The Cry of the Children (1912) User Reviews

Suffer the little children

[boblipton · 6/10 · 27 November 2002]

Slow but powerful and earnest piece decrying child labor. As the factory owners live a life of ease and short takes, the workers -- including children -- suffer a life of hardship and long takes. Look for future star director James Cruze -- director of THE COVERED WAGON -- who was a contract player for Thanhouser at this time.

An important exposée on child labor

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 20 June 2009]

This film is one of the few during the era that dealt with the problem of child labor. The story is about a family whose children work at a mill--doing exhausting work from morning to night. Such practices were legal up until about WWI.

One of the children in the family, the youngest, does not work. She's about four years old. However, the mill owner's wife sees this cute kid and insists she must adopt the kid, but the family refuses. This is very reminiscent of an episode of "South Park" with Paris Hilton, but I digress.

A bit later, there is a strike and the mill owner is able to break it--he just waits out the workers until they are hungry. By then, the family is so desperate they go back to work and bring this 4 year-old to work as well. However, to keep her from such a harsh life, the family finally agrees to let the owner's wife have the kid. But, in the meantime, the lady has gotten a puppy and decides that's more fun than a kid! The kid leaves and soon dies. Although they ever show this and there are no intertitle cards to indicate this, you know it because the family is sad and an angelic ghost of the young child appears in the house. The final scene shows the selfish owner's wife crying as well about the death of this child.

Well, subtle this ain't! The acting, even by 1912 standards is overly dramatic and the film really needed to more adequately explain the child's death--only making it clear well after the fact is odd. Still, despite being rather hokey, it was an important socially conscious film that must have touched the hearts of viewers at the time.

The Cry of the Children review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 23 June 2020]

A social conscience drama produced by the Thanhouser Studio one year after more than 140 workers - many of them child labourers - died in a factory fire, which features scenes that were actually filmed in a mill. The anger over that incident is evident in George Nichol's film, but it's weakened by characters that are typical of the kind of broad stereotypes found in early silent movies. Marie Eline, the "Thanhouser Kid" shines as the tragic, beloved child of an impoverished family employed by a heartless mill owner.

A Drama with a Stark Message

[Michael_Elliott · 7 July 2015]

The Cry of the Children

*** (out of 4)

The Thanhouser company produced this thirty minute film about the rich and the poor. The setting is a factory where a husband labors to make sure his family is fed, although they are still very much poor. The factory owner's wife one day sees the poor man's young daughter and convinces the family to allow her to have a "better" life but tragedy soon happens.

THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN was directed by James Cruze who would eventually direct some of the most popular films of the 1920s and he also made a name as an actor including appearing in the same year's DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. This film here is certainly slow-moving at the start but the film certainly packs a nice little punch during the final five minutes. At thirty minutes this here is extremely long for the period but the director certainly manages to get the message across. In fact, I'd say the message was a tad bit too strong and over-the-top but there were a lot of union issues going on during this period so obviously people back them had a rooting interest in the film.

Child Labor in the Raw

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 24 January 2016]

An indictment of the evils of child labor, the film was controversial in its time for its use of actual footage of children employed in a working mill.

While this film is not all that incredible in and of itself, it is interesting what it allegedly accomplished. Using a poem and mixing it with a short film and some actual child labor footage, people were made upset by what they saw. Allegedly this even helped shift presidential politics, though I am somewhat skeptical of that.

Child labor is something we frown upon and should, though it depends on what the labor is. We still (2016) have no problem with children working on family farms. And that is probably okay. But what we see here is work that probably is not safe even for well-trained adults. I kept thinking fingers or hands would be removed!

Nice emotion, nice message

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 6 March 2016]

"The Cry of the Children" is an American 28-minute movie from over 100 years ago. Looking at how old it is, nobody should be surprised to see it is silent and black-and-white. Don't be fooled by people adding color or music to it later on. The director is George Nichols and he adapted a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning for his film here, actually a frequent process back in the day. I have seen many very old films and I must say this one was pretty good, for a film from the 1910s. Obviously people were a lot more into comedy at that point if you look at who the big stars were, but the films of D.W. Griffit for example and this one here also make a difference in terms of drama. The film has a really nice message and is not scared of death even, which was pretty brave for its time, even if the filmmaker went for a safer ending that felt good to the audience. He didn't want his viewers too depressed I guess, just touched. The biggest strength of this work is maybe the very frequent use of intertitles, something that lacked severely in films from that era and Nichols really did well by including so many. It helps a lot in understanding the story. I recommend "The Cry of the Children". Thumbs up.

An indictment of cold-hearted capitalism that still sears the screen

[wmorrow59 · 9/10 · 28 July 2006]

This is a powerful movie, made by angry filmmakers whose indignation over the injustice they depict still packs a punch many years after the film's initial release. Unlike many dramas of its era this one won't provoke any unintended laughter today, not even when the acting looks a bit primitive or, during the climax, when a character who is deceased reappears before her awed family in the form of an angel with white feathered wings. We regard these moments with the same solemnity they must have inspired when the film was new, for the issues addressed in The Cry of the Children are no laughing matter. This film is remembered primarily as a protest against the exploitation of children by greedy capitalists, but it is also an examination of the vast disparity between the quality of life enjoyed by the Haves and endured by the Have-nots in this country. The filmmakers do not promote any specific political agenda or solution, nor do they exhort the audience to organize, strike, or overthrow the bosses; they simply tell their tale and leave you, the viewer, to mull it over and draw your own conclusions. This strikes me as a far more effective way of reaching people than to preach the gospel of any particular "ism."

The Cry of the Children was produced by the Thanhouser Company of New Rochelle, New York, a studio in existence from 1909 to 1918, and it stands as the studio's best-known release. The story presents a stark contrast between the daily lives of a mill worker, his sickly wife and their three children-- two of whom work in the factory --and the mill's wealthy owner and his pampered spouse. The worker and his family live in shabby rooms with no heating, where the children, two girls and one boy, share a single bed. There's no silverware, no china plates. When the mother coughs and clutches her chest her husband looks horrified. Does she have tuberculosis? (Forget about "health insurance" in 1912.) The family's only joy is little Alice, a curly-haired charmer who is the one member of the family not enslaved by factory work. Scenes at the mill, obviously filmed at a genuine mill and not in a studio, reveal workers who look hollow-eyed and exhausted. It's a jolt when we are suddenly introduced to the owner of this mill, seen in his home: it is luxurious, filled with overstuffed furniture and ornate fixtures. The owner and his wife are well-dressed and surrounded by servants who fuss over them and cater to their every need. Happenstance brings the mill owner's wife into contact with little Alice, and the lady is so charmed by the little girl she tries to adopt her. The worker and his family refuse to give up their daughter, even when the boss reaches for his wallet and offers them cash for their child. (And I can hear the audiences of those 1912 store-front theaters, hissing the rich couple and cheering when the working parents refuse his offer). But later, when the mill owner refuses to grant his employees a living wage, the workers go on strike and their living conditions worsen considerably. When life becomes intolerable little Alice goes to the mill owner's home and offers herself up for adoption.

I won't reveal the ending here but suffice to say it's not a cheery one. When The Cry of the Children reaches its finale you're likely to feel deflated and depressed; and then, as you think about what you've seen, you get angry. That was surely the producers' intention when they made this movie and their work, seen today, is still effective. Eventually, child labor laws were enacted that eliminated the conditions illustrated here, but the gross disparity between the lives of the working poor and the idle rich is essentially the same as ever, and just as unfair and outrageous. This old film can't be dismissed as a quaint historical artifact because it still provokes the viewer to think about this disparity, to wonder why we live like this and whether it's possible to change. Here's a film released the very month the Titanic sank that can still get your adrenalin pumping, all these years later.

Their Reason For Living!!

[kidboots · 9/10 · 2 January 2015]

This film could claim to be "ripped from the day's headlines" and the public were more than ready for some sensation. In 1911 the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire had killed more than 146 sweat shop workers, most of them under-age girls. This film seems to be a re-telling of a January 1912 incident in which 25,000 workers went on strike from the American Woollen Company. By February many of the workers including children began to starve and when the union tried to transport children to other towns to be fed, the police were called in and children and their parents were clubbed without mercy. Filmed a month after the strike, the images are startling with a camera placed right inside an actual mill so viewers could see actual child workers toiling on dangerous high speed looms.

The story is about a mill family with James Cruze, later an esteemed director, playing the father. They live in an unheated hovel but the whole family must toil in the mill. The exception is the littlest child, Alice (Marie Eline), their "ray of sunshine" - she is to be kept free from the hardship of the factory. One of Alice's chores is to fetch water from the stream and one day she is seen by the mill owner's wife who falls in love with the sheer joyousness of the child and offers to adopt her. Of course the family are horrified, Alice says no and the next title tells you everything you need to know about the wealthy factory owners - "A new pet replaces Alice in the wife's affections" - she now has a little dog!!

The factory workers strike for a living wage and the headlines say it all "children cry for bread", "starving people forced back to work" - the mother is now so sick, little Alice is forced to take her place at the mill. You even see Alice at work on a complicated piece of mill equipment with a title indicating this is now how her days are spent. This is such a powerful film and shows that Thanhouser was a film company that had much to say about topical subjects. The poetry may have been from Elizabeth Barrett Browning but it was woven into a very stark story. Little Alice now decides she will consent to be adopted to help her starving family, unfortunately she is no longer happy, sunny Alice but a dirty, starved little worker who has suddenly lost their appeal for the elegant wife who has her driven from the house. Grim stuff!!

There is no fairytale ending but even with Alice gone, her spirit gives her family a reason to hope, fight and carry on.

Labored Message

[Cineanalyst · 19 September 2009]

This is a heavy social melodrama with a blunt message. The opening scenes and title cards take a standpoint against child factory labor. The two-reeler then moves into the narrative about a family of factory laborers, which will reinforce that message and a broader condemnation of class and poverty in the Industrial age. The title cards take from poetry by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and, perhaps, some others, which I don't care for, as it only adds to the repetition of the moral. This film's title and Alice character are also taken from Browning's poem, although "Cry of the Children" has been a common title for political messages against child labor.

The drama is quite dated and symptomatic of the problems of message films. The acting, especially by the girl who plays Alice, with her incessant gesticulation, is histrionic. In addition, we don't really get a good look at the factory, which I guess is a textile mill, or of the conditions therein; there are only two camera positions for it, one of which is only briefly used. The film loses a lot of its verve consequently, although, I suppose, I shouldn't expect that much from 1912. (Early documentaries such as "A Visit to Peek Frean and Co.'s Biscuit Works" (1906), "Whaling Afloat and Ashore" (1908), or the "Westinghouse Works" films (1904) had already given in-depth, if glamorized, looks into their factories, though.) Interestingly, a real mill was clearly used, so some industrialist had to agree to it being filmed, despite the poor image it gives the business. The family of laborers lives in a shack by some idyllic countryside, which seems ridiculous. The narrative would have been more harshly realistic, too, if it had demonstrated the degradation of family structures by Industrialization, rather than presenting a clichéd close-knit one, persevering through hardship.

In the beginning of the film, the Alice child is promoted as special in the family, as she doesn't work in the factory and receives most of the family and narrative's attention, so, paradoxically, there are class distinctions within the family, which I think undercuts some of the picture's message. Besides her family being poor and that the film is updated to the Industrial Age, Alice's plight into laboring in the mill develops in a similar fashion to the generic formula of a mediaeval princess becoming a peasant.

There is some decent film-making here, however, for 1912. The framing by the camera is generally prosaic, but there's panning and the scenes of workers leaving and entering the factory are reminiscent of early film actualities of such crowd scenes, which began with the Lumiére Company's "La sortie des usines Lumiére" (1895). In one of the shots, I suspect we may actually see real laborers, as they noticeably look at the camera, just as in the actualities-something paid extras or professional actors probably wouldn't do. Furthermore, there's a flashback scene transitioned by dissolves at the end. In the final scene of the family, low-key lighting is used. Additionally, the film uses a parallel editing structure to contrast the poor victims and the obscene rich; however, D.W. Griffith, if not others, had already done this in "A Corner in Wheat" (1909). Nonetheless, it remains effective here. Overall, there is some craft in the film-making and this past look at factory life and child factory labor (which is not to say it's nonexistent today) is interesting, if depressing, and worth a look if one can get past the cumbersomeness and occasional contradictions and flaws of the lecturing.

(From Thanhouser Company Film Preservation 35mm print, George Eastman House)

A Presidential Candidate Uses Movie For Criticizing Opponent

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 7 April 2021]

Child labor was popular with factory owners in the early 1900's (and prior) for several reasons. Among them were the federal government allowed children 14 years old and above to work up to 54 hours a week; kids were paid far less than an adult; and a number of children in the lower class supposedly would had rather work than sit in school all day.

There were a growing number of people who recognized the horrid conditions of these factories exposing the nation's youth to a hard life. Thanhouser Studio released in April 1912 "The Cry of the Children," based on an 1843 Elizabeth Barrett Brown poem of the same name. The film dealt with a family who worked in the factory grind. The youngest, played by Marie Eline (whose career was limited to Thanhouser films from 1910-1914) was allowed to be free at home, that is until the mother becomes ill. Yoiung Marie, seeing the family would be hard hit financially, steps in to help out. The strain on the young child is illustrated by Marie's fragility.

What's remarkable about "The Cry of the Children" is a local factory near the Thanhouser Studios in New Rochelle, N. Y., agreed to have the movie crew come in and film the actors intermingling with its factory workers, especially the children laborers, while the plot plays out. The viewers get to see a taste of what these young workers had to do for 50-plus hours, six days a week.

The film was produced on the heels of the Lawrence, MA., American Woolen Company strike, which was protracted in violence and hardship for those workers demanding a more humane workweek. During the 1912 U. S. presidential race, candidate Woodrow Wilson cited this film to illustrate his opponent, incumbent President William Taft's inaction on the face of cruel child labor. "The Cry of the Children" was the first film cited by a presidential candidate to be used against an opponent.

This child, played by the Thanhouser Kid, seems the very breath of poetry

[deickemeyer · 6 November 2016]

The Moving Picture World has already commended this glorious, two- reel feature made after the poem of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and has pointed out the value of such releases to humanity and their civilizing power. This reviewer, however, takes pleasure in pointing the charm of the picture that most strongly appealed to him. It is in the character of the mill worker's youngest child, a vivid and quite fresh creation. The producer, in the way he has handled the possibilities that this character gave to him, shows a sensitive, poetic imagination. This child, played by the Thanhouser Kid, seems the very breath of poetry, and, to give one instance, that scene in which we see her beside the bunch of pussy willows, changes the effect of every other scene in the picture. The picture needed some such contrast in order to bring out its values at all, but this, coming as it does with the scene just before it, shoots like a poignant cry to the very last scene. We wish that all the contrasts offered by the picture were as sincere. These scenes really live. The picture, as a whole, has much living truth, and is very effective. The camera work is good. - The Moving Picture World, May 11, 1912