Mary Pickford is a member of Pastor Arthur Johnson's choir. While she is practicing with the organist one day, a passing show biz mogul hears her and offers her a chance to sing in the big city. She accepts. When Johnson reads of her goings-on in the newspaper he goes to see for himself.
It's not one of Griffiths best movies of 1909, with a story that is melodramatic, and with Arthur Johnson playing a minister who seems to have never heard of anyone going to the dogs. Still, if you look for something to admire, you can find it, in Miss Pickfords performance in the beginning, in the way that Griffith can fill a space with a dozen people who act like a much larger crowd, and with Billy Bitzer's camerawork that illuminates the church with a glow.
It should also be noted that this story would have appealed much more to the audiences of 1909 than today's.
It's not one of Griffiths best movies of 1909, with a story that is melodramatic, and with Arthur Johnson playing a minister who seems to have never heard of anyone going to the dogs. Still, if you look for something to admire, you can find it, in Miss Pickfords performance in the beginning, in the way that Griffith can fill a space with a dozen people who act like a much larger crowd, and with Billy Bitzer's camerawork that illuminates the church with a glow.
It should also be noted that this story would have appealed much more to the audiences of 1909 than today's.