The Innocence of Ruth

Most people today have probably never heard of John H. Collins. He was a director in the 1910s. He had about forty credits to his name when he succumbed to the Spanish Flu in 1918, and is now mostly forgotten.

One of his features was "The Innocence of Ruth". This 1916 work stars Collins's wife Viola Dana as an orphan who becomes the ward of her father's rich friend. Although it's not the the most captivating plot, the good acting and direction make it a watchable production.

I found the movie on Wikipedia. It's good to know that some of these early relics of cinema are still available, especially since so many have gotten lost over the years. While it's not any sort of masterpiece, it's still interesting to see, if only as a look into a career cut short by a pandemic (it makes one wonder how many COVID victims could've become great artists or scientists).

I wonder if the US president sharing the male character's name ever saw the movie.