The Mother and the Law (1919) DVD-R

Starring Mae Marsh, Robert Harron, Miriam Cooper, Vera Lewis, Sam De
Grasse
Directed by D.W. Griffith

Print: black/white
Runtime: 93 min.
Genre: drama
Print Quality: B

While busy with The Birth of a Nation, director D.W. Griffith began a
small-scale contemporary drama called The Mother and the Law. The film
was designed as an indictment against professional do-gooders who take
it upon themselves to "reform" the poor. One victim of this misguided
treatment is played by Mae Marsh, whose baby is claimed by the moral
uplifters when her husband (Bobby Harron) proves unable to provide for
his family. The film's dramatic highpoints include a violent capital vs. labor
clash, and a climactic race for life as the husband is slated for execution
for a crime he did not commit. If this all sounds familiar, it is because an
abbreviated version of The Mother and the Law was incorporated into
Griffith's four-part spectacular Intolerance; it was later released as a
separate feature, with newly shot scenes added.