he sees his mother, weeping, clasping his picture in her hands. 'Mother's prayer by day and by night has been for your return,' the girl explains. 'She believes that you are somewhere out in the great world, manfully fighting to make a name for yourself; that the faults of your boyhood have taught you a lesson, that you are a man of whom your family can be proud. Will you spoil her belief by showing yourself for what you are, a dissipated and worthless tramp?' For the first time the young man realizes to what low condition he has sunk. The scales of selfishness drop from his eyes. He determines to be worthy of the faith of his mother. Then and there he promises to drop his idle ways. The struggle was a hard one, but he found that it paid. For a day came when he could go to his old home, neatly dressed, clear-eyed, respected by his associates, and clasped his mother in his arms. He could hear her say, 'I knew that my boy would prove that he was a worthy man, and I am glad that he is home again.'"

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, November 25, 1911:

"In this story, a rich man's prodigal son gets the grand bounce by his dad. A little later the father falls dead. In another city the boy reads of his father's death and catches a freight train home, like a ragged tramp. He meets his sister at the gate, and she won't let him come dressed as he is, but shows him his mother through a window. She is weeping over his photograph. The picture makes him brace up and go to work. When he has made a man of himself he asks his mother's pardon. The sister's part is not played very convincingly. The picture is interesting, but has no very fresh idea. The latter half of it is much the best. It is pleasingly acted and very well photographed. There are some interesting tramp-life scenes in it."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, November 22, 1911:

"How his mother's love brought out the manhood in her son is graphically set forth in this film, and it proves to be an entertaining picture of strong and pointed moral. The acting of the son is, perhaps, the success of the piece, though the scenario shows apt construction. After being expelled from college he proves a ne'er-do-well, and at last his drunken debauches caused his father to disinherit him. He becomes a vagabond by degrees. The demand of the bartender to take his dress suit to pay for the drinks stretches one's credulity. His father dies, and on a park bench he reads of the death and the desire of his mother to find her son. He goes home by freight car, is met by his sister, who tells him that his mother could not stand to meet him thus. Unobserved, he sees his mother and resolves to live a new life. He obtains a position, is promoted, and then returns to his mother. The inadequacy of the sister weakened the film."

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