The Mothering Heart

D.W. Griffith's version of the classic "American Film Tragedy" - Poor Young Couple is threatened when the man meets… The Seductress! Lillian Gish and Walter Miller are the plain, unassuming lovers; they marry, and she has a child. When they go to Town, Temptress Viola Barry spies hunky Mr. Miller, and the dye is cast. She conveniently has car trouble when he is passing by, and begins her seduction. Miller steps out on Ms. Gish, who finds an incriminating glove in Miller's pocket… and, so on...

For Griffith and company, "The Mothering Heart" is a bit of a let-down, considering the high quality of the recent "The Burglars's Dilemma" (1912) and "Death's Marathon" (1912). Though everyone works hard, the situation and club flirtation scenes are somewhat silly.

***** The Mothering Heart (6/21/13) D.W. Griffith ~ Lillian Gish, Walter Miller, Viola Barry

I found this quite fascinating (although there are some scenes that are really pretty goofy). Lillian plays a woman who is wooed by a handsome young man. Her mother warns her about him, but they eventually marry. Life is hard at first, but they manage. Soon he has some money and begins to be ashamed of her looks and her clothes. He takes her to this really weird nightclub. There is all kinds of strange dancing and music and it really looks idiotic. Anyway, she is really uncomfortable. She refuses to have even a sip of a cocktail he buys for her. She is a bit of s stick in the mud. Soon he makes google eyes at a pretty young woman with a big hat. Soon, they are sneaking out together while the wife, who is now pregnant, stays at home. Eventually, she puts two and two together and takes off to stay with her mother. She has her child there. He husband soon bores his mistress and she takes off with a rich guy who interests her more. The story has a tragic ending. Lillian Gish is one of the greatest actresses of all time.

Mothering Heart stays with you long after you watch it. Not only

does it represent a turning point in the career of Lillian Gish, it

showcases Lillian and her support in outstanding performances.

As the little mother, Lillian is haunting. Her scene in the garden

doesn't strike one false note. Her scenes in Birth of a Nation, Way

Down East and The Wind come to mind when you see her stagger

towards the camera, distraught yet blank-faced. Walter Miller

shows off the qualities that Griffith liked in his leading men:

meekness, timidity, vulnerability. His performance anticipates

Bobby Harron's work on the modern story in Intolerance. Viola

Barry is delicious as the Idle Woman. The use of cross-cutting,

framing, set design, costuming, lighting and brisk pacing add up

to a fascinating, eerie film, possibly the best Biograph short Griffith

ever made.

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

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.