The School Teacher and the Waif

When I saw the title, "The School Teacher and the Waif" I was worried that it would involve a student and teacher falling in love. This is not the case, and instead it's a nice little film from D. W. Griffith.

Now that I mentioned Griffith, I should address something that will doubtless be noticed by viewers today....that a couple of the background characters are white guys in blackface. Griffith was a racist, though I have heard some apologists make excuses for it. He didn't seem to like black actors and repeatedly gave the roles to white actors in burnt cork makeup. He was a product of his times. But, as a retired history teacher, I am loathe to ban or avoid films because they have offensive characters....especially in this case since the 'blacks' don't behave offensively in any way...other than really being white men! Accept it for what it is....and apart from this it's a nice little film.

The film begins with the Waif (Mary Pickford) being a bit of a wild child and who never attended school. Well, local officials didn't like this and soon this teen is in school. She takes to school reasonably well despite the taunts from the other students, but soon she storms off when her nice teacher behaves uncharacteristically nasty...making her wear a dunce cap!! But she runs into the arms of a lecher who pretends to love her and want to marry her....and it's up to the teacher to come to her rescue.

For a 1912 film, "The School Teacher and the Waif" is quite good. It also lacks some of the overacting too often seen in early films. Well worth seeing and a nice chance to see Mary Pickford just before she became a mega-star.