This is a quick, fun film, and there’s not a lot to it. The story is simple. The film opens with a double wedding, at which two brothers have married. One marries Lillian Gish, in one of her earliest roles, which makes for a fun chance to catch a glimpse of her before she became a huge star. Her sister Dorothy is also in the film briefly, as a guest at the wedding, as is Mary Pickford’s brother Jack. Lionel Barrymore also shows up as a dinner guest, making this film a who’s who of future stars in cameo roles!
After the wedding, the father is a bit sad to have “lost” two sons that day, but his daughter, played by the great Mary Pickford, promises she’ll never leave him. Shortly afterwards, she gets engaged, married, and leaves him! He’s crestfallen, and disowns the couple. A couple years pass, and through a chance meeting in the street he learns that he is a grandparent. Too proud to mend the relationship with his daughter, he instead begins sneaking into the baby’s room to play with his grandson. He’s eventually discovered, and initially mistaken for a burglar. Once his identity is revealed, a reconciliation happens, and the family is at last together and happy.
Though it is a short and simple film, it is full of charm and humor. It’s difficult for me to put my finger on how or why, it’s again clear, as it was with both The Country Doctor and The Lonedale Operator, that D.W. Griffith was several steps ahead of the other directors of his day.
This film is in the public domain, and on YouTube, which is where I watched it. Here it is, if you’d like to watch, too.
Next I’m watching: Suspense [1913], directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber.
My Baby (Nov. 14, 1912)