The Mothering Heart

A big picture. An evidence of this is the fact that it is in two parts. The feature is the work of Lillian Gish. Even those who favor more mature players must concede that this young girl acts far beyond her years. Walter Miller as the husband finely depicts the young man whose head is turned by his transition from the struggling stage to prosperity. The third corner of the triangle is a new player m the Biograph forces; as the restaurant flirt she is a derided success. The restaurant scene, by the way, which alone is said to have cost $1,800, is a superb setting. The story is the thing, however it holds, from the beginning to the finish. The punch comes suddenly, but it strikes hard. - The Moving Picture World, July 5, 1913

The stereotypical acting seen in early silent movies captures performers constantly overdramatizing, even when situations in the narratives don't call for such emoting. Several reasons for this overextension of these physical dramatics include the thespian methodology of the Victorian stage. Poor acoustics in most theaters required actors to loudly verbalize as well as to show visually the patrons sitting in the back seats the drama unfolding far from them. Also, with a lack of "dialogue title cards," silent movie actors had to reflect their feelings with body language the spoken word would normally convey in real life.

D. W. Griffith changed all that. His films were moving towards the direction of actors expressing less with their bodies and more with their faces--hence, he was physically moving his camera in closer to his performers instead of remaining stationary on the standard wide shot.

In a leap forward in dramatizing his plot by showing the angst of his actress, Griffith had Lillian Gish in June 1913's "The Mothering Heart" break the mold of physicality by filming her acting in a subtle, restrained rendering of a pained wife and new mother dealing with a cheating husband, played by Walter Miller.

Not that such a performance hadn't been captured on celluloid before. But Gish's mannerisms throughout the movie reflected a new style of acting rarely seen on the screen up until then. The anguish she undergoes is visibly noticed in each step of her discovery her husband has been philandering behind her back. She suspects the relationship when he doesn't return home from work at his normal time, then finding hard evidence of a female's handkerchief in his pocket, then witnessing him getting into his mistress' car. At each step, Gish conveys via her face and body language deep hurt. As a true, strong woman, she is able to take decisive steps to counter her husband's infidelity, all the while refraining from uncontrollable gestures (except for a brief wild release of emotions at the outdoor plants) normally captured in early film of actors in similar situations.

The cinematic world took notice of Gish's performance in "The Mothering Heart," and from this point onwards, silent movie actors began to taper their excessive movements and learn how to express their innermost feelings by facial expressions.

Lillian Gish gives her greatest early performance in what is arguably the best Biograph of them all. Here, Griffith puts together all the dramatic techniques he had honed over the past couple of years, and finally seems realise what an asset he had in Gish.

For the first time Griffith really liberates his camera, dispensing with the old either/or situation of three-quarter length shots and extreme close-ups. He puts his camera exactly as far from or as close to the action as it needs to be, often using multiple set-ups in the same location. This is particularly effective in the dance-hall scenes – the large room becomes a real place because the camera really gets inside it. The introduction of the larger space makes it possible to show the flirtation between the husband and the "idle" woman in medium close-ups without it being confusing. The next logical step here would have been for Griffith to introduce the point-of-view shot, but unfortunately that was a step he never took. See Raoul Walsh's Regeneration for what is probably the earliest genuine point-of-view shot.

Ultimately however, all eyes are on Lillian Gish for her powerhouse performance. She works largely with props, facial expressions, and tiny gestures to convey a whole range of emotions. The fact that she does all this whilst barely moving, while incredible in itself, means that her scene of rage where she batters the rose bushes has all the more impact. The rest of the cast is rather unforgettable, and is made more so in comparison to Gish. Walter Miller, the husband, despite several years at Biograph and a number of lead roles, never really did anything outstanding. He is certainly competent here though, and this may be his finest hour, albeit one outshone by the glow of Miss Gish.

Griffith now had his heart set on directing a full length feature, and probably saw this and the other two-reelers he made in 1913 as warm-ups. Here, he reaches the pinnacle of poignant and dramatic expression in his Biograph shorts, and The Mothering Heart can be seen as something of a companion piece to The Battle of Elderbrush Gulch, in which he perfects the large scale action scenes he would need in his features.

This two-reel drama ranks with the best of D. W. Griffith's output for Biograph, and is therefore a prime example of the best American film-making of its day. It was also one of the first of the Biograph films to feature Lillian Gish as the central figure, and although the supporting cast is more than competent it's very much her vehicle all the way. The story is a simple one, focusing on the difficult early days of a marriage that nearly unravels. According to her memoirs Gish was determined to play the wife, but almost didn't get the part because Griffith thought she looked too girlish to play a married woman (she was about 20 at the time), so Lillian contrived to audition a second time in an outfit padded to enhance her figure, and landed the role.

The story moves briskly, rather like a condensed version of the domestic scenes from King Vidor's much later film The Crowd. One moment Lillian is a girl playing with puppies, and the next, having married her suitor "against her better judgment," she's keeping house. No attempt is made to glamorize married life in these scenes. (Not so incidentally, director Griffith's own marriage had recently soured.) Pretty soon we are told that the husband is "turning away from the homely joys," i.e. taking his reluctant young wife to decadent nightclubs. The nightclub scenes are the closest this movie gets to those inadvertently funny moments which sometimes mar silent dramas; here, cultural decadence takes the form of a floor show featuring chubby "modern" dancers in togas and animal skins, performing what looks like Isadora Duncan's take on The Bacchae. Oh well, perhaps Griffith meant this sequence to be satirical. In any event the scene provides a light moment in an otherwise heavy story.

The husband falls into an affair -- more of a guilty fling, really -- with a buxom (i.e. wicked) woman he meets at the nightclub, while wife Lillian, who is pregnant, becomes increasingly distraught back at home. There's a striking scene when Lillian finds a woman's glove in his jacket, and realizes that her husband is drifting away. Eventually she leaves him, then gives birth to a sickly baby who soon dies. The death scene is handled with restraint, almost too much so, until the dazed Lillian wanders out into the garden, picks up a stick, and wildly thrashes all the buds off a rosebush. All these years later, this scene is still powerful. The reconciliation sequence that follows and brings the film to a close is beautifully played, and feels well earned and justified, not a contrived Happily Ever After coda tacked on to send viewers home satisfied. The Mothering Heart is indeed a satisfying experience, but it's not an easy ride.

Casting Note: actress Viola Barry (also known as Peggy Pearce) who plays the "other woman" in this film, worked at Keystone the following year and was said to be Charlie Chaplin's first girlfriend there. She played opposite Chaplin once, in His Favorite Pastime, but is seen to much better advantage here.

The story is very ordinary, but Lillian Gish is incredible as the woman who discovers her undeserving husband's infidelity.